Communicate security s value.

Save money.
Create business efficiencies.
Reduce risk.
Guarding s Successful Business Model
By Diane Ritchey
October 11, 2011 One Comment
KEYWORDS bullet proof glass / hostage situation / hostages / SWAT team
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Trans
The University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville is using two Segways to
help its uniformed officers secure the facility's parking lots and garages more
effectively.
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Communicate security s value. Save money. Create business efficiencies. Reduce ris
k.
Gene James did that and more. He saved Jack in the Box $1.9 million dollars.
James is director of asset protection for Jack in the Box, which is among the na
tion s leading fast-food hamburger chains, with more than 2,200 quick-serve restau
rants in 19 states. Additionally, through a wholly owned subsidiary, the company
operates and franchises Qdoba Mexican Grill, a leader in fast-casual dining, wi
th more than 500 restaurants in 43 states and the District of Columbia.
Some of those restaurants are in high crime areas, including South Central Los A
ngeles. A few years ago, James got off an airplane in Dallas and checked his cel
l phone. To his surprise, he had five voicemails, numerous emails and many text
messages. I immediately called my office back in San Diego, and found out that we
had a hostage situation in one of our restaurants, he recalls. We had a SWAT team
in the parking lot and we had hostage takers in the dining room. It truly was a
worse case scenario.
The hostage situation was in one of the company s restaurants in that South Centra
l Los Angeles. And although Gene was in Dallas, it quickly became his problem.
The good news was that the restaurant had bullet resistant material at the front
counter, and the employees were able to escape to the kitchen and lock the door
 behind them. They were safe, for the moment.
More good news: James and his security team had just installed Westec s Virtual Gu
ard system with security video cameras in that restaurant that allowed the SWAT
team to listen and talk directly to the employees, confirm their location and he
lp them escape through the restaurant s back door to safety.
But we still had 14 customers being held hostage in the restaurant, James says. Thi
s was troubling, because many of those customers were infants and elderly people
.
James and his staff watched the event unfold together with the SWAT team and lis
tened in on their conversations at the location. They found out that the suspects
had hatched a scheme: they were going to tell the SWAT team they were going to
release the hostages, but secretly, they were going to escape by pretending to b
e a hostage. The guarding system heard the entire conversation and reported it t
o the SWAT team. When the real hostages were released, three hostage takers were
immediately arrested, without incident. On that day we saved lives, James says.
Today, the system is installed in 115 of Jack in the Box company-owned restauran
ts in high-crime areas across the U.S. And soon, the system will be installed in
an additional 20 restaurant locations. The system can conduct tours of a locati
on, escort employees on and off the premises and ensure the security of a busine
ss 24/7. More importantly, it s a business model that is creating value for Jack i
n the Box, James and his security team. We have greatly enhanced the safety and s
ecurity of our restaurants, employees and guests and with the added benefit of s
aving millions of dollars a year, he says.
It s also helped James and his team transition from being heavy in investigations
to doing more preventive and proactive security work. If someone goes into a Jac
k in the Box restaurant and acts suspicious, the employees only have to use the
system and the situation can be handled quickly.
Also helping to reduce risk in the restaurants are Under Surveillance signs and au
dio warnings.
My job description actually begins with the words: Personally responsible for the
safety and security of every guest and every employee at Jack in the Box, James ad
ds. That s a very powerful statement. From that statement I look to technologies to
help me accomplish that goal.
James says that future plans include using the system to identify and prevent sa
les manipulation by integrating Westec into the Jack in the Box point of sale sy
stem in 10 restaurant locations, in an effort to prove the concept and with the
intention of creating a system-wide sales enhancing resource.

Finding the New Model

The guarding system that Jack in the Box uses is just one example of a new busin
ess model for guarding services. According to a report by Robert Perry & Associa
tes, White Paper on the U.S. Security Guard Industry, some guarding companies no
t all are stepping away from offering only traditional manned services. Accordin
g to the report, Many of the larger companies are getting into the remote video m
onitoring business as a way to supplement or enhance the existing traditional st
anding guard service. Some are also pursuing the background screening business, A
lert Line services, executive protection, etc. all as a way to diversify and get
more competitive and, in a lot of instances, set themselves apart from their str
ongest competitor in the traditional standing security guard market.
Some companies are also supplementing security officers with additional forms of
security and reinventing themselves to be successful. Says the report, A [recent
] article cited a police department in a New Jersey city that installed video equ
ipment to supplement its police force. This could point to a trend that will car
ry over into the private security sector. However, in most instances companies a
re not actually cutting back on manned security but are supplementing the securi
ty function by installing cameras, alarms, etc. as a way to enhance the existing
security. As a result many security guard companies are starting a separate elect
ronics division or partnering with an existing electronics company.
So increasingly, traditional business models for securing an organization, schoo
l, hospital or other facility are changing to provide more business value to an
organization. Such is the case at Cox Enterprises in Atlanta, where G4S security
officers do more than simply guard the premises; they create business value.
Cox Enterprises is a leading communications, media and automotive services compa
ny. With yearly revenues approaching $15 billion, businesses include Cox Communi
cations, a cable TV and broadband provider; Manheim, a vehicle wholesale marketp
lace; AutoTrader.com, an automobile classified and consumer information Internet
site; and Cox Media Group, a broadcasting, publishing and digital media company
.
The enterprise has office and data center locations within a few miles of each o
ther in and around Atlanta, with an additional data center in Phoenix. Some 85 s
ecurity officers are contracted to work at various Cox Enterprises sites; about
a third of them work at the company s corporate headquarters in Sandy Springs, GA.
On the most basic level, security officers man the front desk, complete roving p
atrols, handle employee badging, administer security systems and maintain a 24-h
our security control center that receives communication from security officers s
tationed throughout the enterprise. A Honeywell Pro-Watch system combines video
(from an assortment of video management systems), access control and other secur
ity systems.
Management of sensitive and expensive inventory is another responsibility of the
security officers. They receive and track any packages that arrive at the loadi
ng dock or warehouse and move through the data centers. In addition to securing
the costly computer hardware, officers protect server equipment that could poten
tially contain personal data.
Moving further beyond basic guarding responsibilities, the officers are trained
as first responders to manage emergency response and medical emergencies. Securi
ty officers have responded to medical emergencies at Cox, providing automated ex
ternal defibrillator (AED) assistance, checking vital signs and offering comfort
while waiting for emergency services.
Technology expands the capabilities of the security officers, adding business va
lue to the solution. At Cox Enterprises, officers utilize handheld devices, whic
h enable them to interact in real time, send pictures instantly and provide addi
tional information to the centralized command center.
The system transforms them from security officers to serve as the eyes, ears and
face of Cox Enterprises, says Duane Ritter, vice president of corporate security
for the company. They can notify us immediately of anything happening throughout
the company. I depend on those folks to do their jobs and on G4S to make sure th
ey have the right tools and are properly trained.
The system transforms a simple guard tour into an ongoing source of valuable inf
ormation about Cox and available throughout the company. For example, a security
 officer can record the humidity level in a Cox Enterprises data center, check p
ressure value information of an air-conditioning system or confirm that fire ext
inguishers have been properly charged. In addition, the system can provide offic
ers with a list of questions, which officers can answer by inputting data from a
ny location on their tour. If reported data falls outside expected parameters, t
he system can alert Cox management with an alarm. These duties expand the effect
iveness of security officers, boost their job satisfaction and help Cox to creat
e business efficiencies.
We are a company with more than 60,000 employees, including several large busines
s units, says Ritter. We want to be as efficient as possible.

On Foot and on Wings

What gets Brian Hitch excited is his new Segways for his 18 uniformed guards tha
t are helping his patrol officers to respond to emergency situations faster and
with less physical exertion for more effective response. The cost of the Segways
, he says, is justified, because his officers are able to cover more territory a
nd deal with situations more quickly. The result is a more secure campus.
Hitch is head of security for the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knox
ville, Tenn., a Level 1 Trauma Center. Hitch and his security team provide for t
he safety and welfare of everyone in the facility. Uniformed officers and marked
patrol vehicles secure and protect the patients, families and employees. They a
lso provide support services such as aiding distressed motorists, managing crowd
s, directing traffic and offering safety escorts.
We usually answer about 34,000 calls a year for service, Hitch explains. That can
be as simple as opening a car door or dealing with a violent person.
Hitch has as many as 7,500 cars a day on the medical center campus, with parking
spaces that rotate out five times a day. The Segways help his officers patrol t
he campus more quickly and effectively, and deal with a traffic issue with cars
backed up from the campus onto a highway. As soon as we got the Segways the traff
ic issue stopped, he says. We are just able to deal with traffic issues faster. Th
e Segways our guards use are averaging 18 miles a day over the parking lots and
garages. It really gets us out there faster to prevent crime.

Leading the Way

There are many outstanding examples of guarding programs that are creating new b
usiness models whether they use a Segway or not. But most important, says ASIS P
resident Ray O Hara, is justifying the expense.
The challenge for a security manager is to absorb the technology and then validat
e that it works for them, he says. The goal is to create a hybrid model of protect
ion rather than just saying We need 30 security officers. Actually you might need
only 20 because the technology those officers use replaces the other ten. So do
some benchmarks and find ways to push efficiency using the dollars you have at h
and. Find the business case to take to the C-suite.
Daniel Luitjens, director of corporate security for Henkel North America, agrees
. The technology has to have value to the business, he says. Just giving our securi
ty guards a Segway doesn t mean they will do a better job. It has to be justified.
For example, some alarms are pushed to a guard s cell phone for him to respond. W
e ve found there are security guards who are very comfortable with that technology
, and in some cases, it helps them to be more effective with their job. But it m
ay not be the case with everyone.
My primary focus is people and asset protection, Luitjens explains. In that situati
on, a lot of what we do doesn t have an ROI, but you still have to do it. So any e
nhancements to the security function need to be justified. We always consider ne
w technologies that will help our security staff, because sometimes it can enhan
ce it and make the business work better.
How Technology Solutions Can Increase ROI for Security Programs

By David Feeney, IT Director of Integrated Solutions, AlliedBarton Security Serv

ices
In today s economic environment, two things have gained more emphasis and become m
ore challenging to attain: security and cost savings. Because the two are tradit
ionally contradictory, it is all the more critical for organizations to make sec
urity investments rather than security expenditures. The difference between the
two is return on investment (ROI); investments have it, and expenditures don t.
Starting a security project or initiative by first considering the solution can
result in expenditures rather than investments. To increase potential ROI, start
by identifying a problem or opportunity. Then list the goals related to this pr
oblem. Goals that indicate potential ROI include increasing effectiveness, savin
g time, simplifying operations or becoming more efficient. Solutions that match
your problem and goals are more likely to provide ROI.
Let s look at some strategic investments that commonly provide an ROI based on the
se goals.

Problem: Incident reports are sometimes lost, difficult to locate, inconsistent

and ineffective at providing actionable intelligence.
Solution: Centralized, Electronic Incident Management Systems increase efficienc
y and effectiveness while reducing risk exposure through increased reliability.
Many solutions also allow for analyzing incident trends such as time, day and lo
cation. This analysis provides actionable intelligence to increase operational e
ffectiveness. AlliedBarton partners with D3 Security and iView Systems to incorp
orate this technical solution into our clients operations.

Problem: Visitor logs are unreliable, illegible, time-consuming and unable to pr

ovide actionable intelligence.
Solution: Visitor Management Systems allow for self-service kiosks, check-in by
scanning drivers licenses or other identification, check-out by scanning badges w
ith handheld PDAs and assignment of temporary limited access control. iView Syst
ems, EasyLobby and others have been called upon to incorporate visitor managemen
t systems based on our clients requirements.

Problem: Emergency response procedures are cumbersome, excessively manual, ineff

icient and ineffective. Mass messaging is unreliable and inconsistent.
Solution: Notification Management systems allow for consistent messaging to thou
sands of personnel in a matter of seconds. Some solutions allow for polling reci
pients for responses, automatic escalation and transferring recipients to confer
ence bridges. AlliedBarton partners with Everbridge to offer this solution.

Problem: Security personnel are not mobile, tied to specific locations and restr
icted by lack of vehicles.
Solution: Officers can be equipped with handheld PDAs to increase mobility. Mobi
le applications are now available with a growing number of security solutions, i
ncluding Guard Tour Management solutions that allow for scheduling officer route
s, documenting compliance and collecting information about checkpoints for futur
e analysis. D3 Security and Timekeeping Systems offer solutions to meet these ne
eds. Mobility vehicles can reduce time between checkpoints, allowing officers to
complete more routes with increased visibility and accessibility. The reduced n
eed for traditional motor vehicles adds to the ROI. AlliedBarton has relationshi
ps with T3 Mobility and Segway to incorporate mobility vehicles into our securit
y programs.

Well-integrated technology solutions can help security teams become even more ef
ficient and ultimately, increase your ROI. The key is to identify the solutions
that will best meet your specific needs and evolve with you as your goals change