For most people in the UK, bank holidays are an opportunity to kick back and relax or get out and make the most of an extra long weekend. But there’s a small part of the population that’s excited for bank holidays for all the wrong reasons.
Every empty home and every vacant business is vulnerable to break ins, vandalism and theft from criminals if left unprotected. Bank holidays see a spike in burglaries as people leave their homes and businesses unattended, with businesses and warehouses particularly at risk if they’re in commercial areas that become ghost towns during holidays.
Hopefully you have better things to do this bank holiday, but if you wander through a business park you’ll find it eerily quiet and empty. There’s few places less interesting than a business park during a holiday, but I can guarantee that they’re very exciting places for criminals looking for an easy target.
These criminal enterprises are big business. They’re not roaming packs of cartoon burglars; they’re intelligent, profit-driven organisations with resources to throw around. The black market accounts for roughly 10% of the UK economy, and the people who operate in it are willing to invest in their success just like any other enterprise, but without any regard for the law.
To counter them, you must invest in your protection.
To assess the security of your business, you need to think like a criminal. For the profit to offset the risk, they need to steal goods that are easily sellable and in high demand to minimise the time spent sitting on stolen stock. Clothes, alcohol and small electronics can all be carried out by hand, bundled into a van and shifted at a market the next day.
The trade of stolen goods is big business, and like any successful business they’re experts in their field. They know that CCTV and alarms rarely ever result in convictions, while police arrive long after the damage is done. Unmanned security is great to prove to an insurance company that a crime was committed, but it does very little to stop them happening. All it takes to beat CCTV is to cover your face, and balaclavas are hardly a big investment for a criminal enterprise.
If a van full of criminals drives past your business and sees no guards, you’ll be put on their list of easy targets.
Around Christmas – the peak holiday for break ins – we were approached by a business who were the victims of a break in at their unmarked supply warehouse. The perpetrators took off with a sizeable amount of luxury stock, no doubt sold off to Christmas shoppers. Instead of enjoying the most profitable months of the year, their business was turned into a crime scene while they negotiated with insurance. Worst of all, the criminals now knew they were easy pickings.
To protect them from any future break ins, we equipped them with our fully trained, monitored and supported security staff. The next time their warehouse is scouted by criminals, they’ll see actively patrolling security in high visibility jackets that are impossible to miss.
The vast majority of businesses Magenta protects never experience a break in again. Security guards aren’t there to catch criminals, they’re there to deter them, better than any fence, camera or alarm ever could. And if the worst does happen, they’re backed up by our control rooms and mobile patrols who are able to respond within minutes of a call.
The only down side to running a security company is that we don’t get bank holidays. Because criminals don’t rest, neither do we. So if you want to make the most of your bank holiday without worrying about criminals creeping around your home or business, get in touch with Magenta Security today and we’ll find a security solution that’s perfectly adapted to your scale and budget.
