This morning whilst at the office we got word that they had a security breach over the weekend. The guard at the gate fell asleep and a group of armed criminals gained access to the site and held up a company who was working over time. The people working were robbed then tied up and gagged. As far as I know there were no injuries and must have just got a little shock.
People are desperate for money with over 60% unemployment so this is to be expected and will always be a problem in a country full of crime. We have armed response if required and they do patrols in the area making sure if we are working we are ok. We have to let them know when we are working late and I guess this company has never thought of doing this and I guess you have to learn the hard way. As far as I know we are the only company on site that pays for extra security as this company that was robbed is a crane company and who is going to steal cranes?
I am sure the land lords will fire the current security company and have them replaced with someone who will be better until the next time. All one can do is prepare and be ready because there will be a next time now they have got away with the first time. Unfortunately this may have been an opportunistic robbery which will stay in the criminals memory banks and they will be back.
This morning they are adding to the razor wire which is pointless if the guard at the gate is sleeping. The gate when closed already has spikes on top and now another batch of razor wire to secure the perimeter.
They are also placing beams around the perimeter of the buildings as an early warning system. Again this does not help if people are on site working as these need to be turned off as they would be triggering the alarm. These beams are only activated when the beams are broken so are only useful when no one is on site.
I need to repair our gate for the warehouse as someone crashed into it on the fork lift. I have no idea how this happened and is just another punch you have to roll with. If I leave this for the land lord he will charge us 3 x the costs so it is better to be pro active and get it done before they see this.
The damaged gate is not something I can sit on and get it fixed in my own time as we often work late in the evenings and this would be an easy access point. I may not be able to squeeze through here, but many others could and it is a security breach waiting to happen.
The reception area and front door has a security gate which is always shut so the chances of a robbery are slim unless they are waiting for you to close for the night. We tend to be more vigilant than most and I am very particular over security measures. Most of it boils down to common sense and a sleeping guard is the problem here and not much else. He left the gate open because he was too lazy to close it and have to unlock and open again when the people were finished working for the night.
The security company should have cameras and regular patrols in vehicles covering all of their customers sites making sure the guards are wide awake and following the procedures. There are no excuses and they will be the second security company being replaced in just 5 years.
