Halloween Security Tips During the Pandemic

Every year, Halloween introduces security challenges for businesses across the country in general. It is a night where mischief levels spike and criminals use this night as a cover to target businesses. Some businesses offer their employees to leave early and with the decrease of foot traffic many workplaces will sit empty. However, Halloween in 2020 is especially dangerous time for businesses and property owners. Is your livelihood ready for the challenge?

Don't worry, the great news is, there is still time to prepare and minimize the risks your business faces during Halloween. Here are some of the best practices to keep your property safe during the Halloween season.

Remove valuables from property

While this should be a a year-round practice, it is understandable things get chaotic when nearing holidays season. Whether you are concerned about breaking and entering or theft, it is important to minimize the risk altogether. If your property or workplace is sitting empty earlier than usual, consider removing all valuables or at least hiding it from prying eyes. We suggest placing these items in a more secure room someplace away from the windows.

Check your property for vulnerabilities

A common misconception is many businesses think that criminals are consistently watching their property and planning a movie-like break in. While this may be true in some cases, a large percentage of property related crimes are done by opportunistic criminals. If there are any broken or malfunctioning windows, CCTV blind spots or other weaknesses in your security setup, you are providing an opportunity to the opportunistic criminal. It is a good idea to conduct a daytime security assessment around your business and look for security vulnerabilities which criminals could use to their advantage. For an example, check external lights and ensure they are functional or even install motion sensing lights. Some doors or windows maybe overused, and the locks are not functioning as it should. This would be a good time to get this done especially before the colder weather sets in.

Access Control

It is a good idea to revise who has the alarm codes and keys to your property. Do you have a list somewhere with the names? Changing alarm codes should be done at least quarterly to ensure employees who recently left don't have access to the business. We suggest that you replace your locks or disable old keycards as well especially if you don't keep track of who has access to your property. Keep all entry and exit points secure, this should include windows as well, once the cold weather is here, it is unlikely you'll have many problems with the windows.

Consider hiring a security firm to conduct mobile patrols

Throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic, Mobile Patrol has quadrupled in demand since many businesses had to conduct their work from home. When you hire a mobile patrol firm, the security guard conducts random patrols along pre-arranged internal and external patrol routes; this usually serves as a strong crime deterrent and gives you peace of mind. If you are thinking of hiring a security patrol agency, feel free to get in touch with us and we will do our best to assist you.