Own a store? Make sure you ramp up security this Christmas
Christmas is supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year; alas, it’s also a time when criminals are at their most active. During the festive period, there’s around a 20% rise in break-ins and robberies, which means that store owners need to take extra precautions to ensure their products – and the wellbeing of their staff – are well taken care of.
Below, we take a look at a few simple tips and tricks you should follow in order to make it all the more difficult for criminals to target you.
Your store’s layout
A thief that walks into your store won’t be picking up items at random; they’ll be targeting your most expensive inventory. As such, you can provide the first layer of defence against robberies just by reviewing your store’s layout. While you may have initially decided which products go where on the back of customer browsing habits, it might be time to begin thinking like a criminal. If you can’t currently easily see your most expensive items, move them a part of the shop that is easier to monitor. A thief is much less likely to strike if they think they’re being watched!
Door security
While you might be a victim of crime during the day, the real danger is at night, when no one is at your store. As such, it’s important that your premises are difficult to access without keys or an access code. If your doors don’t currently offer an adequate level of protection, get in touch with SJO Locksmith, and have a high-quality lock installed. If a criminal can’t get into your store, they can’t take anything: it’s as simple as that!
CCTV equipment
If you haven’t already, then you may wish to consider having CCTV equipment installed on your premises. The benefits of this type of technology are two-fold. First, it’ll act as a deterrent to someone snooping around your premises; no criminal wants to risk being seen on camera, and later apprehended. Secondly, if something does happen at your store, then you’ll have evidence that can be used by the police and for when you’re claiming on your business insurance.
Checking the new staff
Christmas is likely to be one of your busiest times of the year, and you may need to take on some extra staff on a temporary basis. While you would like to think that your staff would not cause you any trouble, the truth is that you can never really be sure; even a person who looks and acts innocent can have a dark side. You can do your best to hire the right people by doing background checks and asking for references. It might seem like overkill when it’s only for temporary staff, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.
An audit
Finally, consider having a security audit conducted by an outside expert. They’ll be able to expose any security weaknesses you have and offer solutions on how you can make your store more secure.
