At Northeast Security Solutions, we place a premium on creating security for every part of your commercial property. Over our 30-plus years in business, we’ve worked with many customers to create this complete security. Unfortunately, many customers fail to take a comprehensive approach when creating a security plan. Oftentimes, a commercial property’s perimeter ends up getting the short end of the security stick. In this post, we share some tips to help you avoid this security pitfall and create valuable perimeter security.
First, we’ll help you look at your property’s exterior through the eyes of a criminal. Doing so can help you make smart decisions when it comes to securing the outside of your business. Next, we’ll focus on designing and installing an effective video surveillance system. Finally, we’ll share some tips to help you choose the locking hardware that provides the best security for your business. We’ll begin this discussion with an eye on choosing quality hardware that operates exactly the way you want. From there, we’ll wrap up with a peek at some electronic lock hardware that controls and tracks access to your building. Now, let’s get started with a look at creating an uninviting (at least for burglars!) perimeter for your business.
Making Smart Exterior Security Decisions
Of course, the goal of most security measures lies in keeping the wrong folks off of your property entirely. As a first step, we encourage business owners to install a tall, difficult-to-scale fence to border their property. While 6-8 foot chain link fencing might create a property border and keep animals away, it will do little to deter thieves. Extremely tall wrought-iron fencing will provide a much more secure perimeter for your property. People will find this much more difficult to climb, and therefore it will encourage them to find another target. Moreover, keeping shrubbery and plants on your property trimmed can help remove potential sources of cover for areas of your building that you cannot cut off access to. Additionally, planting thorn-bearing bushes also makes snooping around the edges of your business less appealing.
Installing cameras can create proactive perimeter security by creating a visible surveillance presence that both deters and records crime and suspicious activity on your property.
In addition to making your property hard to enter, making all corners of your facility visible also goes a long way towards achieving perimeter security. A combination of permanent and motion-activated lighting will make thieves feel “watched.” Bright permanent lighting can help eliminate your facility’s blind spots. Furthermore, motion-activated lighting can help catch the attention of those passing by a property, and therefore provide an additional deterrent. Moreover, good lighting also helps with the performance of any cameras you install. Speaking of which, let’s now take a look at how we can help you install surveillance that beefs up your property’s perimeter security.
Create an Effective Surveillance System
Installing commercial-grade surveillance cameras has long remained a staple of any business security plan we create. Adding this security helps you accomplish a couple important goals. For starters, the mere presence of cameras can help deter crime. After all, criminals seeing a visible surveillance system may well choose another target for their crimes. Furthermore, cameras provide both live and recorded footage of your property. This adds peace of mind as well as valuable security if any criminal or suspicious behavior occurs at your business.
In terms of adding perimeter security, we can install high-resolution cameras that monitor various areas of your property’s exterior. For example, monitoring doorways can help you catch potential thieves who may “snoop” before attempting a break-in at a later date. Additionally, we also recommend adding cameras to view your parking lot and vehicle entryways. This gives you the power to monitor your lot for vehicles entering your property during non-business hours. Furthermore, cameras have also helped piece together events such as car accidents or slips and falls when customers seek damages. As you can see, an effective surveillance system hits a lot of “boxes” on the security checklist! Let’s now turn our attention to adding perimeter security through the use of quality locking hardware.
Adding Important Perimeter Security with Lock Hardware
We consider locks the first line of defense for any property, whether residential or commercial. Whenever possible, burglars prefer to break in through doors. Of course, taking this route creates the most inconspicuous and safe method of entry. Therefore, we recommend taking extra precautions to effectively lock up your property. This section will share a couple tips to help you do just that. Here, we’ll look at both mechanical and electronic locking options to help you work towards this goal. Let’s get started by exploring how to ensure you choose the highest-quality locks available for your property.
Choosing the Highest-Quality Locking Equipment Available
Many of our commercial customers find themselves overwhelmed at the amount of lock products on the market. Furthermore, similar-looking products come at wildly differing price points. While confusing, a lot of this has to do with the quality of lock you purchase. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and Builders Hardware Manufacturers Association (BHMA) have created a 3-level testing system for lock hardware. Standardized tests gauge factors such as bolt strength, security, ability to withstand impact and force, and quality of finish, among others. Allegion, one of the biggest global providers of security products, provides this helpful guide to door hardware testing. Lock manufacturers often seek out ANSI/BHMA certification for their product lines.
Installing Grade 1 lock hardware by superior companies such as Medeco adds tremendous security to your business.
Hardware that meets the strictest criteria receives Grade 1 ANSI/BHMA certification. Grade 2 hardware is less robust than Grade 1. Grade 3 locks are still ANSI/BHMA certified, but we do not recommend them for commercial use. Unfortunately, we often find inferior locks installed in high-traffic or high-importance areas of commercial buildings. Exterior doors, high-traffic doors, and doors that have valuable equipment behind them all deserve Grade 1 hardware. These Grade 1 locks, such as our preferred locks by Medeco, will provide added security and longevity. Moreover, we can even install Grade 1 commercial-quality padlocks to secure your fence gates! This adds true perimeter security, as it makes it more difficult than ever to even access your parking lot. Next up, let’s see how you can add electronic locking hardware to your security plan to efficiently control access to your property.
Using Access Control Systems for Added Security and Door Usage Tracking
Over the past several years, access control systems have gotten increasingly popular. This security measure involves using advanced lock equipment to control access to your property. Access control systems utilize electronic locking hardware to operate specific doors within a business. Rather than using a key at these doors, users approach a keypad or a credential reader and present either a code or a physical credential such as a card or fob. Users who present an approved credential will then be able to open the door after the reader interacts with the door’s electronics to unlock it. Business owners can allow each credential to open only certain doors at specific times, giving them tremendous control over who can open which doors, and when.
In addition to controlling access to certain doors, access control systems include software that tracks access as well! Every time an employee approaches an access door, it creates a time-stamped event that you can view on a computer by logging in to your access control system. This allows you to easily track employee activity within your business. Furthermore, it allows you to see if anyone tries to enter doors in your business that they should not attempt to enter. For example, if employees without the necessary permission attempts to use their credentials to enter your business during a time that you do not want them to do so, the system will both deny access and “flag” this event. At that point, you will know which employee attempted this breach. The security and flexibility offered by these systems makes them an extremely valuable piece of perimeter security.
Putting it All Together for Complete Perimeter Security
We hope that this post helps you secure the perimeter of your building as effectively as possible. Furthermore, we encourage you to contact us with any questions you may have about the material presented here. We will happily answer any security-related questions you may have about securing the outside of your commercial property. Additionally, we also invite you to take advantage of our free site survey program.
We offer free security consultations and quotations to both new and existing customers alike. While on site, we can address any security-related concerns you may have. Moreover, we can make suggestions of our own based on observations we make during our visit. Together, we can create a complete security plan to keep your entire property — both inside and out — as safe and secure as possible!