Back in 2019, a London jewellers lost up to £1m of precious stock in a robbery. The traditional Victorian building was meant to be impossible to break into. But, according to these thieves, getting into the building next door was easy!
They spent two days drilling through the wall and helping themselves to precious metals and gems.
Bringing back memories of Hatton Garden?
What went wrong with the security systems? What can we learn to protect our own livelihoods?
The alarm system in the building next door was clearly disabled in a way that didn't raise suspicion or contact a monitoring centre. Older equipment or basic "off the shelf" systems don't faze a determined thief!
An intruder alarm system is a fantastic step towards deterring thieves from your business, but without monitoring, who will respond when the alarm is triggered? And, without an integrated commercial CCTV system, it's a standalone measure.
In this case, a smart alarm with internal sensors was needed. This would have picked up on vibration, heat changes or movement and triggered the alarm. The monitoring station would have been able to check what was happening via the integrated cameras! Let's explore these features in more detail...
Lots of areas have a Business Watch scheme, similar to residential Neighbourhood Watches. But this doesn't help out of hours. This theft occured over a weekend and nobody noticed at the time.
The humongous drill used to get through the wall wasn't quiet... yet nobody working on the floors above reported noise coming from the premises. Perhaps they didn't have cause for concern - building works happen all the time! But if the alarm was sounding too, maybe someone would have called the business owner or the Police.
It just goes to show, you cannot rely on Good Samaritans to report a burglary in your business.
A monitored alarm would have sent an instant alert to:
They would have known immediately that something was wrong and been able to take action.
The police would have been called during the act! The monitoring stations we work with have a direct line to the Police who are able to attend the scene ASAP.
You can't be on your shop floor 24/7 but a monitored alarm is the next best thing.
HD CCTV is your watchful eye over the business. Badly installed CCTV is a sharp poke in that eye!
The camera in the neighbour's building was covered with paint during the break in. A professional installer would have designed a system to avoid this possibility. But you can't just hide cameras - there are strict privacy laws to think about!
A monitored security system would have sent a message to the Alarm Receiving Centre as soon as there was a problem. Even if a camera is damaged they can switch to another camera view to see what's happening.
Police response would have stopped these thieves in their tracks. HD CCTV images could have been used in a prosecution.
There's no doubt that CCTV is one of the best investments you can make to secure your business. But, as we've read, there can be pitfalls. Our security experts have written the book that helps you avoid them!