From the physical structure to the interior assets, your long-term goals to the day-to-day expenses, your business is a significant investment. That’s why protecting your business in all areas is imperative.
Crime prevention starts with a plan. We’ve gathered nine crime prevention tips for businesses to help you make that plan and stop theft in its tracks. Explore them all:
- Use the business buddy system. If you’re on a street with other businesses, work together and with local law enforcement to prevent crime. Hold periodic meetings where you share concerns and crime prevention measures.
- Reinforce entry points. Start by inspecting the locks and deadbolts on all exterior and interior security doors to ensure they’re in good working condition. If you use additional padlocks, remember to remove the serial numbers so keys cannot be replicated. Move on to windows after reviewing doors. If any locks are broken or loose, replace or repair them immediately. Consider installing burglar-resistant glass or metal grates on windows. Don’t forget to secure skylights or other nontraditional entry points, too.
- Light your surroundings. The more you illuminate your building’s exterior and parking lot, the less tempted a burglar may be to break in. More light means more of a chance to be spotted.
- Keep your grounds and buildings manicured. Landscaping that looks unkempt and building exteriors that appear in disrepair can give criminals the impression that your business is an easy target. Exude confidence from the outside by trimming landscape and keeping your building’s exterior in good condition.
- Install security cameras. Even the sight of a security camera could be enough to deter crime. In the event crime does occur at your business, having footage could help facilitate legal enforcement and be beneficial when filing a claim.
- Lean on your team. Your team members can be extra eyes and ears for crime prevention with proper training. Show them how to use the alarms and security systems. Give them an idea of what suspicious behavior looks like through training and encourage them to share it promptly. If you have a workforce that isn’t comfortable coming forward, establish an anonymous tip line to report suspicious behavior.
- Prevent crime on your team. It’s also important to stop crime amongst your team as employee theft makes up a significant portion of business crime. Conduct background checks on new team members before they’re hired. Implement check-ins at the beginning and end of shifts to deter theft. Restrict employee visitors from coming in during shifts.
- Practice cyber safety. You wouldn’t install easy-to-open doors on your building, so why use easy-to-crack passwords on sensitive data? Cyber safety is an important part of business crime prevention. That’s why it’s important to use safe passwords, restrict employee access to online data, backup information (and store the backup in a secure location), regularly clean up online, and install firewalls.
- Get crime coverage. Crime insurance can help you recover from employee theft, forgery or alterations, destruction or theft of property, computer and funds transfer fraud, money order or counterfeit money incidences and more.
Now that you’ve explored our crime prevention tips for businesses, ensure you have the right protection, too. Talk to one of our local, independent agents today.
