Blog

Our nation’s police departments are under intense pressure to keep crime rates low despite reduced manpower and budgets. As President of the Northeast Region for North America’s leading physical security services company, I believe in the power of public-private partnerships. Three decades ago, very few private security and law enforcement liaison programs existed. Today, New York and other cities across the country boast many collaborative initiatives.
 

There’s a lot of talk about the Internet of Things (IoT). The IoT is growing rapidly in size and complexity. It’s expanding into more and more types of devices and applications, and it’s getting smarter. It’s disrupting all kinds of industries – for better, for worse and for good. The IoT is not going away, and the pace of change will skyrocket in the coming years.

It’s that time of year when colleges and universities are preparing for graduation. As Allied Universal provides on-campus and residential safety and protection for students and staff across the country, there is one graduation ceremony that has a very special connection to our company. We partnered with The West Philadelphia Skills Initiative (WPSI), a program operated by University City District (UCD) in Philadelphia and have been an active educational instructor and employer of their graduates.
 

In today’s global threat environment, stadiums are high-profile targets. In response, sports organizations must be active, rigorous and vigilant on stadium security. Protection of fans, players, staff and venues requires a robust security posture that identifies growing threats and recognizes vulnerabilities. In our last blog, “The Value of a Comprehensive Threat Assessment in a Stadium Environment”, we took a close look at the critical need to identify potential security gaps with an independent and comprehensive vulnerability assessment. This is a crucial first step.

Business owners and managers have openly expressed concerns regarding property crime and physical damage to buildings and corporate campuses. Rightly so, as the 2017 Freedonia Report states that property crime accounted for 87 percent of all reported crimes in the U.S. in 2015. 
 

There is a lot of confusion surrounding liability and legal compliance issues concerning private security services, including the protective services relevant for high net worth families. The problems are complex, and there are plenty of gray areas open to interpretation.

Will you know what to do if an active shooter entered your healthcare facility?

Next week, Allied Universal is co-hosting with John Jay College and the Metropolitan Healthcare Security Directors Association (MHSDA), a “Plan to Live” seminar to educate healthcare providers on best practices to handle an active shooter situation and other threats. 

It was not that long ago that disaster management professionals handled crises primarily through landlines and press conferences. Thankfully, over the past 10 years, technology has redefined global emergency management and disaster communications. One of the first national disasters to heavily rely on technology, according to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), was Hurricane Sandy, as users sent more than 20 million Sandy-related tweets. 
 

With the wave of hospital mergers and consolidations, as well as private donations that underwrite the development of new wings and specialties, many hospitals are getting larger. When patients or visitors enters an expansive and unfamiliar hospital—usually in an unpleasant state—they are in much need of assistance. Enter the security officer, who is often the first and last person they see. 
 

Both feelings and facts influence our sense of security. Sometimes we have a hard time distinguishing between the two because we feel first and think later. If we ever get around to thinking about security, then inexperience and a host of preconceived notions can all combine to cloud our view and lead to poor decisions.