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Two common mistakes property owners make when they first hire security patrol teams

22 December 2020 by Dustin Rose

Below are some frequently-committed errors that property owners tend to make when they first begin using security patrol services.

Not asking the patrol team for feedback after they've been patrolling for a few days

Many property owners do not bother to ask their patrol team for security-related feedback after a few days of having them patrol their properties. In some cases, this is because it doesn't occur to the property owner to do this, whilst in other instances, it is because the property owner feels that they understand their property's security needs better than anyone else.

Not asking for this feedback can be quite a big mistake. The reason for this is that security guards who have performed patrol duties on various properties for extended periods are usually adept at spotting a property's vulnerabilities, as most will already have encountered criminals during their previous spells patrolling other properties and will know what approaches these individuals typically use to try to evade security guards and access high-value or confidential goods that are housed in a particular building.

After patrolling a property for a few days and familiarising themselves with its layout, members of a patrol team will normally make a number of mental notes regarding its vulnerabilities. They might, for example, notice that there is a specific part of the property's fence which would be easy for someone to climb over, due to the tree that's beside it. If the owner asks them for suggestions, they might point out this vulnerability and advise them to have one of their team members patrol this area more frequently than the other areas.

If the property owner is willing to listen to the suggestions of the security patrol and test them out, they could avoid all of the expensive, harmful and hard-to-fix consequences of a break-in (including the replacement or retrieval of stolen goods and the repair of damaged areas of their property).

Not adjusting the size of their patrol team when their circumstances change

Another mistake some property owners make is not adjusting the size of their patrol team when their circumstances change. This can cause numerous issues. For example, if a property owner does not increase the size of their patrol team after building a very large extension, their existing team members may take longer to finish doing one full patrol of the entire property and there will be a greater chance of a criminal stealing into one side of the property whilst the security team are at the other end. The extension of the area they need to patrol may also tire the team out and make it harder for them to remain alert to the signs that someone is breaking in.

Conversely, if a person's building is going to be empty for a few days because, for example, their business is closed for Christmas, then failing to cut down on the size of their patrol team will mean that the owner will end up spending more than they need to on security during a period when the building does not require the same level of monitoring that it does when it is occupied.

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