When Crime Happens Elsewhere

The tendency of most people is to breathe a bit more easily when they read on the Internet or watch the television news and see a crime event not near where they live. It’s human nature to think you are more protected when something bad occurs miles away. At H&S Protection, we understand that feeling. But we urge you to consider a few other points to ensure your business or home is most effectively protected.

 

Recently, in a very small section of the Milwaukee metro area that we service, there was wanton destruction of several businesses. If you lived close to that area, your natural inclination was most likely fear for your home or business. If you’ve been in a similar situation, you may have taken steps to further secure your possessions.

 

During this recent bout, we received information that during the hub bub, several attempted break-ins occurred elsewhere in the city. Informed burglars use this tactic. When the police are occupied with a visible situation that takes extra manpower, that leaves other areas of the city vulnerable.

 

Our point in all this is to encourage you to remain vigilant about your safety and security if an area serviced by your police requires an extra expenditure of resources. That could mean the bad guys are looking for other vulnerabilities.

If you run a business, check your alarm. Make sure your cameras operate effectively. Talk to your employees about taking extra precautions.

If you’re a homeowner, communicate with your neighbors. Lock your doors. Turn on extra lights. Make sure your alarm system is armed and operating.
The best defense is preparation.  H&S urges you to stay informed and aware.

Dave Simon Joins H&S in Pewaukee Office

We’re pleased to announce Dave Simon has joined our H&S Protection team August 8. Dave will work out of our Pewaukee Office, servicing customers in Southeast Wisconsin as Director of Business Development.

We’ve known Dave for 12 years through his work in multiple roles in the security industry, first as an industry expert for Brink’s Home Security, working on national alarm management issues. He also spent time developing his own business, offering social media, marketing and communications services to clients in our industry.

Dave head shot 2016

Most recently, for the past year, we’ve gotten to know Dave even better through his work for H&S on our blog, Twitter and Facebook accounts. His role there was to build greater visibility for H&S and develop leads with potential customers. This summer we were able to structure a role to utilize Dave’s talents and help us grow our business.

We look forward to having Dave on board. If you know him, please drop him a line on his H&S position. We’re confident Dave will help us continue to build our customer base and branch out in new directions. H&S is dedicated to the best interests of our customers and we continually look for additional ways to give them the best and most innovative security services they seek. We’re proud to have Dave on board to help in this effort.

Is a Security Camera Right for You?

There are very specific reasons you may want to consider a security camera for your home. If you travel a lot, it is an excellent way to check up on your property. If you have small children, the technology allows you to check up on them. When you are on vacation, you can make sure the lights are on when you want them to be.

If you run a business, there are even more reasons to consider video. Beyond protection, video can help you check to make sure customers are being served promptly and courteously. You can see that your business opens and closes at the right times. If you happen to have a problem with employee theft, you can target cameras to trouble spots and find out what the issue is.

 

Industry experts project nearly 20{59b821151e39af42eef718daa0ebc6fb83107991e252daffe9897dd321f5d2cf} of households with broadband internet service plan to install a networked security camera system in the next twelve months. As the technology evolved the past few years, it has become less expensive, easier to use and provides higher resolution.

Because of this evolution, H&S Protection finds our customers use networked systems for a variety of reasons. For example, you might want to receive a text message and view live video on your smart phone when your children or spouse arrive safely at home.

We find our customers looking at other uses as well:

  • With motion-sensing technology, you can detect movement, receive alerts, and record video when a delivery arrives at your home, a vehicle enters your driveway, or children access prohibited areas of the home (a liquor cabinet, gun cabinet, etc.).
  • In the dark of night, video clearly records intruders outside your home or storage buildings.
  • You can keep an eye on your home while away on vacation or business with remote viewing features.

If you follow H&S on Facebook or Twitter, you’ll find that we introduce you to weekly videos that capture criminal activities. Sometimes we insert a bit of humor. Other times you’ll get tips on how to help an elderly parent, for example. Regardless of the specific topic, you’ll find some extra rationale for exploring a video security system for your home or business, so please follow us on social media to stay on top of these trends.

Adding Remote Interactive Features to Your Existing System

As the world changes, H&S adapts to those changes to ensure our customers continue to receive the products and services they seek. In today’s world, “mobility” is the word that fits many customers seeking our services.

People want to know their home is safe when they are at work. They would like to be able to check that lights are on in designated rooms while on vacation. Business owners may want to check on a delivery that occurs when they must be offsite meeting with a client. That mobility demands products and services that can adjust to those demands. H&S Protection offers many new services to help our on-the-go customers.

remote interactive

In partnership with Alarm.com, we help give you comfort knowing your child or spouse arrived home safely when you are traveling. You can check on your system remotely to ensure it is armed.  If not, you can arm it remotely. Turn on lights, change your thermostat through several easy taps on your smart phone. Some specific offerings include:

  • 100{59b821151e39af42eef718daa0ebc6fb83107991e252daffe9897dd321f5d2cf} Wireless, secure signaling (no phone line, internet or keypad required)
  • Web-based remote system monitoring and control
  • Real time texts and email alerts for any event, not just alarms

H&S Protection is not just about your home or business security. We’re about your changing needs in a mobile world. Call our Stevens Point (715.344.0727) or Pewaukee Office (262.574.7777) to find out what more we offer. You might be surprised at the new options.

Cut the Cord on Your Landline

Customers across the United States are cutting the cord to their landlines. Convenience and cost come into this decision for many when deciding whether to solely utilize their smart phone for communications or whether to retain a traditional wire line. Because wireless continues to grow, and make inroads into the electronic security market, H&S Protection System offers this option to our customers. Before buying, consider a few issues.

 

First, you may be able to save money by installing a cell communicator for your alarm system.  Nearly one-half of all homes in the nation have abandoned their landlines. At the same time, many homes and businesses continue maintaining a landline SOLELY for their alarm system. This is an issue to think about and discuss with your H&S representative. What makes the most sense for you?

HS cut the cord

Second, through your smart phone and current communications provider, you may be able to upgrade to enable alarm reporting and interactive arming of your security system using your smart phone. Those are nice conveniences, and may be a smart option for you and your lifestyle.

 

H&S monthly monitoring fees for cellular can be as low as $34/month and allow you to ditch your landline while saving money in the process. We want our customers to make a wise decision. Research your options. Give us a call at our Stevens Point office, 715.344.0727, or Pewaukee, 262.574.7777, to speak with one of our representatives.

 

We’d love to hear from you, and discuss how we can help with your decision-making process. H&S is here to provide extra knowledge for your best-informed decision.

Sensitive Areas Within Office Buildings — Part II

(Editor’s note: This is Part II and our concluding blog from H&S Protection’s Jeff Lukasavige. If you’d like to contribute a guest blog, please contact Mike Horgan at [email protected].)

In our last blog, I addressed access control issues for office buildings. This week, I want to drill down into specific areas within an office environment and discuss those unique security needs.

Human Resource Departments often handle sensitive and personal employee information that must be protected. Documents with employees’ information may be lying on desks in view of others walking through the area, where someone could use a smart phone to snap quick photos to steal sensitive information. To prevent that, businesses should consider the need for special access to HR departments. Not all companies require this, but if the need for privacy, discretion and/or sensitive conversations is a concern, you might want to consider restricting access to the department with effective access control.

document

The executive suite is another area where you may need to pay particular attention. Disgruntled employees or even customers could find their way to this area. Work interruptions may also be a consideration. While many companies have open door policies, if you are in an industry involved in controversial issues, restricted access to the executive suite may be necessary.

Similarly, the mailroom is an area you should look at closely. Depending of the size of your company, you could be getting thousands of pieces of mail a day, including personal information, account numbers, social security numbers and birth dates or other protected information. Don’t place your company at risk for customers’ identity theft. Unauthorized individuals or employees could steal personal information and use it to hack your company’s accounts, employees’ personal information, or steal a customer’s identity. Lock it down and control access – that protects your information.

Good access control requires you to consider who should be onsite and when. You should also look at who (employees, contractors, customers) should be in specific areas inside your building, and the time of day that they should be granted access.

Think of access control for your office building as employee, customer and company protection. Taking measures to provide additional protection demonstrates your company’s genuine concern for its employees. The security/access control measures you implement could prevent a difficult situation from occurring.

With Protection, There is a Cost – Part I

 

(Editor’s note: This is the first in a two-part series from H&S Protection’s Jeff Lukasavige on protecting office buildings. We seek new voices from our employees and customers to publish on our blog. Please send your idea to Mike Horgan at [email protected].)

A mentor of mine – a retired Lieutenant Colonel from the U.S. Marine – often talked with me about risk analysis when it came to security issues. His point was that protection comes at a cost.  “What is it worth to protect your assets – physical and intellectual, an office building or your people?”

Businesses should perform a risk analysis which includes: the value of the assets they are protecting, the level of risk or probability of loss of those assets, and the amount of money they are willing spend to protect the assets.   An office environment presents risks, both seen and unseen. At H&S Protection, we help you identify threats, and develop plans to address them, based on your business needs.

office building

Office buildings can often benefit from properly designed access control that’s straightforward and can be addressed easily through a card-based identification system. There are other more subtle considerations that businesses should take into account in an office environment.  For example:

  • If you work in an industry with a higher risk of having an upset customer (financial institutions or insurance companies, for example, often field a large volume of complaints), you should consider the value of protecting your employees from a disgruntled or upset customer. Unfortunately, these days we frequently here about workplace violence on the news. No one wants to see a violent workplace incident. The guy coming into an office with a gun is something you might never expect, but it happens and you should be prepared by working that into your security plan. You must control access to your office building to build protection for your most valuable assets — your employees.
  • Domestic violence is a reality in the workplace. There is an increased risk of domestic violence based on sheer numbers, and the risk can be higher if your industry is predominately female. Relationship changes sometimes result in a violent incident involving the estranged husband or boyfriend, who typically knows where his spouse/partner is located in the building. Access control prevents an emotional/irate ex from getting onsite.

Those are a couple of the many reasons companies with an office building environment should consider access control, controlling entry points to ensure only those who should be onsite are allowed access to the inside. Stay tuned for our next blog, when I explain why specific areas within office buildings require a more sensitive security status.

What Can We Do Differently In 2016?

As a new year unfolds, many people set goals and resolutions for improvement.  That happens on an individual level and at businesses.  It’s good to assess what’s been working right and look into what’s working wrong (or not quite up to your expectations) to figure out what needs to change.

At H&S Protection, we take the approach of continually looking at what is and isn’t working for our customers so we can bring you a better installation experience, improved technology and higher quality monitoring.  This doesn’t just happen at the start of a new year.  We want our sales and service personnel to always dig deeper with every customer to see what works best for them.

HS new years

Because every home and business is unique, what we bring to you should be tailored to your special needs.  And that means every time our people get in their trucks or cars, we must think about how to do things just a little bit differently.

There isn’t going to be a drastic change in our team or business this year.  But what we do expect is to keep offering you fresh ideas from a security perspective.  We hope you come to us for advice.  We hope when we provide you an exceptional experience that you recommend us to your friends, neighbors and colleagues.  If we continue to change in the right ways, those results should occur.

We look forward to every new year.  There’s always a push at this time of year for people to examine roadblocks and figure out how to knock them down.  At H&S, rather than waiting for January 1 to arrive, we work at that year-round, and we hope that shows in the better ways we help our customers day-in and day-out.

State of the Packers

Last week we had the opportunity and pleasure to visit Lambeau Field in Green Bay to see the Packers defeat the Dallas Cowboys.  Going to a football game there is a lifetime experience, something everyone in Wisconsin should do at least once.  Even if you are not a football fan, the camaraderie with others is palpable, fun and memorable.

 

Because Wisconsin is our state of business, we hold a special place in our hearts for the Packers.  We think the team embodies much of the spirit of our state, and we are proud to call this our home.

packer leaping

When you walk through the parking lot before the Packers’ game, people greet you, offer you food, drinks and conversation.  They embrace you.  We look at our customers and employees in a similar way – connecting like we are good neighbors.

 

We do business with that Packers mentality:  down home, hard working, you can count on us giving you the extra effort to get the job done.  Packers’ fans typically are bitten early by the bug and remain devoted for rest of their lives.

 

After learning about our products and services, we hope our customers and employees see us in a Packers-like way.  That means staying with us a long, long time, as we continue to earn their trust on annual basis.  It’s not easy for the Packers to stay highly competitive year after year, but they’ve had a long-term rate of sustained excellence.  H&S strives to follow that example.  Go Pack!

Your Alarm System Communicating to the Monitoring Center

For the uninitiated, when you purchase an alarm system, one of the most important functions you are getting is a trained team to monitor activations that occur.  If your home or business has an intrusion, break-in or breach, that signal is immediately transmitted to our monitoring center, where well-trained personnel respond quickly and appropriately to get in touch with the customer and find out what, if anything, is wrong at the site.

monitoring

There are times when our monitoring personnel will contact you, and nothing occurred at your home or business.  We confirm with you that the alarm is not signifying a break-in during this type of situation.  That’s an added service that helps prevent unnecessary calls to the local police department for them to dispatch officers to the location.  Those calls also build a stronger bond with our customers by opening the lines for communicating issues of concern.

Once activated, your alarm system communicates various types of signals to the monitoring center.  Information sent to the monitoring center may include:

Intrusion Alarms (e.g. doors, windows, glass break and motion sensors) are active when the system is armed. The monitoring center’s standard response is to verify the alarm by calling the site first. If an authorized person does not cancel the alarm, the authorities are dispatched, and the monitoring center attempts to notify one of your contacts.

Fire Alarms (e.g. smoke and heat detectors, water flow, and fire alarm pull stations) are active 24 hours a day. The monitoring center will try one designated phone number before dispatching the fire department. After dispatching the fire department, the monitoring center will try to contact someone on your call list. Note: Some municipalities require that systems monitoring commercial sites notify the fire department first (prior to making any other calls). IMPORTANT: We strongly advise that dispatch of FD is cancelled only if you are 100{59b821151e39af42eef718daa0ebc6fb83107991e252daffe9897dd321f5d2cf} certain the alarm is false and you know what caused the alarm.

Environmental or Equipment Signals (e.g. carbon monoxide detectors, water and temperature sensors, and equipment failures) are usually active 24 hours a day. The monitoring center will attempt to notify you or one of your contacts if these signals are received.

Trouble Signals are active 24 hours a day. They alert you to problems with the system. Signals could include communication problems, low batteries, and faulty sensors. The command center will attempt to notify someone of these signals. You may instruct the monitoring center to hold these calls for daytime notification only.

For more information on H&S, check out our web site, https://hsprotection.net/, follow us on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/HS-Protection-Systems-392800740911023/, or Twitter (@HSProtection).