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pportunity makes a ief, they say, and too any are

16th July 1983, Page 52
16th July 1983
Page 52
Page 53
Page 52, 16th July 1983 — pportunity makes a ief, they say, and too any are
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

succumbing the invitation these lys. You don't even we to know 'Open 3same' to get into an laddin's cave. Make ire it's not yours by ?eding Graham lontgomerie

YING to run a fleet efficiently a hard enough job without a [rehouse break-in adding to debit column.

Spending money to save )ney is a recommendation lich accountants often argue ainst.

Yet it can work in many cirmstances with things like air rflectors and road speed liters and it can also work in a area of warehouse and depot curity. Spending money on irriers, walls and alarm stems can pay dividends hether the loads to be otected are of high value or rt. "High value" in this context is to include how easy it is to spose of the stolen goods as all as their intrinsic value.

It is often advisable to work on e Colditz principle (in reverse) id have a strong perimeter ncing and a well illuminated ird. Most of the larger companies have a gate house and some form of barrier at the main entrance under the control of a security guard. The facilities can include an electrically operated barrier controlled from inside the gate house, which is not a method chosen merely to keep the guard out of the rain. In this case, the visitor has to get out of his car or lorry and approach the gate house rather than the other way around where the guard can be assaulted Having some form of barrier with or without electronics or a gate house does tend to stop unidentified people from wandering in and out of the depot or warehouse. Too often thieves get in and out merely by walking straight in and out. If they do this in a confident manner everyone assumes that they have come to see "someone else" in the building.

With the larger companies, with correspondingly larger premises, the business of gates and gate staff can get very expensive. Not every factory or warehouse can manage with only one IN and one OUT gate. Because of the expense involved in manning a number of gates companies are turning to closed circuit television under the control of the main security office.

This admittedly expensive security method does not replace the security guard, however. A classic example of how such a system can be used is where the gate into a factory is manned with all the drivers reporting to the guard; the exit barrier, however, is controlled electronically from the one gate house and is under constant watch from the television camera to a monitor in that same gate house.

The system can obviously be extended with one manned gate house controlling a number of unmanned ones with the assistance of some push buttons and some TV cameras.

Not every company — be it in haulage or manufacturing — has the depot or warehouse manned around the clock so here is a case for securely locking the premises at night. Not that this will deter the very determined criminal; if someone wants to get in that badly then he will usually find a way. Securely locking the premises will, however, prevent most of the opportunist types of break in.

An automatic alarm system is a good idea but there are certain points to remember. If your warehouse is some way out from the nearest police station — an easy fact for anyone to ascertain — then an automatic alarm might not be very much use. If the thief knows that the nearest police station is 30 min

utes away, even for a low flying Rover, then he also knows exactly how long he can stay in the premises in comparative safety.

There is always the possibility of a roving patrol car being close to the premises when the alarm call is received back at base, but it is not a possibility worth relying on.

The other point to bear in mind with automatic alarms is that, as with most things in life, you get what you pay for.

Perhaps this is the wrong expression to use on an article about theft but the point I am making is that an alarm system is only as good as the response it brings.

If a cheap system is installed, then one of two things can hap pen: either it will not go off at all which is obviously useless or it will set off too many false alarms down at the police station.

After this has happened a couple of times the "Cry Wolf" principle applies, with the result that police enthusiasm might not be 100 per cent for answering any further alarm calls from the same premises.

The moral here is if you are going to invest in an automatic alarm system then fork out and go for a good one. Otherwise you will be just wasting your money.

The more efficient automatic alarms usually employ some form of vibration sensor or invis ible beams directed across the warehouse aisles. These must be correctly set up and activated every night, though with most systems this is merely a matter of turning a key.

lithe cargo is of high value — cigarettes and spirits, for example — then it is well worth while loading the vehicles behind locked doors. If the company in question deals exclusively in one type of high value commodity, though, this can be a pointless exercise as everyone in the area will know what that commodity is. For the operator who only occasionally carries high value loads then closing the warehouse doors while loading will shut out prying eyes.

If vehicles are loaded last thing at night ready for an early start in the morning, then it is a good idea to back them up against a wall to prevent any unauthorised opening of the doors.

Whether loaded or not, it is asking for trouble to leave vehicles parked up overnight with the keys in. Often there are reasons for this; there could be a fire, the maintenance staff work in the evenings and move the vehicles out ready for the morning, and so on. Valid these reasons may be in their own particular context but if you are interested in security in your premises then you should not permit the keys to be left in the vehicle.

It is far safer to have the keys returned to a central point, say the transport manager's office, and kept locked up until the drivers report for duty. An argument put forward against this system is that if the thief breaks in to the "key cupboard" then he will have the keys to the whole fleet.

This is true, but the wou thief would need to first, ge.

the building, then locate thE rect office and lastly fine keys — all of which would time, and time is somel which the thief usually doe. have.

It is unfortunate that theft small scale is common en' for the term "wastage" t, used in the company counting. This is a euphen term used to describe the g "lost" during the cours( everyday business. Obvic this also includes breakz damages in transit, deliver rors and so on but it is alsc term used to account for the Theft unfortunately can c from inside as well as out though some people migh. pease their consciences anc it pilfering, in the eyes of thE it is straightforward theft.

With companies who dea quently with high value lc careful staff selection minimise internal theft. A from the load, however, worth keeping an eye on 5. control records for such iten petrol consumption for firm's light vans, oil const tion and rate of anti-freeze chase in the winter. Private can use all these things.

Operators wanting advicE improving the security of premises have a numb& choices of action. The I crime prevention officer good starting point as his ac is about the most professi and unbiased you can get. Road Haulage Association the Freight Transport Ass( tion can also offer advicE members. The main point t( member is to ask for ad sooner rather than later.


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