You do not want criminals to be able to waltz in and help themselves to anything they want inside of your business. You need layers of defenses outside your building to keep intruders away and protect both your staff and inventory inside of your business.
Along with implementing loss prevention measures inside of your building, you should also take preventative measures on the exterior to dissuade unauthorized persons from trying to enter in the first place. You can implement these five layers of protection to secure your business’s perimeter today.
Deterrence
Your first layer of protection should involve deterring would-be burglars and thieves from entering your property. When they find that they cannot simply trespass onto the premises or walk into your business, they may be more inclined to turn away and go somewhere else.
As such, this initial protective measure should involve establishing a perimeter that is farthest away from your assets, namely your building and the people and items located inside of it. It should utilize technology like:
- fencing or another physical barrier
- lighting
- video surveillance
- signs that say “No Trespassing” or “Area Under Surveillance”
This initial layer should be more of a psychological measure to demonstrate that you and your security team are on guard and ready to pursue unauthorized or unwanted people who enter the premises. However, if they do breach this first layer, they may be able to be stopped if they encounter the second layer of protection that you establish for your business and the premises on which it is located.
Detection
The next level of protecting your business involves detecting threats before they enter your building. The detection layer allows you and your security team to monitor a large area on your property. It also permits your security guards to detect a break-in and respond quickly to minimize your damages and liability.
This layer of protection should involve using tools like surveillance and megapixel cameras as well as other detection equipment. The goal should center on zooming in to detect and respond to an intrusion while also allowing you to notify your security guards immediately to the threat.
The detection measure can also involve building a physical barrier to stand between the deterrence layer and your building. You may choose to man it with the security guards that you have hired for this purpose or merely rely on the cameras and closed-circuit TVs. As with the initial deterrence layer of protection, if criminals breach the detection measure, they could be stopped by another preventative measure that involves denying them entry to the premises.
Denial
The third layer of protection to keep criminals out of and away from your business involves denying them entry if they were able to get past the initial two layers. The denial layer should involve using tools like:
- surveillance cameras
- CCTV
- access control technology
- pass or security card gates
This perimeter should identify who can and cannot come into the business and scrutinize the credentials of people who want to gain entry. It also should utilize an element of visual identification so that your security team can literally see people who want to come and go as they please onto your property.
Delay
Securing the perimeter of your business also should involve establishing methods of delaying criminals from breaching your property. The delay measure can entail using interior locks to your building as well as physical barriers like fences, gates, and reinforced double doors. These tactics are designed to slow down the criminals’ invasion and compel them to give up entirely.
It also allows your security team to respond quickly and to clearly identify the threat being made against you, your staff, and your building. The team may be able to detain the invaders at this point and alert law enforcement to assist in the arrest and removal of the criminals.
If this layer of protection fails to stop an invasion of your premises, you still have one last option available to you to secure the perimeter of your business. This final element involves defending your property and staff from criminal threats.
Defend
The final step that you can take to protect you, your business, and your employees involves putting up and utilizing physical defenses to stop criminal threats in their tracks. The Defend perimeter should actively engage your team of security professionals as well as law enforcement from your city, county, and state. It ideally will culminate in the apprehension, detainment, and arrest of those who aimed to steal from or harm you, your employees, or the inventory inside of your business.
This final layer of defense should actively involve the use of surveillance equipment as well. CCTV, video monitoring, megapixel cameras, and other tools are not used so much to identify the threat as they are to record the actual defense of your premises.
The images and video that they capture can prove that you were acting in your own defense. They can also determine the effectiveness of your security team’s response and allow you and your team to make adjustments as necessary to protect you and your business better in the future.
The defense perimeter should incorporate and overlap the other four perimeters that you use to keep your property safe. It should also be the one that you utilize closest to your assets and your employees.
Establishing all five layers of perimeter protection requires that you work closely with professionals who are experienced and trained in commercial security measures. Having uniformed and visible security pros on your business’s premises can also be a preventative measure that you use to safeguard your company. These professionals can also be an important element to any and all of the five perimeter measures that you use to protect your business and employees.