Crime is a cost that most businesses must deal with, whether through being a victim of a crime or through spending time and resources on its prevention. While there are many advantages to security services beyond crime prevention, crime prevention remains the main reason businesses purchase security.
While security guards and CCTV can provide useful evidence for catching criminals in the act, prosecuting them or taking disciplinary action against staff, it’s better to prevent crime in the first place than have to deal with its consequences.
This is why we recommend that all security measures be prominent and signposted. Security guards should be uniformed in high visibility gear and carry flashlights. Well lit signage should warn site visitors of the security measures in place, such as CCTV, alarm systems and access control.
Placement of security measures is also important. Security guards at entrances provide an immediate message to any potential criminals that they are being watched and, while hidden CCTV systems are useful in limited cases, it is usually better for them to be prominently placed.
There’s much more to securing a site than security. Burglary and criminal damage often occurs due to a lack of due diligence and not looking at a site with security risks in mind. Simple checks that apply to many business premises include:
While the above checks will provide a basic assessment of criminal risk, a detailed assessment can only be performed by security professionals who have the experience to identify easily missed risks across a wide variety of sites.
Whenever we provide security services for a client, we provide a security risk assessment as standard. This risk assessment interrogates a site from top to bottom to ascertain risk for criminal activity. We then consider which measures can mitigate them, whether through simple operational and management changes or formal security services.
For many businesses, crimes committed by employees are just as, if not more of a risk than external threats. This is especially true for shops, warehouses, manufacturing facilities and any other location where staff handle goods or materials that can be sold.
Internal theft can be prevented though the installation of CCTV in handling areas, access control systems and regular stock checks. Security guards can also patrol handling areas and perform random bag checks at exits to deter theft.
Should disciplinary action need to be taken, clear CCTV footage can provide proof of wrongdoing while security guards can act as reliable witnesses. This is valuable not just for preventing criminal activity but for any misconduct in the workplace.
If you want to find flexible and bespoke security solutions to prevent your business being victim to criminal activity, contact our award-winning customer services team now on 0800 772 3786.
Magenta Security provide award winning security services throughout the UK. We are in the top 5% of ACS approved contractors and were the first security company in Europe to be awarded ISO 14001 for our environmental management systems.
