Easy Locksmith Security Upgrades for Small Business Owners
Those of us living in Vancouver have seen this scenario often. Broken storefront glass windows and doors. Any business with a wall or door facing the public street is vulnerable to these types of attacks. Repairing the damage can be quite costly and raise our insurance rates. If they get in, the loss of business and property is like rubbing salt into the wound. With the ever rising cost of property crimes against small businesses, here are three easy security upgrades to common storefront doors to make life harder for criminals. Plus one slightly more expensive, but highly effective alternative.
If you have any questions or comments, please call/text me at 604-363-2760 or email me at alex@locksmithvancouver.com. Our Downtown Vancouver Key Store is generally open from 10am to 6pm Monday to Friday except when I am out on a service call. The Key Store is located at 555 West Hastings St, Vancouver in the Harbour Centre.
Easy Security Upgrade #1: Automated Flood Lights
There is a line from a Batman TV show that “criminals are cowardly and prefer to do their work in the dark”. While not all facts on TV are true, this one is statistically proven and taught in Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED).
Criminals generally know what they are doing is wrong and prefer to do it anonymously. So make their lives a bit more difficult by installing adequate lighting around your main entry points. Most stores already have wiring near their access points, so it can be quite a cheap upgrade.
If you already have a light source illuminating the area at night, make sure it has enough lumens to make it look like daylight in the middle of the night. So you may need to install a light bulb with a higher wattage or shaped differently so that it reduces shadows and makes it clear from the street if someone is at your front or back door.
Part of this assessment is coming back to the premises in the dead of night and seeing just how dark the building’s main entry points and vulnerable walls are. Many small business owners never come back to the premises in the middle of the night to complete a nighttime assessment.
Try thinking like a thief. Given the lighting conditions, is your building more vulnerable or less? While excellent illumination will not stop criminals from attempting entry or vandalism, it will make their work visible to the public and hopefully make it easier for police patrols in the area to spot the troublemakers.
If your premises are well illuminated, criminals are more likely to attack easier targets of opportunity.
Automated Flood Lights
Automated flood lights are an easy way for both homeowners and business owners to illuminate troublesome areas of their properties. For example:
- Don’t annoy your neighbours with constant bright lights all throughout the night
- Save electricity and bulb life by powering on only when necessary
- Startle trespassers and give impression that someone is on the property
These days, there are more advanced options that incorporate wireless cameras with infrared lights and loudspeakers that allow owners to engage with the intruders in real-time.
If you already have a light fixture in the area, installing an automated flood light is an easy DIY job for a morning or an afternoon. However, we highly recommend using a Voltage Tester to ensure the proper breaker has been turned off in the breaker panel before you begin the upgrade.
An electrical shock from 120V may not be fatal but it will still be painful and may cause other injuries from the fall off your ladder.
If there is no pre-existing light fixture or junction box nearby, this may require the services of a licensed electrician to pull the wires and connect them to your electrical panel. For wood frame buildings, this is usually quite affordable depending on the location of the breaker panel. For concrete buildings, this may be quite expensive.
Please remember to check that your automated flood light is working periodically throughout the year. It is a great idea to check it at night under real-life conditions. If you can only check it during the day, take a finger and wave it in the vicinity of the sensors. Even if the lights do not turn on during the day, you should still hear an audible “click” as the sensor is tripped.
Easy Security Upgrade #2: Do a little gardening and upkeep
The second easy security upgrade that only requires some elbow grease is to do a little gardening and upkeep. This is another technique widely discussed in CPTED courses used by local law enforcement and Fortune 500 companies. It is derived from two theories: 1) the broken window theory; and 2) the visibility theory.
First, the broken window theory is that if someone breaks a window in a building and it is not repaired promptly, criminals and vagrants see that as an invitation to commit crimes or to trespass. They reason that if the window is left broken, the building occupants or owners do not care about the property which makes it an easier target.
Second, we want our homes and small businesses to have excellent visibility from a passing car on the street. The reason why is that a police officer patrolling an area will be in his/her cruiser and scanning the buildings as they drive by.
By removing visual obstructions from 24” to 48” in height, law enforcement patrols will easily see into the business and potentially notice any trespassers. Since the officer will be in the sitting position inside the vehicle, the viewable area has to start at a lower height vs someone standing on the street.
It is also important to not let the building fall into disrepair that may invite undesirables. So remove graffiti quickly, do not let mail accumulate uncollected, and pick up the stray garbage. Basically, things that you should be doing to attract customers to your store in the first place.
For residential clients, this is also quite important. Squatters and home intruders will often leave small indicators around the doors and windows to see how often the doors are used. This may be in the form of small pieces of tape, hair, toothpicks, dabs of glue, and so on.
If the indicators have not been disturbed for a few days, it may be the sign of an absent landlord or tenant which lessens the risk of getting caught. So regular cleaning of your entry points will show that you are home regularly and encourage vagrants to seek easier targets elsewhere.
Removing squatters can be very stressful and difficult, so stop them in their tracks and maintain your property regularly.
Easy Security Upgrade #3: Change your keys periodically
Canadians are taught to change our banking passwords regularly, but how often do we change the keys to our locks?
Most of my clients will only rekey their locks when they move-in to a new home or store, then never rekey the locks again. Even if they have multiple copies of the keys floating around.
We generally recommend clients to rekey their locks at least once every one or two years. Most of them never do, but we do recommend it because 1) it allows for periodically lock maintenance and adjustments and 2) it eliminates all the old ghost keys.
It is surprising that clients will happily pay ~$200 for an oil change two times a year to maintain their depreciating car, but they won’t spend ~$230 once a year to protect a lock that secures the bulk of their worldly possessions.
So if you have not rekeyed your locks in several years, I highly recommend doing so. Most clients never lubricate their locks either which leads to catastrophic lock failure eventually. Like any type of maintenance, it is better to be proactive than reactive in such matters.
From a small business owner’s perspective, you never know who has your keys even if you practice strict key control. If you have an unrestricted keyway, any employee can copy your keys without you knowing about it. So it’s a good idea to rekey and reissue new keys at random intervals as a form of Internal Control.
Consider Less Popular Key Ways
Did you know that 90% of all the locks in Vancouver use either the Schlage ‘C’ Keyway, or the Weiser WR5 and KW1 key ways?
If you view the whole city as one system of keys and locks, there are thousands of ghost keys floating around. This means, there is always the statistical chance that a random key will work in your lock.
After all, a 5 pin Schlage only has 10 to the power of 5 different combinations or about 100,000 possible key bittings. A Weiser SmartKey only has 16,807 different combinations or key bittings.
So some of our clients prefer the 6 pin Schlage which is considered the commercial version with 1 million different possible keys. Even then, due to their popularity and wide use, you may encounter a ghost key.
You can eliminate this type of vulnerability by switching to a different keyway. For example, you can switch to a ‘CE’ or an ‘E’ keyway from Schlage. Or you can switch from a Weiser keyway to a Schlage keyway.
We generally do not recommend downgrading from a Schlage to a Weiser keyway. The Weiser locks are often of lesser quality and have significantly less key combinations. Plus, if you decide to use a master key system in the future, Weiser’s have inherent limitations as they are made primarily for the residential market.
So next time, instead of just rekeying your locks, ask your local Vancouver downtown locksmith about switching to a different keyway. This will completely eliminate all prior keys and greatly reduce the risk of a ghost key.
Alternative Security Upgrade: Fog Cannons
Fog Cannons or Security Fog Systems are an interesting reactive measure to property crime or vandalism. Once activated, the system will quickly disperse a non-toxic fog into the enclosed space. The fog will be so thick that you will not be able to see your hands in front of your face.
Combined with a bright strobe light and loud music, this will disorient the trespassers and prevent additional damage for 30 to 60 minutes which is usually plenty of time for police to respond.
When considering a fog system, consider the following:
- Dimensions and volume of the enclosed space
- Non-toxic and non-residue fog
- Cost of upkeep
First, it is important to ensure the dimensions of the room are properly measured. If there is not enough fog density, the system will be ineffective.
Second, the older fog systems used powder suspended in the air. This was harmful to breathe-in and also left a white residue inside the premises. The clean up after deployment was quite arduous. New systems deploy fog that is non-toxic and leave behind no residue.
Third, older systems used pressured cylinders which had to be recharged after every use. This was costly as you had to contact the installer every time for a service call. Modern systems utilize a modular canister system which can be replaced by the owner or a staff member. It’s like changing a light bulb. Almost anyone can do it which saves time and money.
Fog systems that need to cover large areas can be quite expensive. So we generally recommend protecting the entry areas and sensitive areas first. The non-essential areas can be covered at a later time.
The other issue to consider is that there are not many companies providing this service. As your choices are limited, you can expect to pay above average prices.
So if this system costs so much, why do I recommend it? I recommend it because it is the only non-lethal proactive deterrent after the break-in has already occurred. Once thieves get past the locks and gates, they generally have free reign. Cameras will record the events, but until we get AI powered security robots, fog systems are the only way to flush the thieves out of the premises. You cannot steal what you cannot see.
Conclusion
This article discussed three easy security upgrades for small business owners in the Great Vancouver Region. Upgrades such as automated flood lights, general upkeep and maintenance, and periodic rekeys are simple ways to improve your building’s security. This also applies to residential clients.
For the more adventurous, we recommend the consideration of a security fog system. While usually used by larger companies and government institutions, they can be the only measure left to protect lives and property after the locks and gates have been defeated.
If you have any questions or comments, please call/text me at 604-363-2760 or email me at alex@locksmithvancouver.com. Our Downtown Vancouver Key Store is generally open from 10am to 6pm Monday to Friday except when I am out on a service call. The Key Store is located at 555 West Hastings St, Vancouver in the Harbour Centre.
