October Issue

• A whole lot of heart
  - Editorial
• life's reflections
  - Lifting the lid on artwork trends Down Under
• Active Play -
  - Challenging the Body and the Mind
• Call Me Loyal
  - What's new on the New Zealand-made gift front?
• Protection Mode
  - Taking Stock of Security
• Special Journies
  - Gifts to have and to hold

Protection Mode

Taking Stock of Security

The Christmas season fills retailers with a mixture of anticipation and anxiety. It's widely regarded as the boom time for sales, but also for less savoury reasons: THEFT.

Shop theft is a blight on New Zealand's economy, costing retailers more than $760 million* annually – that's more than $2 million a day! It's therefore in everyone's interests, not just retailers, to curb the trends and fight back against organised and casual retail crime.

GiftBuyer spoke to Marc Killeen, chief operations officer of Signature Security, one of New Zealand's largest security companies, to find out what strategies retailers could adopt to minimise losses to shop theft.

“There are dozens of different products and solutions, sold by dozens of registered security companies in this country, but for me, the most important factor for any retailer concerned with crime is instant response,” says Killeen.

“The speed at which we can verify the authenticity of an alarm, or respond to a theft in progress, often determines how successful we are in preventing the theft before it happens, minimising the time the intruder is on the premises, or prosecuting them after the fact,” he says. “There's no silver bullet for achieving instant response, but rather a series of important steps that retailers large and small can take to reduce response times – and crime.”

Killeen says the first step is choosing the right technology. “The alarm system is the eyes and ears of your security service, which in a retail environment should always be matched with a high-quality video surveillance system,” he advises.

There are different types of alarms, motion sensors and CCTV systems, explains Killeen. A particularly useful product in this category is alarm-triggered video verification, where a wireless sensor and camera start to record the instant an alarm is set off in the store.

“This has two benefits: first, live video can be fed directly to a security monitoring centre, allowing them to verify the authenticity of an alarm, and reducing the time it takes to respond,” he says. “Secondly, it minimises call-out costs and saves store owners or managers the inconvenience of attending a false alarm themselves.”

Signature Security has released a new video verification alarm product in New Zealand, Videofied, which combines the benefits of realtime video monitoring with the company's 24-hour response service, offering retailers a holistic and effective solution for immediate response against intrusion.

Videofied's ‘smart camera' (an integrated motion sensor/camera) captures a 10-second video as soon as the alarm is activated, and sends the video to Signature Security's alarm monitoring centre, which evaluates the situation and responds accordingly to a break-in. “Videofied is compatible with many of today's most popular alarm systems,” says Killeen. “Because it's wireless, installation is simple, and shop owners can rest easy knowing their premises are continuously monitored.

“It's also designed to go beyond the alarm, and is compatible with up to 25 wireless devices, including smart cameras, smoke detectors, window/door reed switches, code pads, sirens, key fobs (for remote arming) and outdoor wireless badge card readers.”

The next, and arguably most important, step is monitoring, says Killeen. “An alarm system that isn't monitored is not effective. If an alarm is raised, it doesn't help if no one responds.

“Retailers also need to make sure real people are monitoring their store alarms around the clock, whichever system they buy,” he advises. “A monitoring response operator can determine what action needs to be taken, be it a call to security patrols or local law enforcement, and can also escalate the alarm to the store owner and other designated staff.”

The third step in store protection is safeguarding the communication path between the premises and the monitoring service provider,” Killen adds. “If the telephone line is faulty, or is deliberately cut by an intruder, there needs to be another way for an alarm to communicate with the monitoring service,” he says. “There are different ways of minimising this risk, the best of which work on the dual path principle – that is, having more than one connection path from the alarm back to the security response centre.”

SECUREPATH and Dial-Lite are two new products from Signature Security that offer retailers secure alarm connectivity. Both use wireless GPRS as the connection method from the store to the alarm response centre, which means that alarms can be monitored regardless of the condition of the physical phone line.

“Retailers should also consider the ‘sticky' issues around securing their stores. For instance, does having a single phone line connecting to a monitored alarm comply with their insurance conditions or local regulations?” Killeen asks. “These and other issues can be mitigated by considering security as a holistic solution, rather than a combination of products that may or may not work harmoniously.

“We believe in giving our customers a packaged solution that works on all three levels – monitoring, verification, and secure connectivity – combined with expert consulting and ongoing maintenance, as the only real way to ensure an instant response to a genuine alarm, reducing the risk of shop theft, not only at Christmas, but throughout the year.”

For more information on Signature Security's New Zealand Security Association-accredited response centres, Videofied, SECUREPATH or Dial-Lite, visit www.signaturesecurity.co.nz