How to Match Security to Your Site

You wouldn’t wear a heavy winter coat to run errands in July or a swimsuit in a snowstorm. Both are outerwear, but that doesn’t mean you should use them interchangeably.

The same is true for security. A large warehouse may need a highly visible security presence to stop people from causing trouble, but that same level of visual deterrence might not make sense for a small convenience store or on a site where space is tight.

Security works best when it’s tailored to specific sites and scenarios. 

How to Build a Security Strategy That Fits Your Site

1. Identify Your Security Needs

Before choosing hardware or hiring guards, get to the root of the problem you’re trying to solve. Ask yourself: 

• Where does the unwanted activity happen?
• What time of day does it usually happen?
• Does it involve people, vehicles, or both?
• Does the site need to stop unwanted behavior, document it, or control access?
• Can a member of our team respond every time, or does the system need to discourage activity on its own?

Different problems call for different solutions. The last thing you want to do is invest in a system built to stop copper theft at remote sites when you’re trying to control access to a public park, or install cameras behind your building when most crime happens in front of it.

2. Decide How Visible Deterrents Should Be

Visible security can change how people feel about a site—which can work for you or against you.

At a high-risk location, obvious deterrence is often ideal. A large mobile security unit equipped with cameras, strobes, speakers, and lights tells people the site is being watched. That obvious presence can be useful for places like construction sites, storage yards, parking lots, and distribution centers.

Customer-facing locations need a more careful read. A convenience store, restaurant, or small commercial property may need active deterrence, but you don’t want the site to feel over-secured for the wrong reasons. People should be able to pull in, park, and walk through the door without wondering whether they’re in danger. 

3. Know Whether You Need to Deter, Verify, or Escalate

Next, figure out what you want your security system to do when unwanted activity is detected. Usually, it boils down to the following options: 

• Verify who is trying to enter the site
• Deter someone from going any further
• Escalate the incident to the right person

There’s no one-size-fits-all way to stop a crime. If the goal is deterrence, you need a system equipped with strobes, spotlights, and speakers. If the goal is verification, you need a system that allows you to see the person trying to enter, confirm who they are, and keep a record of that interaction. If the goal is escalation, you need a system that can quickly route the right information to the right people so they can assess the situation and respond before it turns into a bigger problem. 

If you want to be able to do all three–verify, deter, and escalate—you need more than a camera and some sensors. You need a total site security system.

4. Consider the Constraints of the Site

There’s probably not much you can do to change your site (at least not easily or affordably), which means you need to work around it. Look at the space you are working with and ask yourself: 

• How much ground space do you have?
• Can you give up any of that ground space?
• Is there a pole or building you could mount cameras to? 
• Does the site have power or Wi-Fi connectivity?
• Will security coverage ever need to move? 

From there, you can consider options like mobile security units, building- or pole-mounted cameras, gate control, license plate reading (LPR) solutions, or all of the above. 

5. Implement Distributed Deterrence for Full Site Coverage

Finally, figure out where to place your coverage. Deploying a single point of coverage may be a quick and easy fix for one hotspot, but if deterrence only exists in one place, criminals can (and will) find gaps to exploit. 

Distributed deterrence means spreading visibility across all of the areas where unwanted activity could happen. LVT supports distributed deterrence with flexible options for different site needs:

• Mobile security units create a strong visible presence in lots, outdoor areas, temporary hotspots, and sites that need fast deployment. They are a good fit when you need cameras, lights, speakers, and deterrence in a place where fixed infrastructure doesn’t make sense.
• Live Unit Surround extends deterrence around a building with mounted cameras, lights, speakers, and strobes. It is useful for sites that need front, back, or side coverage without taking up parking, loading space, or customer-facing ground space.
• LPR adds vehicle intelligence to your toolkit. If vehicles are part of the problem, LPR can help teams identify, track, and document activity tied to specific cars or trucks moving through the property.
• GuardGate supports controlled access. When the issue is who gets in, when they enter, and how that interaction is recorded, GuardGate gives teams a way to verify entry without relying only on a physical guard post.

Instead of choosing between a fixed system and a mobile unit, teams can build coverage around their needs, then adjust as problems move, operations change, or new risks show up.

We recently hosted a webinar on achieving full site coverage and how it lays the foundation for more intelligent site management. To learn more about matching your deterrence strategy to your site, watch the full webinar.