Designing security

Every month I call Ray Coulombe at SecuritySpecifiers.com to get the name of a specifier/consultant for “Specifically Speaking,” a Q&A column we run in our monthly printed publication.

These conversations give me a chance to talk to security experts who have a much different perspective from the integrators, dealers and manufacturers that I spend the rest of the month talking to.

This morning I spoke to Jim Elder, owner of Secured Design. We started talking about something I wrote about several years ago, CPTED, which stands for Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design.

Elder advocates for security specifiers getting involved really early in the design process of a building. Where a parking lot is located, which way elevators face, etc. can greatly affect the physical security system needs of a building/organization. These things can be changed early in the process, it's much more difficult, or impossible later on—generally about the time the security consultant is called in to make recommendations.

The environment also affects how people (including criminals of course) feel in a certain location—which is anoth

Often specifiers are brought in much later in the design cycle and told “there's not much money for security.” If the needs are high, the cost of the system will naturally be high as well.

A building that's properly designed can be artful and efficient and designed with security in mind, Elder said. Cameras, readers and guards can be eliminated when the design is not “porous.” And, Elder points out, that money can be spent on paintings, finish elements, or maybe on an upgraded security system.

Check out the November issue of Security Systems News for the Q&A with Jim Elder.