Winter Security 101

Perhaps one of the most unpredictable seasons of the year is winter. With frequent temperature variations and weather conditions ranging anywhere from snow, sleet, ice, storms, and rain, your business must endure a lot of stress during the season! While plenty of these tips are bound to have positive effects on year-round security, we will focus on winter security tips and tricks that will have lasting impacts on your business.

There is a common misconception about criminals. While many believe burglars and other types of criminals are unorganized, possibly not that intelligent, studies show that many criminals are highly organized and detailed, often stalking a business for weeks before striking. They want to memorize patterns, movements, and potential blind spots on your property. Sometimes they know your property better than you! As a business owner, it is extremely important to know that layout of your land. Take notes of where hiding spots could be. Try to occasionally adjust camera angles in these areas. One way you could do this is in windows where during the summer you have lots of foliage, place a trash can or a “decorative” barrel in front of the window to block the line of vision.

Make sure you don’t leave anything valuable visible in the window. Criminals are often motivated by valuable assets. They make many of their decisions based on what they see, and as such, HomeAdvisor recommended that homeowners take their own surveys of the exterior with this in mind... and the same goes for business owners. If you can clearly see valuable items through the windows, burglars can too.

The upkeep of your home or building communicates volumes. Did you know that something as simple as shoveling your driveway or mowing your lawn can signal a burglar that there is a good chance someone is present? Many thieves may see a driveway that hasn’t been shoveled as a building that possibly abandoned or currently vacant. It’s important to remember this if you live in an area with heavy snow.

You also can utilize motion censored lawn lights during the winter to show your presence as well. If a thief sees these lights, they will be cautious to approach the residence or building in fear of alerting someone.

For the business's safety, many businesses have several points of possible entry. It’s important to reinforce the safety of these entry points by installing sensors on windows and doors. But sensors are not always focused on keeping things out. Sensors can also alert to any potential hazards such as water damage or even someone leaving their shift early.

Pipe Sensors: in areas where freezing pipes are a constant threat, pipe sensors can really save some money and stress. You will get alerts when your pipe is reaching a freezing point so you have time to act accordingly before the pipe bursts.

Motion sensors: motion can be either indoor or outdoor. Motion sensors can be adjusted to not be tripped by employees or displays, and if they are tripped, will take a ten second video to send to you so you know who (or what) tripped the sensor!

Glass break sensors: glass break sensors are pretty straight forward. You can detect anyone breaking into your house via window or glass door by the breaking of the glass. 

Now that you’ve learned how to work with nature and technology to protect your home or business during the winter, schedule your free consultation with Sonitrol of Lexington to enhance your level of security. Our trained security experts will help you take control and protect your business from internal and external threats.