Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa December - January 2014 | Page 52

STRATEGIES

BY CHARL MIJNHARDT

Don’t Fall Prey To Crime
Create a crook proof security plan

R

ecent years have seen commercial and
industrial properties being erected with
much sturdier security backbones than
was historically the case. Place, for instance, a retail
establishment built a mere ten years ago alongside
one that was developed this year, and it brings
into stark contrast the sensibilities and priorities
of property developers of the time versus those
of today. With the national crime report again
reflecting the disconcerting increase in crimes
– specifically robbery and burglary – targeting nonresidential properties, of which commercial and
retail properties certainly form part, security is now
more important than ever.
Centurion Systems, a leading manufacturer of
award-winning gate automation and access control
equipment, recommends a thorough threat analysis
before deciding on any one security system for your
building. Since many criminals use parking areas
as their primary entry and exit points – or indeed
as the focus of their nefarious activity, for example
in the case of vehicle theft – this is the ideal space to
implement a truly ironclad security infrastructure.
Traffic barriers remain an immensely popular
and effective means of controlling vehicular
access into and out of parking areas, but Centurion
notes the importance of ensuring that the barriers
are suitable for the particular application and
environment. For example, if they are to be used
in a commercial or industrial milieu, they need
to be capable of coping with high traffic volumes
(possibly thousands of operations per day) and
should also be outfitted with some sort of battery
backup facility to ensure continued operation in
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the event of a power failure. Sadly, South Africa
has been plagued by load shedding in recent years
and an army of traffic barriers standing raised like
soldiers at full salute will only invite the unwanted
attention of opportunistic criminals while
making visitors and patrons feel unsafe, which
unfortunately leads to a knock-on effect adversely
affecting revenue generation.
While traffic barriers do make formidable
sentries on their own, integrating ancillary devices
such as roadway spikes and pedestrian barrier
fences ensures that vehicular access points are as
comprehensive as possible and leave precious little
room for trespass. More and more commercial
operators are seeing the value of this as a means
of combating tailgating and vehicle theft out of
parking lots, and adding further security to, for
example, tenant parking facilities by integrating
proximity access control systems and biometric
readers. These technologies not only facilitate
access control, but due to their inherently
integrative nature and compatibility with
software packages and PC administration, they
provide administrators with a means of logging
transactions, tracking employee movement for
time and attendance-based logging, remote site
surveillance, etc.
When it comes to securing smaller access
points within a larger structure (for example
shops in a mall, or individual offices), GSM
technology is taking the commercial sector by
storm, due in part to its tremendous flexibility and
certainly owing to the fact that GSM devices are
comparatively inexpensive considering the wide

December January 2013/4 SA Real Estate Investor

range of applications for which they can be used
and the undeniable security benefits associated
with them. For those not yet versed in the ways of
this supremely useful and far-reaching technology,
it involves using the GSM wireless transmission
system – which tech-fundis will recog ????????)????????????????????????????????????L??)?????????????????????????????????????????)??????????????????????????????????????)????????????????????????M4????????)?????????????????????)A???????????????????????????????????)??????????????????????????????????????????)?????????????????????????????????)??????????????????????????????????)?????????????????????????????????????)?????????????????????????M5L????????????)???????????????????????????????????)????????????????????????????5???????????)????????????????????????????????????)?????????????????????????????????????)??????????????????????????????????)???????????????????????????????????????)??????????????????????)%????????????????????????????????)???????????????????????????????????????)?????????????????????????????????????)?????????????????M4???????????????)??????????????????????????????????????????)?????????????????????? ??????????????)?????????????????????????????????????)???????????????????????????()IM=UI
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