Public Defense Measures Based on Safe Conditions - Essay Example

Section One: Introduction As with any building be it a commercial, residential, or government building, the security concerns of its tenants, residents, or employees is of the utmost importance. Security represents more than just the physical safety of people, it pertains to the overall structure and its contents as well. An example of such a security concern would be a bank. It is known that banks are the number one target of physical safety breaches that result in robberries or hostage situations. Therefore, the security consideration of the bank needs to ensure that it installs security features that would make day and night time robberries next to impossible and also, protect the clients and employees of the bank in any given situation. For each bank location, a specific security plan has to be developed based upon the security requirements that resulted from a security breach examination of the location. A specific set of security equipment and plan will be developed based upon the specific needs of the location. For this particular study, a security guide for a new building shall be developed. The building concerned, is a government building that will be housing sensitive United States citizenship requests and thus, needs to secured at the highest possible levle. The concept, is designed to deliver the most secure physical security for the building in its interior and exterior parameters. The facility needs to be as secured as Fort Knox and be guarded the same way the Secret Service guards the American president. The building itself covers a span of 30,000 square feet, covering a vast area that needs control and security within all borders and physical areas. As such, the building requires the best security features that can be developed in terms of planning and physical presence within the facilities. Money is no object when it comes to the security of the facility due to the sensitivity of the data it houses. The main challenge in developing the secuirty plan though, is the location of the building. Located in a highly rural area, there is not a lot of people or vehicular traffic. This means that by concept, only a small scale and simple security system should be set into place, the security analyst must consider the worst case scenarios should a sudden influx of people and vehicular traffic come to exist in the area. The level of security implemented must then still be on the same level as a city based building, that requires increased security plans. This will keep in mind the sensitivity of the information that needs to be secured within the building and ensure that only highly classified and cleared personnel are given access to the restricted location relating to citizenship requests. There is also a major concern for the information security of the premises since it houses digital and electronic data of the citizenship requests. As such, the extra precaution of adding voice and data information security to the facility should be considered. Such additional layers of protection will be most effective during office hours of 7AM to 6 PM. Beyond those hours, the 24 hour surveillance cameras and guards will be used as additional deterrents to possible security breaches. The purpose of this paper, is to make the proper recommendations for the increased physical security of the new location as the lease of the location has already been secured but the security plans for the physical location has not been established at the time of the signing. Section Two: CPTED Applications Known as CPTED, the Criminal Prevention Through Enironmental Design is a concept that is expected to limit criminal access and damage within premises in order to better secure the facility. The security concept is based upon the zoning of areas that require protection and security. The areas will be divided into public and protected zones in order to design the most effective security system for the area. The public zones will be comprised of roads and sidewalks and any other area within the premises that allow for public traffic and interaction. The private zone, is the area where the sensitive information, its computers, and servers, are stored so it should only be reachable to authorized employees and security personnel. This the area of the facility that shall require the highest security concept planning, design, and implementation. One of the security features that can be installed will be physical barrier to separate the zones. This is the main concept behind CPTED. The implementation of such a system can use physical security features such as lighting, locks, barriers, and landscaping. All of these elements are meant to increase the prevention of security riss and control access to specific areas. Section Three: Surveillance Options In the public areas, natural surveillance can be used through the use of large windows, open areas, and spaces that will allow employees and personnel to have a birds eye view of the activities in the public areas. In certain instances, the use of surveillance cameras may be necessary. This is usually used after operating hours when there are normally no people in the public access areas. Another security option during the off peak hours could be to have security personnel walk through the facility regularly as part of the surveillance system. Section Four: Outdoor Barriers When it comes to outdoor barriers, security experts always turn to the use of landscaping, fences, and trees as the foundation of the physical security barriers. In order to increase visibility in the area, CCTV cameras are installed in areas closest to the most security breach prone areas, usually areas that physical monitoring of guards cannot reach. Normally though, the cameras are installed on or around a fence. Maintaining a large barrier between the facility and the open space also helps to increase security as the installation of cameras and motorized security personnel can help to increase the security of the “dead” zone. Section Five: Locks There are three types of locks recommended for the best security of small areas. The first, is the number pad access to entry, then there are the access card locks, and finally, the deadbold locks. Thease are the most secure locks that are typically used to secure an area. The number codes of the locks are given only to a selected set of personnel and copies of the lock codes can be found within a specific secured area that is accessible only to even a smaller group of selected people. It is important to remember that the access cards can only be effectively used to deter crime provided the personnel use the card properly. This also means that the person in possession of the access card can be trusted to not misplace the card of share the unlock codes with non-classified personnel. For the lowest security requirement areas, deadbolt locks can be used as the documents and information in the area are normally not highly classified and will not have a direct effect on any citizenship applications should the secure area be breached. Section Six: Lighting Lighting is a given nighttime security requirement as the roving security team may not always be on site. However, the Closed Circuit Television cameras serve as the eyes and ears of the in-house security team. This is also of particular benefit in the parking areas of the facility as the light and cameras can be evenly spaced so that the personnel and clients arriving and going can be monitored for their own protection. Section Seven: Alarm Options The most effective alarm options are those that include motion detection, glass breaking detection, and other security features. These alarms can alert the guards who can then refer to higher authorities regarding how to approach the alarm signal. Section Eight: Entry Control Entry control will require employees to have magnetic strip badges in order to access or enter their work areas. This allows direct monitoring of the front gate by personnel and also either allow or limit the access of employees to sensitive office areas. Section Nine: Conclusions When considering all of the security concerns of this particular facility, it is evident that there is a need for security personnel, access control badges, recording systems, and alarms in order to establish the highest level of security on-site. These are based upon the security threats assessed by zone and facilities persent. This would be the most effective way of creating a customized physical security system for the facility. The “dead” zone of the area allows the security team to instantly recognize and anticipate any physical security breaches and prevent its further exercusion into the facility. The CCTV cameras serve as the additional eyes of the security team when roving security services may be limited, and the motion detector alarms can alert roving security teams to immediately secure an area once the alarm is triggered. Although it is difficult to secure a 35, 000 square foot area location, it is not impossible. The emergence of the CPTED applications have made it possible to accurately secure such vast locations against any possible criminal activities. References Fennelly, L. (2013). Effective Physical Security (4th Edition). Waltham, Mass.: Butterworth-Heinemann. Read More