Crime stoppers

The current severe downturn is having more than just a financial effect – it is also raising the level of crime affecting businesses. A new survey suggests that, as a result, there is now a significant increase in the spend on manned guarding and in expenditure in technologies such as CCTV.

Yet more evidence has emerged of British industry expecting a rise in crime due to the recession. A new survey conducted by Reliance Security and Storage Handling Distribution magazine suggests that more than three quarters of the warehousing and logistics sector believes that the current severe downturn will raise the level of crime affecting their businesses.

Of these, 85% believe that break-ins will increase, 69% believe that internal theft/fraud will rise, more than half (52%) expect an increase in vehicle hijacking, while a third (32%) see a likely increase in car crime. Some 15% expect vandalism to increase, while 13% believe drugs-related issues affecting the industry will also rise.

These disturbing findings come hard on the heels of other reports suggesting that with the UK mired in recession, a spike in crime has been highlighted as one of the biggest fears among the business community. At the same time, the need to at best contain and better still cut costs across organisations has never been more demanding. Therefore increasing security concerns set against an agenda of cost consciousness is a challenging agenda for any business manager.

The warehousing and distribution sector is particularly vulnerable to this dilemma. With its combination of inventory control, industrial estate and other remote locations and transportation needs, security has always been a priority. With that need now more pressing than ever, security managers are looking for ever more innovative solutions in the value of their security provision. The survey suggests a significant increase in the spend on manned guarding and, perhaps more significantly, a large increase in expenditure in technologies, such as CCTV.

We asked security managers and those with responsibility for security what their concerns were in the current environment, what provisions they already had in place and how these might change given the on-going difficult trading circumstances.

Key security concerns

When it came to security concerns, both manned and unmanned logistics sites said that the issue of most concern to them was break-ins (85%).  In addition to this, almost three-quarters (68%) of respondents to the survey said that employee theft and fraud was one of its greatest security concerns.

A large number of sites (67%) without permanent security considered vandalism to be the next most significant threat. Great strides have been made to combat vandalism and other criminal activity, such as burglary and car crime, through the establishment of partnerships between local businesses, neighbourhood police units, Government agencies and private security firms. Many have proved effective in reducing not just the amount of these types of crime but in providing a deterrent to potential offenders and reassurance to the business community. One example of this is Slough trading estate where partnership working between Thames Valley Police, Slough Estates Business Watch and Reliance Security has resulted in an 88% reduction in the number of incidents a week since 2001.

For sites without a security team on site, concerns over fire and flood were also greater (61%) than those with on-site personnel (46%).

The threat of vandalism is, unsurprisingly, of less concern to those with permanent security staff. Just under half (46%) expressed worries over vandalism with a smaller but significant proportion concerned with car crime (34%), drugs-related issues (30%) and terrorist activity (26%). With the latter issue, the police have instigated a scheme – Project Griffin – whereby security personnel can be trained by the police in counter-surveillance techniques, the idea being to disrupt any potential terrorist intelligence gathering operation on particular buildings or installations.

Of more concern to respondents (40%) than terrorism is the increasing problem of vehicle hijacking. In response to this type of crime, Truckpol was established in 2003 to increase awareness of road freight crime and provide a national database of property stolen from commercial vehicles to assist in its identification.  Truckpol is a public/private sector partnership and is based within the ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers) Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service at the National Police Improvement Agency.

A current key concern for Truckpol is what it terms “round the corner” diversion scams, where drivers are contacted and convinced to deliver their loads to an address where thieves will be waiting.

Security arrangements

The requirement for permanent on-site security staff and the number deployed will vary on a number of factors – for example, the size of the facility, the number and locations of warehouses, the value of the contents and the frequency of logistic operations, among them.

In the survey, two-thirds of respondents have security officers on site at their storage operations. The same proportion of these use contract security staff, with a fifth employing in-house personnel. A marginal 4% use a facilities management company for their security manpower.

Perhaps surprisingly, a third have no permanent manned security presence at their facilities, preferring to use a mobile response security solution such as Reliance’s Patrol Net operation for mobile patrols and alarm response services. Cost-effective mobile security solutions have proved increasingly popular with those organisations with multiple locations and where a frequent but not permanent security presence is required.

In addition to the use of on-site security personnel, the other security solutions used by respondents include CCTV surveillance (84%), electronic access control solutions (68%), remote monitoring (44%), covert surveillance (25%) and lone worker devices (22%).

With an increasing focus on the safety of lone workers following the introduction of new corporate manslaughter legislation last year – technological advances have meant that contact can be maintained with colleagues or management through channels other than mobile phones. For the logistics industry, for example, such safeguards as emergency lone worker devices can prove an effective tool in the event of violence against staff and vehicle hijacking. 

Responsibility for security

Some 43% of respondents are responsible for the security arrangements of a single warehousing / logistics site. A further fifth (19%) look after two sites, with the same number having responsibility for three or four sites. The remainder (7%) of security managers look after more than 50 sites. 

Where there is a permanent security requirement on site, decisions on security are made in the majority of cases either by the depot manager (26%), the owner/managing director (17%) or a dedicated security manager (20%).  In the case of logistics operations without a manned security presence – which in general tend to be smaller businesses than those with security manpower on site - the majority of requirements are specified by the owner/managing director (61%) or depot manager (33%).

Security contracts

The majority of security contracts run for just one year (41%). This undoubtedly reflects the on-going debate within the security industry and its customers over pricing. Three years ago, the industry underwent a revolution when the Government introduced licensing for contract security staff in England and Wales and since extended to Scotland. The aim of the policy was to rid the security market of its less desirable elements, while introducing a professionalism into the industry that would raise standards – a move that would inevitably be reflected in higher security costs to both provider and customer.

While some in the security industry complain that their higher costs have yet to be recouped due to continued stiff competition amongst suppliers, the survey does reveal that 10% of buyers are tied into two-year contracts, while a quarter are signed up to three to five-year contracts.  A small proportion (6%) have rolling contracts.

Risk assessments and security reviews

Another example of the seriousness with which the warehousing and logistics industry takes its security comes in response to the question over the frequency with which it undertakes reviews and risk assessments. In this, 85% of respondents said they conducted annual risk assessments. A similarly high proportion of these sites – 76% – also review their security arrangements once a year.

With developments in new security technology, industry practices and improvements in training due to the new licensing regime, an independent risk assessment would seem to be an extremely prudent undertaking in a recession.

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