Vision Statement
Alwinco (security risk assessment) empowers business owners, organizations and individuals to effectively guard their fixed property from criminal action.
Mission Statement
We stop crime by
- Conducting in-depth security risk assessments
- Developing effective security plans
- Conducting thorough feasibility studies
Armed with this knowledge, our clients are empowered to address their security requirements effectively.Our professionalism is supported by innovation, integrity and pride.
Company Profile
Alwinco, owned and managed by André Mundell, specialises in conducting security risk assessments for private homes, residential and business complexes, business premises, residential estates, office parks, and other high risk sites. While assessing the security weaknesses of a property, André consults with numerous specialists who have expertise in various sectors of the security and crime prevention field, bringing their skills and know how to the table.
Advice and recommendations on ways to secure your residential or business property are freely available; however it is rare to find a company like Alwinco that will do a careful in-depth study of your present security set-up before offering their independent and unbiased recommendation for the development and implementation of a uniquely appropriate solution to your security needs.
Hands-on experience
Andre Mundell has been in the crime prevention field for 27 years. He has interviewed victims and perpetrators, investigated entry and escape points of crime scenes and attended numerous security meetings with complex committees, communities, property developers, property managers and business owners. Over the years he has come to understand that two key elements play a role in every crime scene.
- The victims had a poor level of knowledge of how to best secure their property.
- The victims were, consequently, not in control of their situation before the crime took place.
Independence
When performing a security risk assessment, Alwinco attends to the “what, how, when and where” of your security requirements and then focuses on providing recommendations for cost effective and flexible security solutions tailored to your needs.
Alwinco is not affiliated to any suppliers, distributors or vendors in security technology or equipment and consequently has no financial interest in the implementation of your security upgrading project. The only ‘partnership’ we have is with you, our client.
We can therefore afford to be objective in our assessment of your current security set-up and recommend the best solution for your needs, delivering the final results of our professional efforts on your behalf with pride.
While Alwinco does not sell security hardware products or guarding services, we will gladly administer security tenders and projects on your behalf if requested.
Like you, we understand the adage ‘money comes and money goes but reputations last forever.’ The preservation of our good reputation is of supreme importance to us, to which end, we willingly share our expertise with you.
Products
Research and development
To keep our knowledge of security issues up to date, Alwinco is committed to ongoing research and development activities.
In the past 15 years crime has evolved along with technology. Criminals are often better educated about security systems than their victims and arrive at crime scenes with the equipment and knowledge necessary to short-circuit or destroy the systems they find.
Many criminals have also received combat training (SAP, security or military) and know how to protect themselves. They are also aware that failure may result in jail at best and loss of life at worst, but are prepared to take their chances knowing how ill prepared most owners are in securing their property. In most cases the criminal’s will to survive is far greater than the owner’s will to protect their property from attack.
Effective security standards are present in a remarkably low percentage of private and business properties; a factor that continues to encourage criminals. Statistics show the following:
- Home security - 8.3%;
- Complex & Estate security - 3.4%;
- Business security - 2.8%;
- Neighborhood security - 0.2%.
Crime prevention tactics aim to reduce the chances of becoming a victim. Therefore, at Alwinco we hold that effective crime prevention requires a security risk assessment. Security starts with knowledge.
Crime prevention starts with security risk assessment. Knowledge is security.
Security risk assessment, security plan & feasibility study
Conducting a security risk assessment is the first vital step. A problem cannot be confronted before it is properly identified.
Secondly a plan of action must be developed. The establishment of an effective security system stems from ‘security knowledge’ and such knowledge can only be supplied by an expert in this field.
At your request, Alwinco will provide you with a feasibility study of possible security solutions.
When Alwinco conducts a security risk assessment on your property we include a thorough inspection of your work tasks, activities, and premises, identifying potential weak points, evaluating their risks and recommending preventative and protective measures for your consideration.
Empowerment
Thereafter you will be in a position to approach a security company for the implementation of your needs armed with information that will enable you to effectively assess and query their recommendations.
Take a moment to consider this:
Should you approach a security company before you have received a professionally compiled security risk assessment report, you will be placing your safety in the hands of an alarm salesperson who is more interested in meeting his daily sales target than in addressing your actual requirements.
Also, the high staff turnover rate in the security industry creates a strong probability that the company representative you deal with will have extremely limited experience in the field.
There is far more to security than simply installing an alarm system.
Unaddressed security risks often encountered by Alwinco include:
- Absence of plans, policies, and procedures that adequately address and mitigate threats along with reduction of owner liability that may result from injuries sustained during an attack.
- Business continuity in the face of civil disorder and pandemics.
- Employee theft, lack of ethics with regard to the safety of people, lack of controls and measures to address, deter, and detect breaches in security measures.
- Inadequate controls for dissemination of information, access control security measures, visitor and vendor controls.
- Lack of security integration, awareness, responsibility, and training of staff to handle potential violations.
Services Plan
Our ‘partnering’ approach
Alwinco has established a policy of ‘partnering’ with our clients when conducting security risk assessments, involving you closely in the process and providing you with security ideas, skills and know-how. After signing an agreement with you, our work plan is as follows:
Physical inspection
We will accompany you on a walk through your property while considering the question ‘How would I break in if I was a thief?’ Bear in mind that Alwinco has 27 years of crime scene investigation experience to support observations when these physical inspections are conducted.
Development of a security plan
We will develop an effective, formalised action plan incorporating utilization of technology for upgrading your current security status.
A criminal act requires desire, ability and opportunity. Removing any one of these elements prevents the crime from taking place.
Removing the Desire to commit a crime:
The community, police or courts cannot affect or remove a criminal’s desire to commit crime. At best the state can hope to re-educate potential and active criminals on the error of their ways.
It needs be understood that knowledge is security.
Removing the Ability to commit a crime
The state is not able to affect or remove a potential or active criminal’s ability (knowledge of how) to commit crime.
Criminal knowledge can only be kept at bay by security knowledge
Therefore; the most effective crime prevention is an effective security plan.
An effective security plan can only be developed after a professional security risk assessment has been conducted.
Removing the Opportunity to commit a crime
- Naturally:
Environmental measures to reduce the opportunity for crime.
- Organized Measures:
Security Risk Assessment
- Target Hardening:
Security plan
Your security plan will provide you with crime prevention tools appropriately placed to reduce opportunities for criminals wanting to enter your premises without being detected. This will reduce anxiety, improving your family and/or work associate ’s quality of life.
Objectives of a Security Risk Assessment
A security risk assessment is an intensive study of many interlinking elements.
Extent of a security risk assessment:
- Survey of the property, the street and the neighborhood
- Identification of potential risks
- Recommendations made to address and reduce the risks
- An understanding of the balance between security and safety
5-phase physical site security survey:
- The core or inside of the premises
- The shell or the building itself
- The outer security or courtyard, garden or parking area
- The perimeter or security fence which is the first line of protection
- The environment or surrounding neighborhood
Security analysis:
- Security risk assessment
- Audit and management of existing security service
- Consulting and assisting at committee presentations
- Security planning
- Feasibility study
- Assisting with, and managing, tender processes
- Project management
- Construction (Building) control
- Window risk (usually ignored)
Alwinco is Results Driven
After conducting a security risk assessment, Alwinco will audit your existing security system and make suggestions for upgrading. (It can be noted here that it is not always necessary to scrap an existing security system, as most problems encountered with such a system are easily rectified.)
The assistance that Alwinco is willing to render may include:
- Supporting committees at security meetings by determining whether you are really getting the service you are paying for
- Teaching you to look beyond the ‘rosy pictures and wonderful presentations that promise you the earth’, ensuring a security solution that is designed around your actual needs
- Ensuring your current security system and the services provided meet legal requirements
- Assistance with security tender processes
Pricing and Payment
Just as each individual security plan is unique, so is each security risk assessment. Please note that it is necessary for Alwinco to conduct a site inspection before we are in a position to draw up a quote for you. The complexity of your situation will determine the price.
A 50% deposit (cash or electronic fund transfer) is payable before we will commence with an assignment.
It is imperative that we receive a copy of the photo page of the I.D. book of the person giving the instruction to conduct a security risk assessment on a property. This is to protect clients from criminals posing as property owners.
Contribution to Society
- Your safety and security needs will be adequately and effectively addressed
- The money you spend on servicing your security needs will be well spent
- Your security knowledge will be strengthened
- You will one of the few individuals in our society that is actively combating crime in our country
- As security knowledge is disseminated through society, crime will be addressed with increasing effectiveness
- Security Companies will be forced to provide a more effective service to their clients
Operational Management
André Mundell was employed by the South African police force for 21 years. Assigned to the investigation unit for the last 15, he gained valuable experience dealing with normal crimes as well as syndicates. Out of all the aspects involved in his work, it was the actual crime scenes that intrigued his analytical mind and piqued his interest most keenly. His personal interest grew to the point where he began making detailed notes at each crime scene he visited. Through this experience he began to detect and understand the similarities between the circumstances that were present before the crime took place.
Seven years ago André resigned from the police force, and accepted employment in the security industry. While working there he learned about the hardware used in the industry and intimately familiarized himself with crime prevention tactics. Around this time, André discovered the Internet and began blogging about crime, generating keen interest from the public.
Response to his blog made André realize how few people truly understand the nature of crime. He noticed that most members of the public simply accept the advice offered by security companies believing that the recommended alarm system will suffice and never think further to the protection of their family, staff or customers.
Further investigation into the phenomena that surround the question of security and crime prevention led André to understand that while individuals may raise questions about such issues socially, they forget to pose those same questions to their security company during negotiations.
André often discovers that an existing security system has built in weaknesses. Experience has taught him that as our security habits change, so does the nature of crime. To stop crime totally it is necessary to have extensive knowledge of all aspects of security and address each weakness in turn.
André’s career path brought him to the point of recognizing a need for proper education about security requirements and so Alwinco was established. To date André, together with his colleagues, has assisted hundreds of people to stop crime from afflicting their lives.
|
