Break and enter records for 2012 published by the NZ Police show 7334 reported cases for the Auckland area.
More than 28{124a1aa5d8e75f80fb06159bb56072683769a4f491cda2c7d203e184b4224f94} of these cases relate to to commercial premises and frighteningly only 7.8{124a1aa5d8e75f80fb06159bb56072683769a4f491cda2c7d203e184b4224f94} of cases were actually resolved
Commercial alarm systems are required to be more sophisticated than home alarm systems as they are designed and installed to protect property of far greater value.
Warehouses, retail shops, hotels, restaurants and offices all require alarms systems to protect inventory, equipment and information.
The most common improvements from simple home burglar alarms include an improved variety of sensors and the installation of CCTV / IP surveillance cameras
CCTV / IP camera systems
Internal and external site surveillance recording is a strong deterrent for burglars, installing CCTV at front entrances where they can be easily seen from road side can stop many unplanned burglaries.
Should a break in occur from a planned burglary, camera footage can be used in identifying thieves. Though in many burglary situations, especially night time robberies – intruders will be wearing head coverings like balaclavas making identification difficult.
In these situations CCTV is still very useful in assessing how intruders gained access to the site, what they were looking for and improving overall security to minimize future break ins.
Security cameras improve employee safety on site, by monitoring what happens on site during and after hours. Any problem events will be captured on camera and can be used to identify perpetrators.
For retailers, CCTV has long been used to lower instances of shoplifting and employee theft. Both of which are large contributors to decreases in profits for businesses
Commercial access control
Swipe card access control is the most popular and common form of access control for commercial sites.
Keypad access control is still widely used commercial sites, used however lacks some of the flexibility allowed by more modern swipe card systems.
Finger print access control is the second most popular form of access control in NZ and is used by a lot of smaller to medium businesses.
Access control improves security by enabling different levels of access to be granted to separate people, instant cancellation of access when required and of course detailed access history records.
Sensor upgrades
While home alarm systems commonly use simple infra-red motion sensors, high tech sensors are more suitable for commercial applications
- Glass break sensors
Glass break sensors pickup the frequency of broken glass, installed near main windows or glass doors
- Photoelectric detectors / point to point beams
These sensors emit a beam between that runs between to two laser units, if something passes through the beam, the alarm is activated (think red light beams and diamond heist movies)
- Vibration detectors / shock sensors
Vibration detectors sense the vibrations made when a break in attempt is in place. They are installed at break in entrances i.e windows and doors.
- Reed switches
These magnetic sensors are used to detect unauthorized opening of doors and windows. They work by operating as a closed circuit and are activated when the magnetic circuit is broken i.e when the door or window is opened.
Smoke screen security
Smoke screen devices work by emitting a thick cloud of non-staining smoke upon break-in. This makes it difficult if not impossible for thieves to find what they are looking for and move about the site.
Smoke screen security are an effective means of internal security as they can help to foil burglary attempts even after thieves gain access into the building.
They are becoming especially popular with businesses who hold valuable stock which can easily be stolen in a smash and grab burglary.
Summary
Talk to our alarm installation professionals about the variety of fully customizable commercial alarm systems.
They will tailor them to your unique business taking into account your unique associated business risks.
If the need and the budget is there for your business to install a high tech commercial alarm system. You will be pleased to know there are virtually limitless upgrades in system features available on the market, remember the security system for the Bellagio vault in the Ocean’s Eleven, this gives you an idea of what is possible.
