Haines Security Solutions
Yesterday, I was the speaker/presenter during a webinar hosted by the Security Industry Association (SIA) entitled “The Five Pillars of Physical Security: Misconceptions, Myths and Truths.” The webinar is available via SIA here: www.securityindustry.org or hssview.blogspot.com.
During the question and answer session, one of the folks who called in asked, “During your travels what is the number one cause of security systems failing?” That’s a really good question for several reasons. First and foremost because security is a world-wide issue and is addressed in a variety of ways in different parts of the world. And, second, there’s a commonality to their failure. I don’t have hard-cold factual evidence that quotes percentages but by-and-large, the principle reason for failure is the lack of a holistic approach. So much of the time, a business owner, facility or property manager will have what we call an “ad hoc” system of security. They’ll have a few locks, some cameras and maybe even a guard. Maybe only one of those or maybe all three or maybe even some other things like lighting and fences. But chances are they are not fully integrated – holistic.
You see, these are all products. Yes, even the guards are a product. The “value” this human product provides is much greater than any non-human product, because, when properly trained they have the ability to perform all five pillars of physical security. They can detect, assess, control, react, and engage. Non-human products can’t do that. They can address one or two elements but not all five. There are some really smart folks who are working on artificial intelligence to assist with that but it’s going to be a little while before a person is replaced by a robot that can analyze a situation in its totality and learn how to react. Sure, AI programmers will be able to set parameters for the robot to follow but that sense someone gets when confronted with something slightly out of the ordinary, the “gut feeling”, will be awhile before it gets here.
That’s why you have to address all five pillars every time a product is installed. If you don’t, eventually the system will fail. Maybe not catastrophically and maybe no one will get hurt but then again can we take that chance? So what are the five pillars? Detection is the ability to detect behaviors – all behaviors. The ability to assess the behaviors as being either good or bad is critical. The “how to do” something is called, command and control or sometimes policy and procedures. What everyone must do must be spelled out. Security is not a function of the security force – it falls on each of us. Response has to do with being able to respond in a timely manner to stop the behavior before it gets out of hand or someone gets hurt. And, engagement deals with who actually intervenes. Minor rule infractions should be handled by peers, things that are a little more serious by supervisors and the most serious by the security forces. Remember, if you always call on the security folks to enforce all of the rules all the time, security will become a tax and a burden for all.
Now, how in the world will this reduce costs and increase efficiency? By taking a holistic approach, the need for additional products or supplemental guard forces for monitoring will be reduced.
A few years back, I did a security survey at a government facility that had 178 cameras on site, which in turn caused them to have six guards 24/7 to monitor all of these cameras. The reality was they probably could have gotten by with 15 cameras and one or two guards to monitor them. Taking a holistic approach from the start will reduce up front-end short term costs by reducing the need for equipment, materials, and manpower. And long range costs are kept down because there’s a lesser need to modify later (mission creep), lower equipment maintenance cost because there’s less equipment that can break or needs replacement and the tremendous personnel costs associated with manpower. Those six guard posts equate to 36 – 40 people.
Doug Haines, MPSE, is owner/CEO of Haines Security Solutions, Ventura, Calif.
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