As an owner of a commercial park, you need your tenants and their customers and employees to feel safe. But this is difficult when you have a large and open parking lot and plenty of people coming and going. What can you do to boost its security? Here are a few of the many layers of added safety you can provide.
1. Monitored Cameras. Cameras are one of the best ways to secure any outdoor area, but they are among the more expensive option. A live camera that is monitored by live humans offers the closest approximation of a security guard walking with people to and from their vehicles. If your budget is limited, look for compromise options like off-site monitoring by a security service or motion sensor-triggered camera zones.
2. Good Lighting. Improving the lighting of a parking lot is an easy and effective way to increase its inherent safety. A good lighting plan, though, isn't an accident. It should be developed with the help of an outdoor security professional with experience in parking lot safety as well as a contractor familiar with lighting options and requirements. And the lighting system must be proactively maintained to ensure that it stays fully functional and is never obscured.
3. Tenant and Employee Meetings. Talk with your tenants and their employees on a regular basis to learn what are their concerns. These are the people on the ground, and they will be some of the best judges of where you should focus your time and money. You may learn, for instance, that employees feel unsafe in one area of the lot or that there are loiterers at a certain time of the day.
4. Controlled Vehicle Flow. When people and vehicles must enter and exit through a prescribed route, you have a better idea of who is using the lot and how. Control movement by controlling where cars enter and leave, and using monitored security systems or gated access for this spot. If someone plans to engage in any nefarious activity in the lot, they'll be less apt to do so when they have to follow along, the highly visible route to and from.
5. Security Patrols. Never underestimate the value of simply having a uniformed security person patrolling the area. The presence of a uniformed patrol deters many petty crimes. You can also target your security budget by focusing on labor dollars only as a boost to other security features. For instance, you may choose to have the security patrol around at 5:00 when employees leave their offices en masse during dusk hours.
Which of these increased security measures can you take in your parking lot? No matter what methods you install, everyone will be better able to enjoy working and shopping on your property. Learn more by making an appointment with a commercial security company like All Pro Security in your area today.
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