Many businesses opt for 'dummy' alarms due to their cheap price and because they believe this will be enough to deter intruders.
While this may be the case for trespassers and inexperienced burglars, dummy alarms are not enough to protect you from sophisticated offenders and knowledgeable criminal gangs.
And with an average of 69.2 burglaries affecting UK businesses every hour at an average cost to a business of £2000, installing working intruder alarms and CCTV systems is
essential to preventing thefts from your premises, among other crimes.
Plus, recent data from the Home Office reveals that the police fail to return a single item stolen in a burglary in 87% of cases, and that only 5% of burglary cases are ever solved.
All this means that if your business is unfortunate enough to be a victim of a burglary, it is highly unlikely that you will recover your property. In addition, it is very likely that the perpetrator will be left free to re-offend.
These factors – and more – are why it is so important to ensure that your business is properly protected against thieves and other criminals.
Let’s now explore the techniques commonly used by burglars to gain access to commercial properties, and outline why having working alarms is essential for keeping your property and your workforce safe from harm.
1. Burglars ‘Case’ Properties
Experienced burglars routinely case businesses, which is when they visit the property in advance to identify any security flaws that make it easier to gain access to the building.
Professional burglars can be incredibly thorough when casing a property, and may visit it many times over days, weeks, or even months in order to assess the security levels of the company.
If a burglar is experienced, they will have no difficulty in distinguishing a dummy intruder alarm from a working one, and this can in fact single your business out as a target!
While checking out your property, burglars will also take note of factors such as the CCTV systems installed - and as with intruder alarms, burglars can easily identify a fake CCTV system. Therefore, it is essential to have both working intruder alarms and working CCTV systems installed on your premises.
Some people decide to cut corners and put a legitimate brand sticker on their fake intruder alarm. But experienced burglars will easily notice that this is just a sticker, meaning your business will still be at risk of criminal activity.
2. Inside Knowledge
If your staff are aware that your alarm systems are dummies, then they possess sensitive information that will be highly valuable to potential thieves.
In this case, your staff members don’t need to be working with criminals to present a security risk, as it is easily possible for them to ‘let slip’ details that travel to wrongdoers via word of mouth and thereby increase the likelihood that your business will be targeted.
Staying on top of security training will help to prevent staff members from leaking secure information, but it will not reduce the risks entirely – particularly if you have a member of staff who is threatened, disgruntled with their situation, desperate for money, or who socialises regularly with criminals.
Therefore, installing operational intruder alarms and CCTV systems is the only way to truly ensure that your property is well protected, and that an alarm will be raised if you do experience a break-in.
3. Re-offenders And Word Of Mouth
If your property has been targeted by burglars in the past, word can get around fast.
Once your business has been identified as having insufficient security, you will likely be burgled again by either the same criminals, or those who have heard the news through others. Plus, the more times your premises is broken into, the more burglars will know how to avoid your security systems and maximise their takings.
Therefore, if your business has already been targeted, it is essential to install operational intruder alarms and CCTV systems to prevent future break-ins, while also carrying out a general security ‘upgrade’ so that any repeat burglars will be hindered by the new protection measures.
4. Burglars Will Proceed When The Alarm Does Not Sound
If your active security systems are doing their job properly, then when burglars enter your premises the alarms will sound, the relevant authorities will be alerted, and the burglars will be scared off before they can cause any harm to your business.
However, if a burglar moves within the purview of a dummy alarm, notices it, and then realises that the alarm has not sounded or raised an alert, savvy intruders will deduce that your security systems are fake and will be happy to continue their burglary, safe in the knowledge that they are not being monitored.
Therefore, it is essential to invest in operational security systems that will scare off any intruders by raising the alarm at the first sign of trouble.
Want to ensure that your business is safe and well-protected from thieves and other criminals? Get in touch and let’s get started!
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