Christmas is almost here and with the festive period comes a well – deserved break from work. For those of you running shops or businesses this may mean leaving your commercial premises unattended as you enjoy quality time with your loved ones. This presents the challenge of how to keep your premises secure as you’re away on holiday. Here are some of our few choice tips on how to do so.
CCTV monitoring
Possibly the most popular form of security, CCTV monitoring involves placing cameras at strategic points of your premises to record daily happenings within your shop. Note that, objectively, CCTV cameras are not an impediment to infiltrators in that they do not pose any physical obstacle to thieves. However, they actually do prevent crimes through a psychological manner. If you were to walk into a shop and see a huge sign written “The premises is under CCTV surveillance” or the cheekier “Smile! You’re on camera” then you would be a bit warier about your actions, especially when you look up in the corner and see a huge camera looking right at you. In just the same way, thieves and crooks are less likely to break into a shop that has CCTV monitoring as there are higher chances of them getting caught.
Shutters and grilles
Most thieves point of unauthorized entries will be through your shop windows and doors. As such, it would be wise to add additional physical barriers. Adding shutters and grilles may be what you need to add this additional resistance.
Grilles are gratings composed of a series of interweaving metals placed in front of doors or windows. The standard variation of grilles would be standard aluminium grilles. This variation’s curtain is manufactured from tough polycarbonate connectors. For added security, however, you may want to obtain security aluminium roller grilles. The curtain for this specific variant is manufactured from alternating and interlocking aluminium links with aluminium slats to form a continuous hinge. Each of the joining slats is then fitted with moulded nylon to prevent lateral movement and comes with the options of adding polycarbonate infills. Shutters, on the other hand, may be made from aluminium or polyview polycarbonate. They are different from grilles in that they typically cover the entire cross section.
The key is to know which one is the best choice for your shop. One key thing to note is that grilles are often installed on the interior i.e. if your shop has a window display area then the grilles are installed on the inner side of the window. On the other hand, shutters are often installed on the external side of the shop.
This presents a few dynamics; on one hand, since shutters cover your windows completely then they protect your window from vandalism as well as damage. They also have the effect of prevent potential thieves from having a view of the items (as well as the layout) of your shop. However, once they are down then a burglar has a pretty easy time getting in. Grilles are designed differently through the interlocking and interweaving mechanism. For practicality’s sake, grilles must be installed on the inner side of windows or doors. What this means is that it is quite easy to vandalise one’s windows.
Keep data off site
This is not a way to secure your shop but a good way to make sure you can easily get back on your feet in the case that your shop is robbed. This entails keeping all shop records (such as customer information, sales ledgers and accounts) as well as CCTV footage (if any) in a secure off – site (meaning off the premises) location. Most insurance providers require proof of sales records as well as inventory accounts to provide customers with pay-outs to prevent fraudulent claims. This means that having your records on site may be detrimental since they may be stolen along with your other goods in case, they are stored in electronics such as computers. Having your customer information is important as it helps you get back in contact with your customers easier.
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