You have numerous remote guarding options to choose from, but how do you pick the right one?
By using a few simple criteria, it’s easy to evaluate your options and choose the best one for your business needs. As with most services, some obviously stand out from the rest.
1. Ability To Understand Your Needs
This is one of the most important criteria. One thing that sets remote guarding services apart is how they customize their service to your needs. Each business has different security risks. The service you choose should work with you to know what types of problems to look for.
For instance, if only two employees are supposed to be using a side entrance, the service should have guidelines in place to tell the guard(s) watching the cameras to ensure no one else uses those doors. Otherwise, they’ll alert you immediately.
2. Guard Training
Just because the guards aren’t working on-premises doesn’t mean they don’t need extensive training. In fact, they need just as much. They have to watch multiple camera angles and look for suspicious activity.
For instance, in retail, they must look at numerous customers at one time and know exactly what signs to keep an eye out for. They can’t get distracted or let crowds blur together.
Remote guarding isn’t an easy job, but with the proper training, these guards are highly effective at reducing crime and boosting security.
3. Voice Options
Any remote guarding service you use should install speakers throughout your business. This allows them to warn criminals away. Many criminals are likely to run before committing a crime if they know their actions are being recorded live.
This is especially important if you have employees at your business 24/7. You could introduce security protocols that send employees to certain locations if they hear the remote guard talking to a potential criminal.
You could also implement lock-down protocols to keep a suspect contained (as long as it’s a safe area away from employees) until law enforcement arrives.
4. Quality Of Equipment
In some cases, remote guarding services utilize the equipment you already have on hand if it’s equivalent to what they’d normally use. After all, would you really trust a remote guarding service if the cameras they used were all grainy black and white?
No! You’d want your guards to have cameras that produced high-quality footage at all times. After all, if something does happen, you want them to be able to see the suspect(s) clearly. Plus, if a case goes to court, you don’t want there to be any question about a suspect’s identity.
5. Use Of Advanced Tech
While not absolutely necessary, evaluating remote guard options based on their advanced tech does help you pick between your top options. For instance, some services now offer smart systems that help guards automatically detect specific security threats.
Other services use advanced analytics software to determine where your biggest threats lie based on how employees, customers and visitors interact throughout your business. They also use analysis from previous incidents to better monitor your premises.
6. Partnership With Law Enforcement
This one is important. It’s also why the best remote guard services utilize guards with law enforcement training. Your service needs to have a strong partnership with local law enforcement. After all, this is who they’ll be calling when they suspect foul play.
Law enforcement needs to know the guards are trained to know exactly what to look for so they’re not always getting false alarms. A reputable service has worked and trained with law enforcement to know how to talk police through finding a criminal while keeping everyone in the area as safe as possible.
Contact BOS Security
Are you considering using remote guarding for your business? Contact our team at 404-793-6965 to learn more about our guards and the technology we use.
If you’re unsure about your business’s specific security needs, start with our free Security Needs Assessment to learn more today.
Image: Paul Bence