Yesterday was an interesting day of sorts. Starting off with the usual "we had a burglary over the weekend" phone call. It seems that upon breaking into one structure, the perpetrator stole a very expensive camera from the site and since the burglar felt really confident he did it again less than a half mile away. You guessed it, right into one of the structures Rottweiler had a security system. This in turn changed the outcome of the stolen camera and the burglar.
For what was discovered at the crime scene was that the burglar needed to put down the camera in order to kick in the door in which was necessary to obtain access into the structure. When the door was kicked in, the alarm activated which caused the burglar's sense of awareness to become blurred and he forgot that he left the camera behind on the ground to the good news of the camera owner. The total loss to the business of burglary? One door, door frame, one window and $ 35.00 dollars cash that was left on a desk in the quick grab out the door when the alarm sounded.
Next stop of the day is what really caught my attention and the intention of this BLOG article. A medical practice in Gwinnett County is migrating from one dial tone carrier to another for their dial tone and Internet services. My instructions from the carrier is to check to see if there was room on the backboard for the router, ground and an electrical outlet necessary to power the router. We call this the "site survey". Part of the site survey is to ask about faxes, credit card machines and security system numbers. This usually brings up the topic of checking the security system monthly. When asked when the last time she checked it, she stated that she never had checked it for the entire time she has worked there.
Now, what do you say to that? You see the medical facility serves thousands of patients in their area. The facility contains thousands of social security numbers, medical information on the patients, copies of drivers licenses of parents, home addresses, telephone numbers and other various personal information on the children in this practice. When I reflect upon the risk factor, I wonder if they realize the risk they place upon their patient's private information when security is compromised. If you don't checkup your security system in a medical practice, it could be fatal to both the practice and the patient's that you serve.
This also brings me to another topic which is, if you don't see a security system sticker on a medical facility you use, don't give them any personal information! In the end, it will be your information lost and the fatality will be yours and not theirs, your personal information compromised.
So, here are a few rules you may need to remember about your security system tests.
- Test them monthly, even if you did it last month, do it again. What this does is that it allows you to know that everything is functioning as it should. Here in Georgia we have had storm after storm of lightning and damage happens to security systems often.
- Our recommendation is to check them on a Tuesday night as this gives time during the week to address issues if there are any such as ordering parts, repairing lines etc.
- Test your smoke detectors at the same time. It is a good reminder to let you know that smoke detectors are recommended replacement every 10 years. So if they are aged, time to replace.
- Know the line that the security system is on. Less confusion allows for better communication when it is needed.
- Review your call list. This is often overlooked because people change numbers, job titles, leave the company or often will leave on vacation during the summer months so if your list is inaccurate you may not be notified of a break-in quickly.
Our belief is that in a mobile society that you should have text messaging on a security system, especially for businesses. This gives you the Who/What/Where factor quickly and precisely without the guess work. There are a host of other benefits with our email gateway systems and in my opinion, well worth the money.
