The holiday season is a prime time for commercial property crime. Whether it’s Thanksgiving or the Fourth of July, criminals take advantage of reduced staffing levels and unattended lots to steal valuable goods — and they’re getting better at it over time. Cargo theft skyrocketed in 2023 around Thanksgiving, increasing 101% compared to the same period in 2022.
Businesses with high-value cargo, vehicles, or equipment must remain vigilant during the holidays to safeguard their assets from organized theft rings, opportunistic thieves, and other security threats. If you’re concerned about external theft this holiday season, consider the following crime prevention strategies.
1. Assess Your Property’s Perimeter Security
The first step to protecting your commercial property from holiday crime is to assess its perimeter security. The perimeter is your first line of defense and should be designed to visually deter thieves and physically keep them out.
Walk around your property’s fence line and look for any vulnerabilities. For example, check your fence for damage and ensure the perimeter is well-lit. Consider whether security cameras are strategically positioned at access points and around your perimeter. Additionally, look for places criminals can hide, like overgrown vegetation.
After you inspect your property’s security system and identify risks, you can develop a targeted approach to addressing them.
2. Create an Imposing Barrier With an Electric Fence
Are you tired of experiencing external theft despite having security measures? Consider installing an electric security fence.
Many commercial property owners aren’t aware that they can use an electric fence to visually deter criminals and physically prevent a breach. It’s an option that works — and it may be the most cost-effective choice for your business.
When you decide to install an electric fence, your service provider will place it inside your current fence and add bright yellow signs to warn potential intruders of its presence. Often, the signage is enough to make criminals turn away. However, if thieves attempt a breach and contact the electric fence, they’ll experience a safe but memorable pulsed electric shock, preventing them from proceeding.
An electric fence can also integrate with an alarm system, alerting you immediately to an attempted breach.
3. Improve Your Gate Access Control
Your Gate Access Control should include visible security measures, like a credential reader and security camera, to be integrated with a strong perimeter barrier. Your gate’s locking mechanism should also be integrated with your access control system.
It’s worth considering adding or upgrading any of these elements if needed because robust access control is shown to be effective at deterring unauthorized access. According to a survey involving security professionals, more than 70% of respondents experienced five or fewer serious access control incidents in a year with access control systems in place.
As part of robust perimeter security, access control also helps to eliminate or reduce the need for security guards. With the right security controls, you can have peace of mind even if your security staff is home for the holidays.
4. Install High-Quality Security Cameras
Video surveillance cameras are essential to well-rounded security. While security cameras can’t stop crime themselves, they capture footage of criminal activity to share with law enforcement.
If your business struggles to catch crimes before they happen, consider if you have enough security cameras and whether they’re placed strategically around your property. Your video cameras should be positioned to capture footage of any area at risk of a breach attempt. It’s also important that your security cameras have features like zoom capabilities or infrared visibility to capture details in different circumstances.
Lastly, it should be easy to access your camera’s footage. If it’s not, consider upgrading to options that enable remote monitoring. Many security cameras connect to the internet, allowing property owners to view footage on their mobile devices from anywhere. That way, they can keep an eye on their property from afar and take prompt action if they spot anything suspicious.
5. Add an Intrusion Detection System
Do you have a reliable way to know if an intruder is trying to get in? If not, consider installing an intrusion detection system. Intrusion detection systems are designed to identify an attempted breach and notify the appropriate party of a potential intruder’s presence so they can react promptly.
Like much of today’s technology, intrusion detection systems can be integrated with other controls, like video surveillance cameras, alarm systems, electric fencing, and remote monitoring applications for a comprehensive approach.
6. Enhance Your Property’s Lighting
Lighting is an important element of crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED). CPTED is a set of principles aimed at preventing crime by influencing human behavior.
Since lighting increases visibility and eliminates hiding spots, it allows observers to catch criminal activity. Criminals know this, so they might think twice about entering a well-lit property to steal things. Lighting also creates a sense that a property is being monitored, which can help deter criminals.
Place lighting anywhere you want to discourage trespassing or increase visibility, such as along your perimeter and at entry points. Also, consider adding lighting to areas monitored by your security cameras to ensure quality footage.
7. Remove or Trim Vegetation
Another aspect of CPTED is keeping a property well-maintained. A manicured property creates a sense of guardianship and can help deter opportunistic thieves. It can also increase visibility.
Consider if there’s overgrown vegetation anywhere on your property that may create hiding spots for criminals or obstruct security camera views, and take steps to remove it. A good rule is to keep shrubs and bushes trimmed so that they do not exceed 2 feet, and there should be at least 6 feet between tree canopies and the ground.
8. Embrace a Multilayered Approach
Preventing commercial crime during the holidays or any time of year requires a multilayered approach. Multilayered security is the most effective way to prevent crime because it covers all vulnerabilities.
In general, multilayered security incorporates CPTED principles and proactive strategies to deter, detect, and prevent crime. It begins with a strong perimeter and adds other controls as needed, which may include video cameras, intrusion detection systems, and other measures. Overall, multilayered security brings multiple lines of defense to your property, and it should be tailored to your distinct risks and needs to ensure ROI.
By implementing a strategic and comprehensive security system, you’ll protect your business’s assets, save yourself from having to submit theft-related insurance claims, and keep employees feeling safe.
Prevent Holiday Business Crime With AMAROK
Ensuring your commercial property is secure during the holidays is essential to protecting business assets — but that can be easier said than done. Sometimes, determining the most effective way to protect your unique business from crime requires asking the professionals. A perimeter security expert can assess your property, identify risks, and recommend targeted solutions.
At AMAROK, our team is happy to conduct a free threat assessment to pinpoint your security risks and help you choose effective solutions. We specialize in providing electric fencing systems and offer additional solutions to bring tailored, comprehensive security to commercial and industrial properties. More than 99% of our customers stop experiencing external theft after we install The Electric Guard Dog™ Fence.
Ready to stop crime before it happens this holiday season? Find an AMAROK representative and see how we can help.
