NEW YORKAfter a heinous shooting at an office building in New York City sparked a national debate about workplace safety, businesses are reassessing security.
Workers have been spooked and management have been forced to consider if they are sufficiently secured in a gilded area of Manhattan where the wealthy reside in expansive buildings and tourists peruse fancy stores.
Suggested Videos
What are we supposed to do differently? According to Brian Higgins, founder of Group 77, a security firm based in Mahwah, New Jersey, which is also seeing a surge of calls, clients are inquiring. How can such a scenario be avoided?
According to Higgins, some businesses automatically purchase the newest equipment and install cameras across their workspace. However, he warned, it works only when combined with regularity and sustained observation.
According to Higgins, a former police chief who teaches security at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, you must make sure you maintain any security measures you implement.
The gunman committed suicide after the shooting on Monday claimed the lives of four individuals. Companies are desperate to take action to prevent the incident from happening again after seeing images of a street in the largest American city scaring an office building.
According to Dave Komendat, chief security officer of Corporate Security Advisors in Seattle, where calls are also on the rise, clients are scared and have questions.
Security companies are accustomed to the routines of the industry because the United States is stuck in a pattern of gun violence that is essentially unmatched in the world. Although corporate office attacks are less frequent, a significant shooting temporarily brings security back into the spotlight before it fades.
According to Higgins, the higher call volume will subside in a few weeks or a month. Security is one of the things that businesses trim when security problems stop occurring for a spell and they start looking at their budget.
Although he anticipates it to be short-lived, Gene Petrino, CEO of Coral Springs, Florida-based Survival Response, has also noticed an increase in calls from prospective new clients.
“It’s viewed as an expense they don’t need immediately when things are calm,” he added, “but when a tragedy occurs, it becomes a priority once more.”
According to Petrino, businesses can implement non-intrusive modifications, such as identifying firearms with cameras that have artificial intelligence built in. Sometimes all it takes to see around a corner is to install convex mirrors or improve the lighting in a hallway.
He argued that everything doesn’t need to be locked, impenetrable, and equipped with security cameras everywhere. Being Fort Knox is not necessary. You can own extremely simple items.
A lack of security personnel has made technologies like AI-enabled cameras that can detect threats even more crucial, according to Michael Evanoff, chief security officer of Verkada, a building security firm with headquarters in San Mateo, California.
Finding and keeping skilled workers is more difficult than most people think, according to Evanoff. Because of this, it is even more crucial that guards have access to technologies that can increase their range.
A member of the New York Police Department on a uniformed security assignment was among the security personnel at 345 Park Avenue, the location of the shooting. He was one of the dead.
A question regarding when the building would reopen and whether new security measures will be put in place was not answered by Rudin, the leasing business that oversees the structure. Nevertheless, every workplace has weaknesses.
According to Komendat, a former top security officer at Boeing, the security team must always be flawless. This kind of person only needs to be fortunate once.
