1. A method of determining an occurrence of a significant event requiring action in a surveillance system, the method comprising computer-implemented steps of: for each entity of a plurality of entities, storing one or more event attribute criteria associated with said each entity, wherein the one or more event attribute criteria associated with said each entity indicates at least one of (a) time criteria, (b) location criteria, or (c) direction of motion criteria; wherein the plurality of entities includes a first entity and a second entity; wherein the one or more event attribute criteria associated with the first entity are different than the one or more event attribute criteria associated with the second entity; after storing the one or more event attribute criteria for each entity of the plurality of entities, detecting a potential event; wherein the potential event is associated with a video surveillance image; determining one or more event attributes about the potential event, wherein the one or more event attributes indicates at least one of (1) a time, (2) a location, or (3) a direction of motion; selecting, from among the plurality of entities, an entity that matches an object in the video surveillance image; if the first entity is selected, then comparing the one or more event attributes about the potential event with the one or more event attribute criteria associated with the first entity to determine whether an action should be triggered by the video surveillance system; and if the second entity is selected, then comparing the one or more event attributes about the potential event with the one or more event attribute criteria associated with the second entity to determine whether an action should be triggered by the video surveillance system; and in response to determining that an action should be triggered by the video surveillance system: determining at least one action to be triggered by the video surveillance system, and triggering the at least one action; wherein each entity of said plurality of entities is an object or a group of objects; wherein the steps are performed by one or more computing devices.