Residential Estate Industry Journal 3 | Page 73

INDUSTRY FOCUS PAGE
71

human resource management

Workforce management
Most people who live in residential estates do so for the added security . But gates and fences can only go so far and , as perimeter and building security systems become very efficient , modern criminals have changed their tactics . And , of course , it is essential that all manner of people are able to access the estates . These include visiting friends and relatives but also couriers , pizza delivery guys and building , painting , electrical , gardening and / or plumbing contractors – and their staff .
The fact that estate management has little or no control over the vetting of people that contractors bring onto the estate is a huge challenge . While most of these people are legitimate workers , it may be possible for criminals to find their way onto a team . And , if that happens , that criminal is relatively free to perform criminal acts in the estate .
So the more estate management depends on others to vet personnel entering the estate , the greater the risk of criminal elements being introduced . Workforce management in a secure estate is different from workforce management in a large organisation . The estate ’ s management needs to perform the same functions as a company or commercial business , but also needs to give access to employees from various companies who are only vetted and managed once they are already in the estate .
Modern criminals are bold , confident and audacious individuals . They perform criminal acts in broad daylight , often in full view of their victims . Criminal syndicates are well organised and often have extensive networks of information-gathering agents .
ACCESS CONTROL
So to protect ourselves in the face of this new threat , we need to “ own our space ”. That means we need to take action to reclaim control over access to our properties .
We need to be able to identify each and every person who enters our space , using the most sophisticated techniques available in this age of technological advancement . These include drivers licence , vehicle licence disc and identity document scanners , and number plate recognition systems . If applied correctly , these systems can detect forged documents .
The lower-quality , more abundant forged ID cards and documents are simply stolen cards that have had the photograph replaced . If access control officers are provided with the correct CCTV equipment and effective training in the use of these systems , they are able to atlantic beach golf Estate
identify those forged cards , because the barcode scanners should produce a photograph of the person when it is scanned .
Professionally forged ID cards are made by staff at offices of the Department of Home Affairs . An innocent person ’ s identity is stolen and the criminal ’ s photo is included in the barcode of the card as well as on the front of the card . Such forgeries are much more difficult to obtain , and also much more difficult to detect . To spot this type of individual , we need to adopt other technologies .
The equipment used to scan driving licences and the new identity cards is often also able to read vehicle licence discs , which may identify stolen vehicles – or at least stolen number plates . By combining specialised cameras with number plate recognition software , the system can interpret and digitise