Data from the New York Police Department shows that burglaries rose by 26.3% in march 2020 even when emergency laws were put in place in order to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. That just goes to show that, now more so than ever before, it is important for you as a business owner to ensure your safety and the safety of your business. How to go about ensuring that you have a safe working environment? The following list might help you out.
List of security measures to ensure safety
- Ensuring camera coverage: your surveillance system should provide you with a 360 degree view of your business. It should cover all the entry ways, every points of interest and they should be covered from multiple angles so that if something happens to one camera, you have other cameras nearby to pick up on what is happening.
- Establishing a live feed: you should be able to access your camera feed from your laptop, TV, or smart phone. The best systems come with software that allows you to remain on top of what is happening regardless of what system you use.
- Ensuring image quality: One of the key things you have to ensure is the quality of the video or the images that the cameras provide. You should be able to recognize things like faces or license plates through your cameras. Good cameras to consider would be 1080p cameras, 4MP cameras, or 4k cameras if you have the budget for that.
- Night Vision: This part is self-explanatory. Ideally, you want our cameras to have capabilities even when there is no natural light outside as a lot of burglaries tend to take place in the dead of the night. So, you should consider looking at cameras with infrared sensors to help you be on top of things when there is total darkness all around.
- Recording capabilities: your camera should have recorders that allow them to store videos for the entire duration that your business may be closed in. You might have to upgrade your recorder in order to do that but the investment will most likely be worth it. Consider getting a recorder of 48 terabytes to ensure that you have ample storage for your video recordings.
How the recession might impact the security of your business
Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, over 6.6 million US workers filed jobless claims as businesses nationwide started cutting down on their employees in order to stay afloat. As often the case, with a higher unemployment rate and a higher rate of debt and financial hardship, crime rates are predicted to go up and many criminals have been taking and will take advantage of this horrible situation.
If you are a business owner, you must be on your toes to ensure that you stay one step ahead and ensure the security of your business before any such thing can happen to you. What should you do if you do not know where to start? The checklist should help you identify what you lack in your current surveillance system and then you can go from there to decide what things you might need to upgrade or replace to ensure that your business remains intact when you get back from COVID-19 induced lockdowns.
The importance of surveillance security
Research has shown that having a surveillance system in place can have a subconscious effect on possible thieves and burglars to not commit crime on your property. If the deterrent fails and they commit a crime anyway, having a foolproof surveillance system would make sure that they do not get away with whatever crime they commit. If you get a commercial grade security system, they will ensure that every requirement on the checklist is met and give you some peace of mind to make sure that your business remains safe even if you are not physically there.
Security measures outside of getting a proper surveillance system
While a surveillance system is definitely the best thing you can do to ensure that your office is safe from any possible harm, there are other perhaps more basic things you can do to ensure that there is an extra layer of security as well. They will be listed here:
- Ensure that all service doors are locked and secured
- Reinforce the windows to make sure nobody can get in by simply breaking them
- Make sure that your security alarm is fully functional
- Make sure that you do not have bins in areas where burglars could use them to climb on to your property.
- Ensure that there is sufficient lighting on and around your property so that it deters thieves and burglars.
Reinforcing your business from within
Just like how you can get a surveillance system on the outside to lower the probability of getting robbed, you can tweak certain things on the inside to lessen the chances of getting robbed as well. The following are some things you can consider:
- Make sure that your high value items are not next to the window while business is closed
- Make sure to not keep cash on the premises
- Draw curtains for the entire duration when the business is closed
- Use a bolted down safe with anti-tamper sensors and a tine lock that has the capability of raising an alarm
- Do not leave any keys on the premises
If you need professional systems with features that are included in this blog and you are unsure of where to look for such systems, consider checking out 2M Technology. Call 214-988-4302 to speak with an expert who can help you walk through the process and help you find and customize the security system that fits your needs the most.