Getting the most out of your grant money.

What's the best way to save money on your systems? Spend money you don't need to budget for. The government has an insane number of programs to for all sorts of entities to access. Schools right now have quite a bit of money in grants, being used to help secure schools. There is evidence to support the case that money spent on physical security, is a waste. A waste? HOW?

It's not that physical security fails; it's how the process is implemented to spend the money that fails. If you have no information or direction with the best ways to use the money, chances are your investment will be wasted. There are thousands of products on the marker, likely thousands of ideas on how to implement them... and to be fair, most people aren't experts in securing buildings and people.

Some integrators will tell you that cameras are what you need, but there's a problem with that being the answer. For starters, do you know what cameras you need? Is an analog camera and a digital camera the same thing? What is the camera supposed to accomplish? Cameras, by themselves, are to present a live view to be able to see in real time and evidence gathering system. Without the proper application, that's all they are. Adding analytics and integrating them with other systems is how to stretch that investment further.

Some people may say, all you need is a good access control system. While it is certainly important to have one in place, is it really doing you any good if your building has glass doors and windows easily accessible? Perhaps a better investment is safety film, so a brute force attack doesn't allow a threat inside the building. Perhaps that's not your concern, maybe you need to know if a door is propped open (like in Uvalde). Not all access control systems use door position sensors.

Some say policy is the answer, others say physical security is the answer, some say training is the answer... the truth of the matter is, it's all important and should work in conjunction with one another. The things you need to avoid, is gimmicks that can cause more problems, waste money, or provide advantages to a threat. Pepper spray canisters, for example, could be an offensive tool used to subdue a threat. They can also be expensive systems, that give someone a false sense of security, and can be easily defeated by a fifteen-dollar device sold in military surplus stores. Some solutions offer filling a room with smoke to obscure vision. Without getting too deep into details, this can provide an advantage to someone who, likely came prepared.

I strongly recommend talking to professionals, outside of your organization, who specialize in providing solutions with these thoughts in mind. You want your investment to be in a format you can grow into over time, that are gimmick free, use multiple disciplines to address threats at each level, and perhaps more importantly... offer features that can help you every day, not just in the case that a threat becomes present at your facility.

Contact www.thedesignedsolutions.com to get the conversation started. Education is free, real-world lessons cost more than you can imagine. Let us help implement a plan that best fits your needs.