Security Wishes for 2016

This time of year, we hear about all the New Year’s resolutions and our promises, or more often lies to ourselves, about all that we are going to do different, hopefully better.  Sadly, most of these well-meant ideas quickly fall by the wayside and only reflect our wishful thinking.

Maybe you’re still sticking to some of those goals. After all, it is still January.

With the new year and wishful thinking about all the areas we would like to improve on, it seemed like a good time to think about what could be better with the security industry. So I came up with my own list of wishes for 2016. See how they compare to your own and let me know in the comments.

• Leadership support – if you don’t have this now, you certainly know it. Ongoing support by your organization’s top leaders is vital to success. Otherwise you’ll be spinning your wheels (and that won’t even burn calories if fitness was a resolution for you).

• Budget appropriate – Budget is definitely tied to leadership support and the purse strings that make the business world spin. You may have certain capital or even operational needs that you’ve identified and certainly getting the right level of funding will impact how much you can do.
  

• Administrative support – this is a personal frustration of mine. I’ve worked in security departments that strictly focus on the operational side and there is no administrative support. Paperwork, minutes, filing, ordering supplies etc. all still need to be done however. So where does that come from – the operational side.

• Understanding that not all security is the same – IT security and physical security need to work together, but are often at odds within an organization. IT security professionals making physical assessments of non-IT sites instead of those who’ve worked in physical security or law enforcement. Do you really want your IT guy conducting robbery training and your physical security guy designing the company firewall? Keep to your area of expertise.

WikiCommons Photo by Pierre-alain Dorange

• Employee awareness and training – How much simpler would security be if employees all followed the rules and did the right thing? Unfortunately, too often training is not done as it is seen as down time and then when an issue comes up the expectation is for security to fix it while the employees sit back and watch. Definitely take advantage of any available training and put it into practice.

• Right tools for the risks – I’m amazed at how often an organization expresses concerns over active shooters and then wants to add an unarmed security officer to watch the front door or to be the first responder (basically target) to an attack. Review the risks and then put the right tools, people or training into place to address those concerns.

 

Well there it is. My 2016 wish list, at least those just off the top of my head, although I’d throw in a big raise and better benefits while I am at it.

I’m sure that I did not cover everything. What are does your wish list include? Let me know and put them in the comments below.

Combining his law enforcement and corporate security experiences plus a love of martial arts, Eric Smith created Business Karate, LLC, a Colorado-based security consulting firm. His new book, Workplace Security Essentials, outlines how any business, school, hospital or organization can master the art of self-defense, reduce losses, avoid liability and build a safer workplace. Visit www.businesskarate.com for more. Follow on Twitter @businesskarate