Your building houses and protects employees, computers, and inventory, etc. It is extremely important that you protect perimeter of your facility inorder to detect and defend against unwanted intruders. If you can determine a threat before it enters your premises, it gives you a greater chance to resolve the threat before it can escalate, or worst; theft, disruption of service or harm to your employees.
The following are items required to maintain the perimeter security of your building’s security.
- Guards
- Fencing
- Lighting
- Locks
- CCTV
Guards
Guards are the oldest form of building security. Guards still have a very important role in protecting your building as guards can make decisions that computers and automated systems cannot. People still pick out when some thing is “out of place” better than any computer. A seasoned security guard is a valuable resource when personnel face safety risks. Properly trained guards are very effective when maintaining order, crowd control, and can help with evacuation when there are safety concerns.
As security guards are human, there are several drawbacks that need to be addressed. The following is a list of issues to be concerned about when staffing security guards:
- Availability. They cannot be everywhere at the same time, especially in dangerous places.
- Reliability. The pre-employment screening of guards is not foolproof. Guards get sick, have issues outside of the work place which can reduce their effectiveness at work. When the majority of employees have a bad day, productivity is reduced. When a security guard has a bad day it could cause a security risk.
- Training. Guards need to be kept up to date of methods criminals use to compromise your building. Guards can be socially engineered, and need to be kept in tune of spoofing methods. In my experience when testing physical security, a good suit and a clipboard can convince a security guard that you belong. Security guards need to understand and execute policy to the letter. If security guards can be tricked, your building is in great risk.
- Cost. It won’t matter if you hire internal staff or outsource to provide protection; security guards cost. In my experience, I find internal guards get to know the employees and have greater ownership of the security of the building, but after some time they get into a routine that may cause them to become complacent. An outsource firm that supplies guards, especially if they rotate guards, do not have the ownership of protection but are colder and can make hard calls easier as office politics are not a concern. I find internal guards are more protective where outsource guards can act more like bouncers.
Fencing
Fencing is a great method to protect your perimeter security. Fencing includes not just fences but also gates, turnstiles, and mantraps. Fencing and other barriers provide crowd control and help deter casual trespassing by controlling access to entrances. Drawbacks to fencing include its cost, its appearance, and its inability to stop a determined intruder. A Mantrap is where the entrance is routed through a set of double doors that are monitored by a guard and/or closed circuit TV.
Lighting
Half the battle is seeing the “unwanted” element before it gets into your building. Proper lighting is very important to light up your perimeter so your security cameras and security guards can see traffic in and out of the property and the building. Outside lighting of entrances and parking areas can discourage prowlers or casual intruders.
Locks
“Lock the doors!” Locks are not effective if they aren’t used. Locks have been used to secure buildings and goods for over 4,000 years. Locks can be divided into two types, preset and programmable.
Preset Locks. These are the most common type of door locks. The only way to change the key of combination of the lock is to replace the lock. Preset locks include key-in-knob, mortise, and rim locks. These all consist of variations of latches, cylinders, and dead bolts.
Programmable Locks. These locks can be either mechanical or electronic. A mechanical or programmable lock is often a dial combination lock, like the kind you would use on your high school locker. An electronic programmable lock requires you to enter a pattern of digits on a keypad.
Closed Circuit Television (CCTV)
Closed circuit television is used with guards to enhance their surveillance ability and to record events. Recording can be either a set of stills taken at a determined interval (take a picture every 5-30 seconds) or constant video recorded to a tape system or digitally to a hard drive. For example, a CCTV system that monitors a low traffic area could take a picture every 30 seconds but increase it to every 2 seconds when it detects activity. CCTV is a great way for guards to monitor a larger area with few guards.
So when thinking about the security of your perimeter, build a fence, hire good security guards, have a CCTV system for your guards to use and lock those doors!
