Nevada LCB File No. R148-15: Security Camera System Requirements for Cannabis Farms and Dispensaries

Nevada Cannabis State Requirements for Video Surveillance Systems

Security equipment to deter and prevent unauthorized entrance into limited access areas that includes, without limitation:

(a) Devices or a series of devices to detect unauthorized intrusion, which may include a signal system interconnected with a radio frequency method, such as cellular or private radio signals, or other mechanical or electronic device;

(b) Exterior lighting to facilitate surveillance;

(c) Electronic monitoring, including, without limitation:

(1) At least one call-up monitor that is 19 inches or more;

(2) A video printer capable of immediately producing a clear still photo from any video camera image;

(3) Video cameras with a recording resolution of at least 704 x 480 or the equivalent which provide coverage of all entrances to and exits from limited access areas and all entrances to and exits from the building and which are capable of identifying any activity occurring in or adjacent to the building;

(4) A video camera at each point-of-sale location which allows for the identification of any person who holds a valid registry identification card or letter of approval for an applicant who is under 10 years of age or his or her designated primary caregiver purchasing medical marijuana;

(5) A video camera in each grow room which is capable of identifying any activity occurring within the grow room in low light conditions;

(6) A method for storing video recordings from the video cameras for at least 30 calendar days;

(7) A failure notification system that provides an audible and visual notification of any failure in the electronic monitoring system; and

(8) Sufficient battery backup for video cameras and recording equipment to support at least 5 minutes of recording in the event of a power outage; and

(d) Immediate automatic or electronic notification to alert local law enforcement agencies of an unauthorized breach of security at the medical marijuana establishment in the interior of each building of the medical marijuana establishment.

How to Comply with Nevada LCB File No. R148-15 Non-Security-Camera, but Security-Related Regulations:

Alarms, Access Control, Printers, and Monitors

Before we get into the surveillance end, we do want to draw your attention to the requirements for either an alarm or access control system and a lighting system. Also, you are required to have a printer and a 19 inch or larger monitor on site. This means having a PC or Mac onsite is necessary since you cannot connect a printer to your NVR.

Battery Backup for 5 minutes

APC.com has a great tool for calculating and suggesting battery backup products based on time and load. Once you have a quote from us, our staff can tell your approximate power draw for our products. You aren't required to, but you should also add in your alarm or access control units when calculating load. We would also suggest aiming a bit higher than 5 minutes.

How to Comply with Nevada's Recording Regulations:

Like several states, Nevada seems to have copied this resolution section from other states. The problems is that 704 x 480 is not a known recording resolution in surveillance and we have no idea where that came from. 720 x 480 is and that's probably what they meant.

D1 DVRs shoot in 720 x 480. (345,600 total pixels)

With someone 20 feet away, with D1 resolution, your footage would look like this:


The regulation says that you must be able to ID anyone at the point of sale location.

Now, you aren't going to be able to do that with the camera system that shoots in 704x480 (if that existed). You can only do that with HD.

If you go with 720P, you will need a camera about every 30 feet if you want to ID people and the cameras will have 52 degree fields of view. If you go with 1080P, you will need a camera every 50 feet and they will have a 75, 98, or 106 degree field of view (depending on the camera).

Most people opt for at least a 1080P camera. With someone 20 feet away, with 1080P resolution, your footage would look like this:


The Low Light Camera for the Grow Room

Almost all of our IP cameras have either Digital WDR or True WDR which should allow you to meet the regulatory demands for the low light cameras, however this regulation has no specific requirements for their lux rating (how we measure how much light is in a space) to clarify what qualifies as "low light," so it is a bit of a judgement call. True WDR would be your best option.

The "Failure Notification System" Requirement

All of our NVRs and cameras have notices that go out if the cameras are tampered with, disconnected, damaged, or moved. You can also enabled motion detection alerts and many other video analytics on our cameras. However, it seems more likely that this regulation is referencing the alarm or access control system, but it is pretty unclear. Either way, you should be fine.

"Immediate automatic or electronic notification to alert local law enforcement..."

You'll probably need an alarm system with a monitoring contract to comply with this section. Cameras can't make phone calls. You can have the police set as the recipient of the motion detection email alerts, but you probably will want that to be your staff that gets those emails.

How to Comply with the Nevada Storage Regulations:

Like most states, the storage requirements are the hard part. Luckily you are only required to store 30 days of footage, which is on the lower end.

We made a pretty extensive write up your storage options and needs on the first discussion on the main cannabis page that goes into products, options and backup/hard drive extension mechanisms. For Nevada, you would only need 66% of what a provider in Washington State (the example we used) would need on the we have listed there.


*We're not lawyers and laws do change. We try our best to keep this page updated with changes to the law, but you should always do you own research or hire your own lawyer to guarantee compliance with the law.