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“Guard” Against Becoming a Crime Statistic by adopting the 5-prong
approach!
Get a Security Risk Assessment Today!
We tend to look at our security requirements with tunnel vision
i.e. We think that if the inside of our home or office is protected
by an alarm system, and we are connected to an Armed Response
Company, we are protected from would-be intruders.
But, consider this….
By the time the alarm goes off, it may be TOO LATE!
An intruder is already inside your home or office!
Think of your home as the yolk of an egg, inside an egg box, on a
shelf in a supermarket!! The yolk is the interior of your house.
If you can’t get into the supermarket, you can’t break the egg box,
and if you can’t break the egg box, you can’t get to the egg shell
and if you can’t break the shell you can’t get to the white of the
egg and, ultimately, you can’t break the yolk! So, in order to
ensure the safety of the yolk (or core), you must protect the white,
the shell, the box and the area surrounding the box.
This is what security risk assessors do! They look at the BIG
PICTURE and in so doing, minimise the risk of an intrusion long
before the intruders are inside your home. And this is what we mean
by the five pronged approach. Crime can never be eliminated, but we
can reduce the risk substantially by taking proper precautions.
And who better to do your risk assessment, than ALWINCO, experts in
the security risk assessment field.
ALWINCO is an acronym for “Always in Control” and that is precisely
what we aim to do for you… “Put you in control”
So, let’s work from the outside in….
Step 1 - The Neighbourhood/Suburb/Road Access
ALWINCO will first look at the environment in which you live or
work. Let’s face it, it’s always better to stop a problem at the
source. This means researching the area, with specific emphasis on
crime statistics. How many break ins or attempted break ins have
there been in the area, how many highjackings, murders, assaults,
rapes etc. Then we would look at the modus operandi and suggest
ways of minimising the crime rate in the entire area, and
specifically, in YOUR STREET i.e. guards on foot and/or bicycles,
patrol cars, booms, access control etc.
Step 2 – Perimeter Fence/Wall
Nothing is infallible and occasionally a clever intruder will get
past the preventative measures in the street. This is when Step 2
comes into play. Is your perimeter protection adequate? Is your
wall high enough or perhaps even too high, should you have barbed
wire protection, electric fencing, spikes, electronic gates,
surveillance cameras etc etc? A host of questions that a qualified
security risk assessor can answer.
Step 3 – Your garden/yard/outside of your home
Once again, in an ideal world, steps 1 and 2 should have eliminated
the risk, BUT in reality something or someone always slips through
the net, so now we are getting closer to “home”. What if the
intruder has managed to get into your garden? It is important that
you are alerted to the presence of the intruder BEFORE he tries to
get into the house. What if he is waiting for you in your driveway
when you come home? How will you know he is there? Once again, an
assessor will advise you on your options in this regard. Exterior
beams which sense movement, security lights, surveillance cameras
etc. If you are not educated in this regard, you can spend a vast
amount of money and still find that the measures you have taken are
inadequate or even ineffective.
Step 4 – The Exterior of your Home i.e. The Shell, Outer Walls of
the Building. Windows and Doors
If you haven’t stopped the potential intruder by now, he is getting
dangerously close to breaking in and you are in serious danger, so
this part of the assessment is crucial. Like we said before, we aim
to stop the potential risk long before it gets to your actual DOOR,
but we all know that criminals are desperate people and desperate
people resort to desperate and innovative measures. There are
thousands of locks, burglar bars and other devices and equipment on
the market. How does a layman know which are best to use? The
simple answer is “he doesn’t”. ALWINCO does not sell or install any
equipment and we are therefore in a position to advise you on what’s
best for YOU and not what is best for our bottom line.
Step 5 – Interior of your home
Remember what we said at the beginning of this article… Once the
alarm goes off, it may be too late because the intruder is already
in your home. And, we still stick to that statement, BUT it is
still better to KNOW that someone is inside your home and try and
get help and isolate your family before the ‘yoke actually breaks
and you become scrambled eggs!! How do we do this? Of course, with
an alarm system, a good armed response system, isolating parts of
the house with strong gates etc. Again, we are at the mercy of the
profiteers. What we don’t need is an alarm that fails to go off, an
armed response company that takes an hour to respond or gates that
are easy to open or saw through! So, even though it is the 11th
hour when an intruder is actually inside the house, there are still
ways and means of preventing a catastrophe.
Protect your loved ones, your home and your environment now. Find
out where your weak spots are and eliminate them with the proper
planning and advice that only a qualified risk assessment company
can give you.
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