Modern Solutions for Today’s Threats

Abraham Ramzan
Abraham Ramzan

We live in a completely different world compared to just a year or two ago. The threats facing every business and every facility have truly multiplied, and the stakes are high! Consider the following examples:

  • Riots
  • Vandalism
  • Break-ins
  • Theft
  • Trespassing and loitering
  • Natural disasters
  • Fraudulent injury and Worker’s Comp claims

Any one of these alone can wreak havoc on your operation, cost an exorbitant amount of money, damage your reputation, and may even force you to shut down your business.

The experts at Guardian Integrated Security have been passionate about security for three decades, and we offer our clients the best solutions that utilize advanced technology to handle practically all security challenges – and we do it better than anyone else – with more efficient and affordable options to meet every budget.

Your security, your personnel’s safety, and your business are important to us. Over the years, we have mitigated the security challenges of organizations big and small, and we have seen every situation imaginable. We can do the same for you! We would like to offer you a completely free threat assessment, with absolutely no obligation on your part. Please continue to read and see what the free threat assessment can do for you.

Todd McCormick

Global Director of Operations

What’s A Threat Assessment and Why You Should Get It

By Michelle LaFontaine, Executive Admin

At Guardian Integrated Security, we understand each business has unique security vulnerabilities and therefore specific security needs. Instead of offering clients a ‘one-size- fits-all’ standardized service, we conduct a free on-site Security Threat Assessment by an expert Security Specialist from our team.

Our Security Specialists have collectively been in the industry for three decades and use the gained expertise and knowledge to thoroughly assess your property’s security needs. Once on-site, they will consider a plethora of variables that all have a significant impact on security, such as:

What’s A Threat Assessment and Why You Should Get It
  • Local crime activity in the surrounding area of where your property is located
  • Property size and shape
  • Potential weak points (i.e. – poor locking mechanisms, blind spots, unsecured fences)
  • Current criminal activity that might be taking place at your site and its severity
  • Goods and materials on the property that could be targeted by thieves or vandals
  • Activity occurring on the site daily (foot traffic, employees, customers)
  • Distance from nearest police department
  • Previously utilized security measures and their effectiveness (if applicable)

All these factors along with the expertise and knowledge resulting from years in the field equip our Security Specialists with the ability to provide you with an expertly designed security service plan designed to address your specific needs.

Some security companies offer a handful of security solutions such as CCTV cameras, traditional guard service, etc. Here is the problem with that method: Effective security cannot be a one-size-fits-all solution. Think of it like car insurance – to provide you with the perfect policy, agents take a multitude of factors into consideration such as requested coverage limits, previous accident history, number of people on the policy, age of each driver, etc.

Guardian Integrated Security believes that to secure our clients’ properties and personnel properly and effectively, a thorough security assessment needs to be completed. This should always be the first step in any new initiative to secure your property. Because we believe the wellbeing of your personnel and the security of your facility are of paramount importance, we are offering you a free security assessment with no obligation on your part.

To receive a free, on-site security threat assessment with one of our Specialists today, call us at (800) 400-3167

Workers’ Comp Fraud Hits California Especially Hard

Workers’ compensation fraud happens in every state in America, though it is difficult to really know how much exists because much of it goes on under the radar, and countless perpetrators have yet to be caught, found, and investigated. The National Insurance Crime Bureau estimates that across the USA, $30 billion is tied to these nefarious activities, and in California alone, the amount is a staggering $1 -$3 billion every single year.

In California, employees who report injuries under workers’ compensation insurance as happening on-the-job do not have to show proof that someone else caused the situation in order to receive benefits. This is called a “no-fault system”. Some fraudulent claims involve a simple, straightforward plan (like one employee pulling the scam), while others can include several people and be a more involved conspiracy (such as fabricated injuries leading to false or embellished documentation that a doctor and lawyer work together on with the employee)

  • Funding for the workers’ compensation program comes from California employers who are legally required to be insured or self-insured. The total aggregate assessment for fiscal year 2017-18 was $62,211,350
  • During fiscal year 2017-18, the Fraud Division identified and reported 4,106 suspected fraud cases; (SFCs) assigned 419 new cases, made 159 arrests and referred 140 cases to prosecuting authorities. Potential loss amounted to $273,249,723.
  • In fiscal year 2015-16… The total chargeable fraud was $969,486,865 representing only a small portion of actual fraud since so many fraudulent activities remain to be identified or investigated.
Workers’ Comp Fraud Hits California Especially Hard

Employers can deter employees from temptation to commit workers’ compensation fraud by ensuring monitored and recorded security services are installed. Having such a system in place also protects the company against vandalism, theft, and trespassing, and allows for the presentation of video and audio surveillance evidence when necessary.

CCTV Has Come A Long Way

Closed-circuit television, or CCTV, has become commonplace in our streets, stores, businesses, and houses. It provides law enforcement with the ability to track the movements of persons of interest, and provides employers and homeowners with security and peace of mind. We think of these systems as very modern (in both design and capabilities), but you might be surprised to learn that the earliest use of CCTV on record was almost 80 years ago!

CCTV Has Come A Long Way

German engineer Walter Bruch designed a CCTV system in 1942 for the purpose of live monitoring the country’s V-2 rockets (which were long range guided ballistic missiles). Seven years later, the technology was introduced commercially, and that’s when American government contractor Vericon got into the CCTV business. Even though the movie industry was putting images to cellulose film at that time, these early closed-circuit TV setups were only capable of live monitoring. Perhaps the cost and bulky recording equipment were the biggest barriers to preserving CCTV footage in the 1940s, but that would soon change with a different innovation from the same decade.

Reel-to-reel systems came into use with CCTV – albeit rarely – and were used to record and preserve what the cameras picked up. The heavy magnetic tapes (reels) were manipulated by machine operators, who threaded the full reel down through the recording device and over to catch through on the empty side, which would eventually become the recorded tape. The process was expensive, unpredictable, and difficult, which is no doubt why this CCTV-recording solution was also rare to see.’’

The 1970s brought video cassette recorders, or VCRs, and the small tapes and ease of use helped this solution become popular for recording closed-circuit television systems. A live set of eyeballs didn’t have to sit in front of the monitors keeping said eyeballs peeled for hours on end anymore! The CCTV-VCR solution was installed, set up, and then it was left to do its thing. These systems basically ran themselves with very little input from an operator, other than changing to a fresh tape, re-writing over an old one, and fixing any jams that may have occurred. The emergence of video cassette recorders was a major advancement for CCTV systems, and the biggest issue seemed to be finding a place to store the VCR tapes if an historical account over a period of time was wanted or needed.

If only multiple cameras could send their signals to just one monitor, that would certainly make things easier to keep an eye on and less costly. Enter multiplexing – the next significant step into the future for CCTV! The 1990s brought this innovation, which not only worked on the monitor, but also for recording, so whatever was seen on the screen was seen during playback. No longer was the ratio one camera to one monitor, and that made it easier to set up and monitor CCTV systems, and helped reduce the overall cost of the equipment needed.

Just like DVRs replaced our home VCRs, the same happened with closed-circuit TV solutions. Digital recording made operating the systems more user-friendly and easier to learn. The multiplexing stayed, as the efficiency that technology brought about really is indispensable (even today). Storing the surveillance footage digitally also meant no separate room required to keep the recordings over time (unlike those VCR tapes from earlier).

NVRs, or network video recorders, are also in use now. The video being captured by the CCTV is encoded and processed, then streamed to the NVR where it can be stored or viewed remotely. When many different places – like worksites, departments, company satellite locations, and construction projects, for example – need subsequent monitoring, the NVR works well, because many viewers in different locations can see the footage at the same time in great quality, whether on the organization’s network or over the internet.

CCTV is all around us and serves very important functions for a variety of enterprises and organizations. Next month, we’ll look at some of the history of law enforcement’s adoption and use of the technology.

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