Business Security Information

You own or manage a store, restaurant, bank, check-cashing establishment or other similar type of business.  One or more robbers entered your business through the front door and demanded money.  You or your employees complied with the robber(s) demands and gave them the money.  No one was hurt and now the robber(s) have left your business through the back or side door.  The employees locked all the doors so the robber(s) don’t return and have called 911.  Now what?

One of the key components to this scenario is the doors that the robber(s) used to enter and exit the business.  When the police arrive, does it matter what door they are let in?

Recently, I have been at a couple of businesses that had experienced theft or attempted theft of their outside HVAC units.  It appears from their situations that the thieves were motivated by the copper in the HVAC units.  Over the past couple years, copper theft has been an issue for a variety of contractors, home builders and other related businesses.  Last year, I even discussed copper theft issues with a carnival ride manufacturer because they were experiencing thefts of long electrical leads on machines being stored outside in a lot prior to shipment.  With the high price of metals and the down-turn in the economy, the theft of copper and other metals will continue to be a problem for most businesses in the near future.

This week I stopped by what use to be an auto dealership in a city near where I live and saw some examples of good and bad security that I thought I would share with you in this post.  While there, I took some pictures to illustrate what I saw.  If you look closely at these pictures, you will see that the business installed a metal barrier which  prevents vehicles or other equipment from easily being taken from the lot.  It is a simple design of steel piping that is secured in the ground with the openings to the lot being protected by a sliding gate made from the same material.  The steel posts in the ground are close enough that even if the top steel piping was removed, it would not allow a vehicle to be driven between the steel pipes.  Not placing posts close enough together is a major problem in most dealership lots I have evaluated.  The pictures show a good example of how to do it right without making the barrier an eyesore.  In addition, the business secured the steel piping in the ground with concrete and even formed a raised concrete lip, making it difficult to remove individual steel piping from the ground even with the right type of heavy equipment.  Please note:  this type of lot protection is good when you are trying to prevent theft of vehicles or equipment, but additional security is required if you are trying to protect against parts theft.

Do you use an EAS (electronic article surveillance) system in your retail store?  I know that most of the major retailers use these type of systems.  Actually, I was at a department store the other day, and I noticed, like I have so many times in the past few years, how ineffective they can be.  Let me explain that statement.

It seems like there are numerous websites on the Internet covering the main aspects of computer security but very few on physical security for a typical business.  On this website I try to cover all types of security on this website, but today I want to focus on physical security.

Physical security is mainly related to the protection of people, buildings, equipment and other physical or tangible assets.  Physical security is often overlooked in this high-tech business world where protecting digital assets of a business is emphasized. Adequately protecting digital assets, though, depends on implementing physical security as well.

This past month I have been working with a business regarding some physical security improvements, and one of those items was a security or intrusion alarm system.  It got me thinking about businesses that I deal with who usually ask me about why a certain element of security they have implemented, such as security systems, is not working.  Most of the time when I look at their particular situation, one or more elements of the security system does not fit their needs.  Usually this is not discovered until the system has been installed and paid for, leaving the business with a system that does not fulfill their needs and sometimes results in the system not being used after a period of time.  This results in wasted time and money for the business owner as well as poor or nonexistent security.

In the past couple of weeks, I have talked to a couple of different business owners who have paid fines to their local government because the local police have responded to a business because of a security alarm system that was activated.  Both of these businesses used a third party monitoring company who  notified the local police after receiving the alarm signal.  The police responded and found no activity that they felt was related to a break-in or other type of security incident and wrote it off as a false alarm.  According to local ordinances, both business owners were allowed a couple of false alarms per year before they received a fine which was over one hundred dollars in both cases.

Video Analytics is some times called video analysis or intelligent video but is very different than the older technology of basic video motion detection.  Video Analytics is basically computer software or algorithm that can be configured to analyze specific behavior that the security camera sees.  It usually encompasses a combination of hardware and software.

Traditional video motion detection uses a simple rule that when a set number of pixels change in the video, an alarm is sounded or the video starts to record the movement or both.  Video motion detection has a high false alarm rate due to the fact that any motion, not just security incidents, causes changes in the video picture.  Currently, this technology is used mainly to reduce storage space needed to record security cameras.  This way, security camera footage is only recorded when motion is detected.

This week, I read two stories that prompted me to write this post.  The first was about construction sites using wireless security camera systems to reduce vandalism and theft.  Wireless security camera  systems were being used because of the temporary nature of construction sites.  The system can be taken down and used at another construction site when the job is completed.  The second story was about the murder of Byrd and Melanie Billings, a couple from Florida.  If you have not read the story, a number of men broke into the couple’s home and killed the couple while eight of their children were in the house.  If I remember correctly, the couple actually adopted 12 children with many of them having a variety of developmental disabilities.  They have a total of 16 children.  The couple had an extensive security camera system in the home, as much for security as to keep track of the children when they were in the house and yard.  The security camera footage provided some leads for the police but sadly did not prevent the crime from happening.

There are four basic principles of security that should be used no matter if you are looking at physical security or computer security issues with your business.  When you are planning security for your business, base all your decisions on these four principles.  If you do not incorporate all four of the them, your security measures have a higher chance of being defeated.  Any security system can be beaten, but thieves are looking for the greatest amount of return with the lowest risk.  If you use these principles correctly, you will increase the risk criminals must take to be successful.  In most cases, the thief will choose an easier target down the road.  Many businesses rely on security alarm systems, also called intrusion alarm systems, which notify of someone trying to break into a building.  Security alarm systems by themselves, however, are not a deterrent to criminals, especially against professionals.  They are important but should be incorporated into your overall security plan.