How Secure is your Mall or Shopping Center?

Do you own a store here in the garden state of New Jersey? It does not matter if you are in a strip mall or in a large enclosed mall, your store needs security cameras. Security cameras are needed to help deter crimes. When a possible thief sees they are being filmed they will move on to their next target in most cases.

Today more than ever security cameras in shopping malls and stores are needed to help keep the public safe not only from small shoplifting crimes but from threats to the shopping malls as well. Video surveillance is often used as an aide today for the proper authorities to see what is taking place once a threat is called in.

Here are a couple quick tips that can help reduce burglary at your place of business or home:

• Clear your entrances and windows of trees and shrubs that block views from the street and/or provide a hiding place for thieves
• Secure your doors with sturdy deadbolt locks or padlocks
• Install bars or gates on windows to help prevent them from being broken and used as an entry
• Motion sensor-activated lighting and alarms can also help deter burglars

Shopping malls use a wide variety of cameras to monitor shoppers throughout a shopping mall. These cameras are used to reduce theft and to improve the overall safety in the shopping mall. Cameras also, help store owners keep an eye on their employees. Store owners often install cameras in areas not only to watch the merchandise but to also watch employees on the cash register too. Unfortunately, not all dangers to your business come from the outside. 64% of all small businesses fall victim to one of the biggest threats, employee theft, and fraud. While some and hopefully most of the theft being minor office supplies, that isn’t always the case. Majority of losses that come from employee theft are cash losses, with $20,000 being the average loss. That’s not something a business owner should have to worry about while they aren’t present. Have security cameras installed pointing at the register, this way you can see the cash as it is being handled and know it is going to the proper location and not your employees’ pockets. Security equipment such as locks, video intercoms, access control, and security cameras can help act as barriers or even a deterrent to crime. With the use of personalized ID’s and key fobs, it makes it nearly impossible to enter the vicinity of your office space without proper clearance. Technology like this is what keeps the peace of mind that a business owner needs to operate without any worries. Keeping your business safe and protected can be a job by itself, a stressful one at that. Central Jersey Security Cameras can give you peace of mind, call us today and have your business evaluated for a security surveillance system.

Here are a few tips that might help you to reduce your chances of becoming a statistic:

• Conduct a background check on prospective employees
• Install an access control system allowing employees to enter only those areas needed for them to do their jobs
• Place security cameras around areas where money is exchanged or kept
• Make daily bank deposits to minimize the amount of cash on the premises
• Close and lock doors to areas where valuable products or supplies are stored. Use fencing and locked gates to protect equipment and supplies kept outdoors

Cameras with remote viewing are a great way for the owner to watch their store, even when they cannot be there, with cameras that can now remote view from anywhere in the world. Owners can view their stores remotely from almost anywhere in the world that has internet with the use of their smartphone, tablet or laptop.

Most malls use CCTV security cameras to monitor common areas in the mall. These are areas such as the walkways, food courts and various halls in the mall. The crimes that happen in malls are typically shoplifting; menacing behavior involving juveniles and thefts. CCTV cameras are often watched by a central station monitoring station that will alert mall security or the proper authorities if they see something in the mall that has a safety concern.

According to the FBI, there’s a burglary every 12 seconds. Those thefts annually combine for more than $3.1 billion in property and personal loss. So how do burglars get into your business? Six of ten burglaries involve forcible entry, about a third of those were unlawful entries. The rest, a little over six percent, were attempted forcible entries. The primary ways in which they gained access were through open windows or doors or by forcible entry through windows or doors. Only about one in eight burglars reported picking locks or using a key they had previously acquired. Not surprisingly, most commercial burglaries occur at night, weekends, or holidays when many businesses aren’t open. What’s more enticing to a burglar than nobody being there to stop them?

Parking lots around the malls are another key area to a mall to make sure they are protected. Parking lots have seen a large increase in suspicious activity in recent years. They’ve unfortunately become an ever-growing space for kidnappings and human trafficking issues, especially in Monmouth and Ocean Counties. Security cameras used in parking lots are often dome cameras. Dome cameras are not always easy to detect unless you are looking for them. These cameras because of their dome shape are also hard to know or see where they are pointing. Dome-shaped cameras feature dark colored glass that often helps prevents them from being seen. Bullet cameras are used in parking lots as well; these cameras are made to withstand the weather outdoors and are hard to be tampered with. Bullet cameras can see large areas and many parking lots use PTZ (Pan Tilt Zoom) Bullet cameras so security can zoom in and move the cameras with a joystick to get the views they need. These cameras are often instrumental in finding licenses plate numbers for the authorities.

Just earlier this week an act of violence took place when a group of teenagers was assaulted just outside a mall parking lot in Deptford Township, New Jersey. The security cameras installed in the parking lot captured the attack and assisted police and mall security to have a better understanding of the situation. For more information and for the video footage of the attack, click here or the image below to view the article.

In Malls with elevators cameras will monitor the people coming and going and the actions that they are doing in the elevator. In most malls, the biggest crime that takes place is often vandalism. Now with cameras in place, these vandals will be caught.

When choosing a security camera company for all your store/mall needs you need to choose a company that has training in installs in the complex mall settings. Here at Central Jersey Security Cameras, our technicians have gone through extensive training for mall security cameras and alarms. They have worked closely with mall security in the proper placement of cameras to help mall security personnel use cameras in their malls to their fullest potential. When installing security cameras, you want to go with a company that will come to each location and do a safety audit to best meet the needs of each facility. A safety audit is something that should be done at least once a year to ensure all the systems are working properly and are still meeting your facility’s needs. This audit of the facility should not just be limited to security cameras and alarms. It should also include every point of entry and door access protection. Another tool your organization can use when looking for the company that is going to install your security system is to look them up in the Better Business Bureau. You want to use a company that is BBB accredited so you can look back on the company’s track record. Central Jersey Security Cameras will come to work with your organization and its budget to best protect your most valuable assets. Our staff is background-checked and highly trained in the installation of all aspects of security systems. Central Jersey Security Cameras is Better Business Bureau Accredited A+.

If you need a company to help you protect your store or mall, call Central Jersey Security Cameras for a free on-site evaluation at 732-333-0227 or visit www.centraljerseysecuritycameras.com