Guard tour patrol system

A guard tour patrol system is a system for logging the rounds of personnel such as security guards on patrol, technicians monitoring climate-controlled environments, and correctional officers checking prisoner living areas. It records the time at which an employee reaches each checkpoint on a route, helping to ensure that rounds are made at the intended intervals and providing a record that can be used for legal or insurance purposes.

History

Early guard tour systems used a mechanical watchclock (also called a watchman's clock or patrol clock). The guard carried the clock on the round and, at each checkpoint, inserted and turned a numbered key—usually chained in place—which imprinted its number on a pre-printed paper disc or tape inside the clock, recording the time of passage. Detex, the largest United States manufacturer, discontinued its mechanical watchclocks at the end of 2011, including the Detex Newman, which had been produced for about 130 years.

The first electronic systems replaced the watchclock with a handheld reader or "log station": the guard touched the reader to a contact or RFID tag at each checkpoint, and the stored reads were later downloaded from the device at a docking station to produce reports. Computerized systems of this kind were first introduced in Europe in the early 1980s and in North America in 1986. Because such standalone collectors could not provide data until they were physically downloaded, later systems moved toward real-time data capture using networked devices.

Many modern systems are based on smartphone applications: the guard scans a QR code or NFC tag at each checkpoint with a phone, which records a time stamp and uploads it, often in real time.

Operation

Checkpoints are commonly placed at the ends of a route and at critical points such as vaults, specimen refrigerators, vital equipment and access points.