SW24 sees bright future for guards
By Rich Miller
Updated Wed February 15, 2012
“Guards, gates and guns.”
That was the standard for the security industry 20 years ago, as cited by Edward Levy, VP and global head of security for Thomson Reuters, during his keynote address at last week's TechSec conference in Delray Beach, Fla. But while technology has clearly raised the bar since then, allowing many companies to reduce the number of boots on the ground, a contradictory fact remains: The age of the guard is not over.
To prove the point, look no further than the streets of New York, where SecureWatch24 has announced plans to move aggressively into guard services. The company was recently awarded a contract to supply unarmed guards at an Ivy League alumni club in Manhattan, and it intends to continue to push into this segment with its own training program.
“We're moving into the guard sector in a big way,” said Jay Stuck, VP of sales and chief marketing officer for SW24, which specializes in property surveillance and video monitoring. “We think it's pretty compatible with the technology initiatives we have going right now. Our view is that the two can work hand in hand. � At the end of the day, you're still going to need guys in navy blazers.”
While Stuck sees a bright future for the guard segment, what does the rest of the industry think? You can weigh at rmiller@securitysystemsnews.com.
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