According to one configuration, an example surveillance system includes a sensor device, analyzer hardware, and processing hardware. During operation, the sensor device scans a monitored location and generates scan data. In one embodiment, the scan data (such as distance-based data) indicates (defines) surface textures of one or more objects present at the monitored location (such as a location of interest) based on distance measurements. The analyzer hardware analyzes the scan data and change in surface textures. The controller hardware: i) generates a communication based on the detected surface textures, and ii) transmits the communication to a remote station.