It’s time to put the kids on the school bus, relax and take a deep breath. For criminals, though, “back to school” doesn’t mean anything – they keep their efforts going regardless of the time of year.
The start of the school year is, however, a good time to take a look at your own security footprint and shore up the weak points. Doing so will pay dividends now and well beyond the end of the school year. You can do this by following what we call “the ABCs of Physical Security”: Assess, Bolster, Collaborate. Following is what we recommend to make sure your operation is secure and productive.
Assess Your Weaknesses
The first step is to assess your security operation. Are your surveillance cameras in good working condition and are they surveilling the right things? Do you have adequate lighting to complement your cameras? (Lighting is useful both as a deterrent to potential criminals and it makes surveillance cameras work better.) And are your locks working – both on doors and windows?
Taking an “adversarial approach” can be valuable in this assessment phase – if you were a criminal, how would you attack your operation? Walking around the premises when it is dark – the time when most criminals strike − can be a revealing way to identify areas where your security can be improved.
During this time, you can ask yourself a lot of questions. Questions like:
- If I were robbing my organization, what would I do?
- Are my valuables being properly monitored to prevent theft?
- Do I have enough lighting and is it in the right place?
- Do I have valuables stored near my fence? (Remember: even security-focused purchases like electric fences can easily be compromised by criminals.)
- Are my entry points locked to prevent easy access?
All of these factors can serve as an enticement to criminals to make easy money, and they need to be considered in the assessment phase.
Bolster Your Security
After doing the assessment, the next step is to bolster your defenses to shore up any weak points. Doing so may require a small investment in time and money, but it will pay for itself many times over in crime prevention.
Security is like insurance – if you don’t need it, all you think about is the cost. But when you do need it, you’re very glad you have it. And this not only applies to catching perpetrators before they can cause damage, but also in preventing crime in the first place.
It’s human nature – criminals will attack weak points. If you show strong security, chances are you will be passed over for a weaker target. This benefit is impossible to measure since nobody knows how often they’ve been passed over, but it also can present a challenge because organizations are best protected when nothing criminal happens!
Collaborate with the Right Security Expert
The best way to shore up your security is to do an assessment like we describe above, preferably performed by an experienced expert who can tell you how to reduce security risk to your organization. Which brings us to the “C” of the ABCs – collaboration with a security expert.
It’s the same in any discipline – an expert who has seen the challenges you face as an organization many times over will be invaluable in creating and maintaining a security strategy. For years, Pro-Vigil has helped hundreds of customers overcome their security challenges by implementing best practices and remote video monitoring (RVM) services.
As part of any engagement, Pro-Vigil will deploy its security experts to sites to make recommendations. This will include everything in the “assess” phase and more. RVM services watch the property and, with the help of video artificial intelligence, virtual security guards are alerted in a Security Operations Center if the cameras are seeing anything unusual. The guards can trigger audio and visual deterrents to scare trespassers off the property or, in extreme cases, call law enforcement. This capability can come in fixed or mobile configurations – both offering the same capabilities. Mobile is especially useful for customer operation sites that don’t have access to the internet or electricity, and for sites that are transient in nature, so the security system can be moved.
Pro-Vigil knows the ABCs of physical security so you don’t have to. And because of this, we keep our customers secure during the school year and beyond. Contact us today to learn how we can help put the security ABCs into action to protect your business.
