Don’t Help Criminals Attack Your Property
When it comes to protecting a retail store, office building, warehouse, or any other commercial property, it’s important to consider all potential weaknesses. One excellent way to do this is to try to think like a criminal. Imagine that you’re trying to break into your own property. How would you do it? Keep in mind that criminals don’t care about making a mess or damaging property. They will almost always take the easiest and most direct path into a building. This is why smash and grab robberies are so common.
If you review your property and look at it from the standpoint of a criminal, you may find that there several weaknesses that you’ll want to eliminate. In fact, you might find that the design of your property or the objects that you have located in and around your building could actually help criminals break in.
There are many ways that criminals can use the various aspects of a property to help them commit crimes.
Inadequate Lighting
This is perhaps the most important aspect to consider and one of the most neglected. Criminals thrive in darkness. They want to commit crimes without anyone seeing them. If your property does not have adequate lighting, it becomes a target for criminals.
Poor lighting also make security tools such as surveillance cameras much less effective.
Using Tools
Look around your location. Is there anything located nearby that could help a criminal break in? For example, if you have a planter located near a window, you’re practically inviting a criminal to use it in a smash and grab. The same is true if you have any signage near your windows. Large signs can easily be removed and used as weapons.
These threats can change seasonally as well. For example, do you keep a snow shovel near the door in the winter? This can be used by criminals to gain access to your property.
Remove or lock up anything that could possibly be used as a weapon by criminals and secure your property with security gates to make smash and grabs much less likely.
Your Layout
Have you placed expensive or valuable items near the front of your retail store? This can be a good way to draw customers in, but it can also attract criminals. If a criminal can see that it would be easy to steal desired items simply by smashing through a window or door, he or she will be more likely to attempt the crime.
For your own security, move valuables out of window displays and away from windows and doors when your business is closed. Store these items in locked cabinets or behind security gates where they won’t just be safe, but also away from the eyes of criminals.
By reviewing your property and taking steps to remove potential issues, you’ll be keeping your location much more safe and secure.
Want some more helpful tips to improving the security of your business? Download our helpful guide to Improving Your Security Mindset.
