Residential Estate Industry Journal 4 | Page 58

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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