SECURITY

AVOIDING BREAK-INS AND BEING AN EASY

TARGET By Timm Martin, Sentinel Security.

It has been a crazy and busy time for everyone in security, and new products are coming on to the market daily as a result of the pandemic. There is more and more to learn each day for the Storage industry to be able to adapt as required. Australia and New Zealand are still in varying degrees of lockdown which creates a few problems with staff on-site and off-site. Security companies are receiving quite a few calls coming through for help with CCTV and downloading or viewing footage.

These requests stemmed from facilities having more than normal break-ins. As the economic crisis increases so may these incidents, and as an industry, we need to be prepared. These incidents have happened as criminals are looking for easy targets, especially at times when they know fewer staff and customers are on-site. The increased requests have included: l Upgrading their perimeter deterrents l Additional cameras l Larger hard drive recorders l Additional CCTV training l Retro-fitting individual door alarms l Requests to download footage for police These are all great deterrents, but there are many things staff can do each day to demonstrate that their facility isn’t an easy target. These start at the sales process as it is essential to be vigilant right from the beginning.

Understand the differences between genuine customers and those who are checking out your business because of potential illegal activities. Most legitimate customers have a specific idea of what they need to store and for how long. Those who are checking out your business or looking for an easy target will often be vague and wishy-washy with answers to the most basic of storage questions.

Every day there are things that you can do that make your facility one the criminals will avoid. They need not be expensive fixes either, but simple things that are better to know about before an incident.

THINGS LIKE

l CCTV – Check that all your cameras are working and recording, the timestamp on your NVR is correct and matches the current time. l Retrieve footage – Do you know how to retrieve footage from your device? If you aren’t sure, reach out to your installer or IT department and learn.

It will pay dividends when it comes a time you need to retrieve the footage fast. l Alarms – Check your fire doors and external doors are alarmed. Ensure you know when doors are opened any time. Check this regularly and reach out to your installer or security monitoring if they need addressing. l Keypads, driveways and aisles – Keep keypads clean daily, check they are working and display a message. Keep your driveways free from rubbish and debris and the same for internal aisleways. If customers notice rubbish, odds are someone looking to do the wrong thing will see these unattended areas and focus on those. l Facility check/walkthrough – If your facility is closed over a weekend, it is best practice to do a walkthrough Friday and again Monday morning. Once you have done a few thorough walkthroughs a few weeks in a row, you will get a feel for your store and how it should look normally, which then makes anything out of the ordinary easier to spot. Customers appreciate a call to say they haven’t locked their unit correctly and they need to return to secure it, much more than you are calling to let them know there has been an incident, and they need to inspect if anything is missing. l Access logs accurate – Ensure your gate logs are up to date and synchronised with your computer. Check backups are carried out regularly. Periodically check codes and look for any that are often used to ensure customers have not given out “generic” codes to others. Regularly change utility, emergency and staff codes. Ensure multiple users assigned to a single unit all have a separate code. For example, a tradesperson with one work unit and four apprentices should each have their own separate and different code (Sentinel, SiteLink and Storman can all do this). l Perimeter checks – Complete regular walkarounds of your perimeter. Check fences cannot be pulled up or scaled, look for any missing panels or struts and ensure that nothing scalable like empty pallets or ladders are accessible for ingress or egress. Do not invite people to learn how easy it is to to get in and don’t make it even easier for them to leave with goods they have stolen. l Maintenance security – CCTV, electric fences and perimeter PE Beams are fantastic deterrents and work well, but they need to be maintained. If they are not performing, they need to be recalibrated or re-programmed. In the case of cameras keep them free from cobwebs and dust, PE Beams need an unencumbered line of sight to work, so gardens need to be cut back periodically and if small animals (cats and foxes) keep setting them off, they can be programmed to allow for these so you don't receive irrelevant alerts.

The same for CCTV and false alarms, these need to be checked and eliminated. Otherwise, the alarms won’t be useful in the future. l Hardstand areas – Make sure caravan doors are locked and there is nothing scalable left behind like ladders and old tyres. Valuable cars/boats/jet skis are always best under a cover so as not to invite “looky-loo’s” if they are outside and visible. Ensure caravans and trailers are either chained/bolted down or have a hitch lock on them.

These are just a few things that are easy to do and will make your facility less of a target. If your facility has all the bells and whistles and you advertise this and be proud of your set up. During the sales process explain to customers what the benefits of the system are and ensure you follow this up any time there is an issue. If they set their alarm off accidentally during the day (we know this happens), take it as a chance to pop up from your desk and go say Hi to them. They will love that someone attended the alarm even though they were on-site. Little things like this keep the criminals away and targeting businesses that do not have the same level of care. If your facility CCTV records number plates coming in and going out, let customers know. Those doing the right thing won’t be worried, but again those looking for a target will think again and look elsewhere. l

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Matt Walsh

Highway Frontage Real Estate

0411 880 054 | 1300 661 950 L1. 146 Chapel St, St Kilda VIC 3182

mwalsh@highwayfrontage.com.au www.selfstoragerealestate.com.au

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