SECURITY
DYNAMIC SOLUTIONS FOR DYNAMIC ENVIRONMENTS
CENTRAL TO ANY ESTATE SECURITY PRODUCT OFFERING SHOULD BE THE UNDERSTANDING THAT ESTATE SECURITY IS NOT ONLY ABOUT KEEPING THE CRIMINALS OUT, BUT ALSO ABOUT MANAGING THE BEHAVIOUR OF THOSE THAT BELONG IN THE COMMUNITY. THIS INCLUDES RESIDENTS, PERSONAL AND RECREATIONAL GUESTS, STAFF AND CONTRACTORS.
To most estate managers, balancing the needs of the various stakeholders against a practical and effective security solution is a daunting and often thankless task and one that should never be tackled alone. Security sub-committees, comprising representatives from all stakeholder groups, should be established as early in the development process as possible, so as to ensure a balanced approach to securing the estate. Decisions made by this sub-committee can have a significant impact on the future safety( and investment value) of the estate and should therefore be informed by fact, not conjecture or emotion. In either event, and in either a development or existing estate, a professional security consulting service will assist the security sub-committee and this assistance should be held in high regard.
Often, the security question that gets posed, either at development stage or at improvement stage, is what do we do first? Derek Lategan, Managing Director of Enforce Security, believes the answer is simply to look at the risk management programmme. Each estate should have a security policy that guides their decisions and an up-to-date risk register that prioritises them.
Derek explains that a risk management programme should establish the internal and external context in which an estate operates, then identify, describe and assess all the various risks to which the estate may be exposed. This will give the estate management direction on the development and provide a treatment plan for each of the risks – prioritising them based on the attributed risk rating. The risk treatment plan should provide options to be employed in order to mitigate, reduce or remove the risk.
The residential estate security risk treatment plan should first and foremost be intelligence driven, and apply a converged blend of human resources, supported and enhanced by technology.
At Enforce Security, the programme is in turn driven by rigorous ISO 9001 systems and procedures, which are underwritten by a culture of respect and operated within a centralised command and control environment.
Glenn Allen, Technology Director at Enforce Security, explains how convergent security is the integration of new technology and physical manpower, and should be standard practice for its benefits.
The converged security strategy is one that recognises that the role of technology is to detect security breaches and present this information to a trained operator whose job it is to then interpret what the technology is presenting. The operator should be able to evaluate the threat level, and decide on the course of action based on training and standard operating procedures.
Glenn advises that among the newest technologies that Enforce Security is rolling out at various estates are Thermal Imaging CCTV cameras with analytics. This technology is proving useful at alerting operators to late-night attempted fence penetrations, especially in areas with very low lighting or where there is a prevalence of mist.
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