CCTV can be an effective and useful security measure for homes and businesses.  We’ve looked at how it can help and put together the following five reasons for installing CCTV.

1. Deter crime
CCTV cameras can be very effective in reducing and preventing crime.  Many thieves or vandals look for easy targets and a CCTV camera will put them off.  They can also be useful in loss prevention, keeping track of assets and reduce employee or visitor theft.

Whether you are going on holiday, have moved out of your house or have an empty business premises, you need to consider the security of the property whilst it is unoccupied.   When you go on holiday it is common to ask a neighbour, friends or family to keep an eye on your home, go around and water plants, pick up post and generally make the place look lived in.

It’s a new year and a new decade but so far little seems to have changed when it comes to knife crime in the UK.  Once again the new year was welcomed with a number of stabbings across the country, several took place in the early hours of new year’s day and one involving children as young as 13.

Home burglaries increase over the winter months, with longer nights making it is easier for burglars to operate under the cover of darkness.  The same is true for businesses, so if you close up over the Christmas break make sure your organisation is secure.

Organisers and Police are working together to ensure the safety of visitors to the UK’s Christmas markets.  Attacks across Europe in recent years have led to an increase in security in cities across the UK, with concrete and metal barriers preventing vehicles from accessing the pedestrian areas in Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh.  

The 2016 attack in Germany saw a lorry being used to plough into visitors at Berlin’s Breitscheidplatz Christmas market, killing 12 and injuring over 50 others.

Christmas is rapidly approaching and this is the time of year that the shops are generally at their busiest.  Christmas shopping is underway and the increase in the number of shoppers leads to an increase in shoplifting.

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) report released earlier this year noted an increase in retail crime across all types.  Violence is a real issue, with an average of 115 attacks a day on retail employees over 12 months.  And the increasing use of knives in these attacks is particularly worrying.  

Concierge staff are becoming more common in buildings across the UK.  Previously something you would see mainly in the United States and in five-star hotels, they are now regularly found in office buildings and residential properties.  Security officers can also be required for these sites and many professional security companies offer them as a combined service.

Here are the top 10 benefits of making use of a concierge security officer. 

The SIA recently reported a news story about a security boss found guilty of defrauding the security operatives he employed.  The SIA licenced guards operated in a number of locations and were not paid for their work.  In this case the employer used various aliases and set up several businesses which were run from his home between 2012 and 2016.  He was investigated following a number of complaints that were made about his failure to pay security operatives.

It’s that time of year again.  The clocks go back at the weekend and the days are getting shorter. If you have to walk home in the dark there are precautions you can take to keep yourself safe.
 
Plan ahead
Make sure you know the route you’re taking and try to avoid any unfamiliar areas.  Try to avoid short cuts and stick to well-lit main roads.   If possible, book a taxi or arrange a lift with friends in advance to avoid walking somewhere you don’t know.

The Security Industry Authority (SIA) have produced a case study to highlight the importance of safe restraint methods by examining the events leading to a man’s tragic and unnecessary death.

The case study aims “to help door supervisors, their employers and venues to recognise how they can better protect themselves and others by reducing the need for physical intervention and to encourage appropriate training and safe practice”.

Physical intervention should only be used as a last resort and security operatives have a responsibility to keep everyone involved safe.