Sir – What Alex Carmichael fails to mention in ‘Back to basics with the BSIA’ is what all good security and loss prevention managers know – or should know. Namely that whatever security systems you purchase and install, and no matter how many layers of security there are (be they physical, electronic, integrated or monitored), all of this simply buys time.
The more you purchase and the better the quality of the equipment, installation and maintenance, the more time you buy before someone breaches all the layers.
Of course, it may be that the gain for any criminal isn’t worth the effort of attempting to breach your chosen layers. You’ve therefore created an ‘effective deterrent’. However, if the pay-off is so valuable as to be worth the risk then the multi-layers you have purchased should buy time for the security team and/or the police service to react. Nothing is ‘bullet proof’, but the more systems you buy the more resistant the company is to attack.
So long as those in the industry recognise that it’s only time being bought then they should be better able to recognise and manage their particular risks.
Jim Gibson MA MCMI MASIS
Head of Loss Prevention and Security
Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes