Blogs

In the last stretch of this year’s election cycle the candidates are really burning up the trail, at least the parts of it not already on fire. That’s right in several states political violence rose to the level of arson as ballot boxes were set on fire in Oregon, Washington, and even Arizona recently. The good news is, sometimes we learn our lessons and there were cameras monitoring a few of those sites. In fact, a suspect is already in custody in the Arizona case, and I expect...

More security-related news coming out of New York for this week’s blog - this time on the state level - and significant enough that security integrators and small business owners in NY State should really take the time to read about these important developments that will help protect employees and merchandise. Let me go back to April of this year, when the New York State legislature passed its annual budget measure for fiscal year 2025 which addresses multiple priorities and...

Anyone who would dare saunter up to me to complain about Christmas decorations going in the stores too early this year has never worked at a news desk in an election year. That’s right, every four years Santa delivers coal to a reporter’s inbox for 12-14 months straight. I cannot explain to anyone reading this the joy I feel knowing that I won’t be up all-night waiting for confirmation on results in local races, or God forbid, sitting at a campaign headquarters, or any of the...

New York City, or more specifically the embattled Mayor Eric Adams of the city I call home, has been dominating the headlines in recent weeks, and for all the wrong reasons. You see, Mayor Adams was charged with federal bribery, campaign finance, and conspiracy offenses in an indictment released on Sept. 26 by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York. Since the indictment was unsealed, mayoral staffers left and right have either resigned, been fired, and even jailed, which...

I am opening my blog this week with an apology to my poor Editor, Cory Harris, whose coattails might be a little more damp than usual on my account. Good-natured Cory stood in for me during this year’s GSX conference in Florida, a show that was by all accounts productive and full of interesting new products, features, software, and partnerships. All well and good if you minded the weather. That’s right, the Security Systems News (SSN) team got chased out of Orlando by Hurricane Helene,...

So, after two days of meetings, educational sessions and special events at an event filled with thousands of security professionals, GSX 2024 may not be the safest place to be after all. Here in sunny, hot and humid Orlando, Fla., we are wrapping up the annual end user-based show with the threat of a hurricane. Guess it’s not a surprise given we are in hurricane season down here, but can’t Mother Nature spare us and allow everyone to get out of Orlando safely before the storm hits?...

If you’re reading this, I’m either just hitting the road or on my way back from VerkadaOne, a nice little preview of some security market tech before the larger show of GSX next week. I am interested in seeing the new products on offer too. If nothing else AI has made for a lot of interesting innovation in the security camera market as competitors scramble to have their seat at the table. Or maybe it will be more like the last one seated at a cakewalk? If you listen to Oracle co-founder...

How did I spend the morning of Sept. 11, 2024? Doing the same thing I’ve done the previous 22 9/11s, as I’m sure many other friends, relatives and colleagues have done to remember those we lost on that fateful date 23 years ago. I turn on the TV to hear the beginning of the annual calling of names of the nearly 3,000 who perished in the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history. About an hour into the calling of the names, I hear one name that just triggers the feelings of sadness and...

With September breaking out onto the scene, fall is sure to become a reality soon, and that means all the lovely sights and sounds of the harvest, the turning of the leaves and, oh yeah, school shootings. That’s right if you thought this blog had been conspicuously quiet on that subject in recent months, you’d be correct, and for the least nefarious of reasons: school is out during the summer. So, imagine how disappointing it was to wake up to our first school shooting of the season...

If James Brown was considered the hardest working man in show business, John Nemerofsky may be the security industry’s equivalent to the “Godfather of Soul.” To list John’s accomplishments in his more than 25 years in the security industry would take several paragraphs. Instead, let’s focus on John Nemerofsky, the man – one of the hardest-working individuals I have come across in my nearly four years working for Security Systems News. I’ll start with...