Ask the Expert
- By Mike Painter
- Nov 01, 2007
For any office or campus environment
to be truly secure, it is vital
to keep out people with malicious
intent. And that can be a difficult
task in many situations, such as a busy corporate
office or elementary school, where
dozens of visitors come and go each day.
Fortunately, there are ways a security
director can increase the chances of stopping
the bad guys at the door.
ISSUE: How should a company or
school go about creating a visitor management
plan?
SOLUTION: Any organization that does
not have a current visitor management plan
in place should take the time to create and
implement one now. It needs to be in writing,
it needs to be shared with your
employees, and it needs to be practiced on
a regular basis.
When creating a plan, the first priority
should be to address access points. Ideally,
there should only be one entrance open to
all visitors. Any other doors or docks
should be kept locked to outside entry at all
times or require the use of an access card.
Require that all employees wear a photo
ID badge at all times while on the premises.
After recording a visitor’s basic information—
name and address at a minimum—
from a government-issued identification
card, provide the person with a temporary
photo ID badge. There are visitor
management systems available at moderate
costs that can take a visitor’s photo and
print an ID badge in less than a minute.
ISSUE: Visitor management is especially
important on school grounds. How
can schools manage guests and decrease
the chance of malicious incidents?
SOLUTION: Advise your employees to
be vigilant about guests and to ensure
that they are wearing an ID badge at all
times. Ask them to challenge and question
those not wearing one. Escort guests
from the reception area straight to their
destination so they cannot stray about the
premises.
Intercoms may be used at entrance
gates or loading docks to ensure that only
scheduled visitors and vendors use an
access point at appropriately determined
times. Coupled with a camera, already a
part of some intercom systems, this can be
an effective tool to screen visitors to
ensure that the people on the other end are
who they claim to be.
The National Alert Registry estimates
there are about 500,000 registered sex
offenders in the United States. Each day,
more than 700 children are reported
abducted, according to the National Center
for Missing and Exploited Children. These
figures make a good case for every elementary
school to have a good visitor
management plan in place.
The grounds should be locked during
school hours so children cannot leave
without an approved adult. All visitors and
vendors should enter through one central
access point. There also are background
check systems available that can quickly
compare a visitor’s identification with
criminal and sex offender watch lists. If
cleared, a temporary ID card (with picture)
can be created quickly.
A visitor management plan should be
an urgent priority for every business and
school to integrate into their security procedures.
Develop a plan, including technology
solutions, with your systems integrator,
write it down, and take time to
share it with your employees so everyone
is aware of and understands the new safety
procedures.
READER QUESTION: I am overseeing
the planning of a security system for our
company’s new facility. It is a large office
building that will have 20 to 24 cameras
inside, along the perimeter and in the
parking lot. We have a corporate network,
so what would be a better choice
for us as a recording device—a DVR or a
network server?
SOLUTION: There are some advantages
and disadvantages to both solutions. The
advantage to a network recorder is that
you can take advantage of the investment
made in the corporate network. Cameras
can be added to the system using the network
infrastructure. The storage of the
video also can be managed using a server
provided by your company. The disadvantage
is that the video can use a lot of
bandwidth and, if not configured properly,
can slow down other applications. The
other requirement is that the video storage
server will need to be managed by
someone internally. There is a lot of
effort being put into the development
of network video, and many enhancements
and new offerings are still being
developed. But network video is a viable
solution and does work in the right
environment.
Digital video recording is still a great
solution. Most DVRs allow a combination
of network and analog cameras. The big
advantage is that the DVR can be installed
and configured to work without much
management. The DVR manages the storage
of the video and allows the video to be
accessed across the network from remote
locations, similar to an NVR. DVR technology
is a proven technology and can be
used in most environments. One disadvantage
is that DVRs are sized for a fixed
number of cameras and adding additional
cameras can be expensive.