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07/11/2021

Choose your needs and type of business or industry you have. we are here to make it secure for you.

07/11/2021

Bullet resistant Glass are saving your life or your employees life, we provide any ballistic level glass upon your request to make sure you are safe and also we are friendly budget. Call us today for quote.

07/09/2021

Targeted Workplace Violence And City Offices

Warning Signs Abound, Even As Motivations Remain Foggy

Joe Delia, U.S. Security Consulting Services for GardaWorld, has decades of law enforcement experience. He explains, “Law enforcement, they do a pretty good job reconstructing an event afterward. What they tend to find out is one person knew that John was struggling at home. Another person knew that John was talking about su***de. Another person knew John was drinking too much. And another person knew John had started carrying a gun.” The warning signs are all there, “But nobody tells anybody.”

Even after months of investigation, we still don’t entirely understand the Virginia Beach attack. Investigators seem to have found that warning signs were present, if sparse.

Targeted Violence in the American Workplace

As we regularly point out, in general, violent crime is down in America. In many regards, we are safer every day. But in some pockets, violence—often extreme violence—has increased. And often, this is targeted violence: attacks aimed at specific groups or individuals and driven by non-economic factors (such as ideology, politics, family and domestic issues, workplace disputes, etc.)

In contrast to armed robbery, targeted violence is much harder to deter. Someone desperate for money goes for the easiest target with the highest payout. If they see that a convenience store has a bulletproof barrier in place, they go down the street to the next store.

A terminated employee who has decided that violence is the answer isn’t going to be satisfied going into some other office and yelling at someone else’s boss. They are laser-focused on their former employer, on the manager or HR representative who they feel wronged them. They’re going to return to the site of their frustration, start shooting, and keep doing so until they get to the person they believe “has it coming.”

We’re often quick to attribute this to “mental health” issues. Delia, who has a great deal of experience with workplace violence, is hesitant to do so. These acts are almost always premeditated long in advance. “This is targeted violence,” Delia emphasizes. “Somebody is mad at somebody specific, has a complaint, has been through a divorce, lost a job. … It’s more than mental health.”

07/09/2021

Funds Available To Local Governments Under The American Rescue Plan

Guaranteed Funds for Every City, Village, Town, and Township
As passed by Congress, the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan (ARP)—overseen by the U.S. Department of Treasury—includes $350 billion in “emergency funding for eligible state, local, territorial, and Tribal governments . . . to fill revenue shortfalls among these governments, and support the communities and populations hardest-hit by the COVID-19 crisis.” Of that $350 billion total, $65.1 billion is specifically earmarked for local governments. This “Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund” is completely separate from the state and county monies. In fact, language in the ARP protects Fiscal Recovery Fund money from all state or county interference. States are absolutely compelled to distribute funds to communities and will be penalized for failing to do so. They cannot put additional limitations on how/when/where those funds are spent by local governments, or penalize communities for receiving those funds (for example, by using the existence of Fiscal Recovery Funds as justification for withholding other state aid).

Most importantly, these are not competitive grants. In contrast to most other programs, Red House, NY (population: 38) doesn’t have to compete with New York City (population: 8.3 million) to get a grant. All 19,000 municipal governments in the United States are entitled to their fair share of the Fiscal Recovery Fund. There are no applications or certifications to justify the need. Funds for large “metropolitan cities” (like New York City) are being distributed based on the existing formula used for Community Development Block Grants. For units of local government with populations under 50,000—called “non-entitlement units” under ARP—each receives a portion of their own separate $19.5 billion pool of money on a per capita basis.

Fiscal Recovery Fund Frequently Asked Questions
While local governments have many questions about this program, there are three that top the list:

1. What do we need to prepare and send to receive our funds?
In theory, nothing. You don’t have to apply for these funds or submit a detailed spending plan.

For practical purposes, you need to make sure you are ready to receive the funds. For metropolitan cities, that means being sure you have both a valid DUNS number and an active and up-to-date SAM registration. (Funds for metropolitan communities come directly from the federal government through the SAM system.) For communities smaller than 50,000 people, you just need a valid DUNS number to meet reporting requirements. Your states will distribute funds to you.

2. When will cities need to report how funds were used? What details will they need to include?
The reporting for this program is fairly lightweight. Large metropolitan cities will need to submit an interim report by August 31, 2021. That interim report is a summary of spending from the date of award (early May 2021) through July 31, 2021, listing expenditures by category.

After that, large metropolitan cities need only submit quarterly project and expenditure summaries. These must be submitted through the end of 2026 (the official end of the award period).

Smaller local governments (population below 50,000) are only required to submit quarterly summaries.

Experts believe it’s likely that Treasury will perform spot audits of recipients through 2030 (or later). For that reason, it’s important that local governments (and especially smaller communities) keep detailed records. Newly elected or appointed staff members in ten years from now will need to be able to suitably account for how these funds were used.

3. What is the spending deadline?
The U.S. Department of Treasury has yet to clarify this, but the ARP legislation itself states that funds will “remain available through December 31, 2024.”

That said, do not obligate every dollar immediately. Fund your most vital programs and projects now, but keep some money in reserve so that you have room to pivot as new challenges and opportunities arise.

07/09/2021

Hardening Security For Courthouse Buildings

Several states recently boosted their courthouse security measures for the first time in years – some in response to serious breaches. Others are making upgrades just to stay ahead of the game. Either way, administrators recognize the critical need to protect citizens, employees, judges, and defendants in what can often become a volatile environment.

Take Tennessee, for example. The Administrative Office of the Courts launched a $2 million grant program last year to improve security at courthouses across the state. Security breaches, including one where an inmate shot two deputies at a Coffee County courthouse, compelled the state to make security upgrades for the first time in two decades.

Prior to the grant program, nearly half of Tennessee counties failed to meet minimum security standards. Now, courthouses will be equipped with panic buttons, bulletproof benches, armed guards during court sessions, hand-held metal detectors and more.

Other states and counties have followed suit. The Minnesota Supreme Court provided $1 million to bolster security at 57 of the state’s county courthouses. The awards have funded projects such as security screening stations, bullet-resistant glass at public service counters and staff security training.

In Morgan County, Alabama, the courthouse recently installed an X-ray inspection system to scan for drugs, bombs and metal objects. The facility also features new surveillance cameras and tempered security glass to protect employees.

Overall, these projects outfit existing facilities with much-needed upgrades, but hardening security in new courthouse buildings encompasses a much bigger scope.

07/08/2021

Retail Security And Workplace Violence: Retail Workers Face “More Aggression In General”

Over the last few years, retail security has made an increasing number of headlines. The work has become disproportionately dangerous—and disproportionately violent.

A traditional “dangerous” job is dangerous because of the nature of the work itself. Think about agriculture, construction, lumbering, trucking, or commercial fishing. These are outdoor jobs. Those workers deal with large vehicles, dangerous weather conditions, and a significant risk of experiencing a fall or being struck by a falling object.

By contrast, retail work is indoors and usually low-impact. Yet retail worker deaths now account for roughly one-third of all workplace fatalities. And these are much more violent injuries and deaths. In traditional “dangerous jobs,” like construction, most fatalities come from vehicle accidents or falls. Most retail workplace deaths are homicide.

In the past, the most common instances of retail workplace homicides were during robberies. While that fact alone is awful, at least it lent itself to a clear survival strategy: if a worker remained calm and handed over money quickly, they would usually survive.

But conditions have changed.

Speaking at the ISC West security conference in April 2019 Lynn Mattice (managing director at security consulting firm Mattice and Associates) noted that “there may be a small [general] increase in [workplace violence], but the probability is still quite remote—except in the retail industry. In the retail industry, it is quite high.”

The Changing Nature of Retail Violence
A recent study out of Eastern Connecticut State University highlighted how retail security risks and fatalities had changed in recent years. Mitchell Doucette and his team analyzed 1,533 instances of firearm-related workplace homicides between 2011 and 2015, comparing them to earlier workplace homicides. Prior to 2000, they found that 65% (or more) of all workplace homicides stemmed from a robbery. During the 2011–2015 period that the study focused on, robbery-related attacks decreased while non-robbery attacks increased. By 2015, the numbers had practically reversed, with most workplace homicides arising from some sort of personal conflict. (They ultimately published these findings in the journal Injury Epidemiology in 2019, under the title “Workplace Homicides Committed by Firearm: Recent Trends and Narrative Text Analysis.”)

According to Doucette, these personal conflicts included “arguments between employers and employees, arguments between customers and employees, as well as other types of crimes [like] intimate partner violence, mass shootings, and other types of circumstances.”

Doucette also noted that “immediate and ready firearm access was commonly observed in argumentative workplace deaths.” This is especially concerning, given that we know the pandemic has flooded the country with more guns that are being handled less safely.

Doucette’s findings don’t surprise most people working in retail or loss prevention. Larry Hartman is director of risk management, loss prevention, and safety at Goodwill Industries of Central Florida. He has decades of experience in loss prevention, which generally sees the ugliest side of retail. In 2019 he told Loss Prevention Magazine, “These days it … takes less to put people off, to rub someone the wrong way. It’s a more sensitive environment now.”

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07/08/2021

City Building Security Enhancements: Bulletproof Windows For Government Offices

There are three questions you need to be able to answer when adding bulletproof windows and enhanced security features to a city building — and none of them have to do with gun types or bullet calibers.

When they think about security, most county supervisors and city managers focus on what they want to stop. That’s usually whatever style of assault weapon has most recently dominated the news.

But this isn’t the best way to approach city building security upgrades.

First and foremost, it’s an expensive approach. Assault rifle rounds are engineered to pe*****te. Stopping them requires materials that are heavier, more expensive, and more difficult to work with.

Second—and equally important—stopping an assault rifle is almost certainly entirely unnecessary. Mass mayhem with assault rifles is heavily reported because it is rare (and thus newsworthy). Meanwhile, a few common handgun calibers account for almost all of the shootings in America.

But most importantly, by focusing on what bullets you want to stop during a disaster, you may distract yourself from addressing the interactions you want to facilitate on a daily basis.

These are the three key questions you want to ask as you begin your project:

How do we communicate with visitors?
What do we need to pass between staff and the public?
What do we need to secure?

Answering these questions now allows you to enhance safety and security in an active city building while also improving the workplace environment and visitor experience.

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We do all commercial and residential glass related works such as shower glass, windows, custom patio

07/08/2021

Decreasing The Risk Of Robbery For Non-Bank Financial Service Providers

Over the past several years the United States has seen a dramatic growth in small-dollar/”payday” lending, as well as other non-bank financial services like check cashers, pawn shops, and money services businesses (like Western Union). And while we know bank robberies have been on the decline for years–especially as the use of physical security has increased to near-universal in the banking industry–it’s much harder to tell what’s happening with non-bank financial service provider security. Based on news reports, these businesses may be seeing a sharp increase in armed robberies.

While the FBI has long tracked bank robberies as a separate category of violent crime, non-bank financial services are scattered throughout several “Miscellaneous” categories–primarily “Speciality Stores” (a sub-category that also includes furriers, jewelry stores, and dress shops). Interestingly, while the overall “Miscellaneous” category has seen a trend of decreasing robberies in the past several years, assaults on “Speciality Stores” has been increasing. Nonetheless, Total Security Solutions has not seen a marked spike in interest from jewelers, fur shops, or women’s fashion boutiques–but does continue secure many money transfer offices, payday lenders, check cashers, and pawn shops.

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07/08/2021

Hospital Design Affects Healing

While the architectural design of the building is probably not top of mind while sitting in a hospital emergency room or resting in labor & delivery, a lot of decision-making goes into ensuring that a patient’s stay is as pleasant and comfortable as possible. In a situation where minutes can mean life or death, the general layout of a hospital is critical to ensuring patients and hospital staff can move efficiently through the building.

Traditional hospital design, however, leaves a lot to be desired. The hallmark “hospital smell,” plain walls and brightly lit hallways can feel cold and unwelcoming. Although, more recently in the design and construction of hospitals, there has been a trend toward visual healing with the incorporation of natural light, outdoor gardens and better dining options. Studies have shown that modern facility accommodations and so-called extra amenities tend to evoke more confidence in the care that will be received and overall stronger patient satisfaction.

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07/08/2021

Protecting Pharmacists With Custom Physical Barriers

Opioid Addiction Creates Persistent Criminals
In their 2012 study, “Understanding Decisions to Burglarize from the Offender’s Perspective,” Blevins, Kuhns, and Lee found that “88 percent of respondents indicated that their top reason for committing burglaries was related to their need to acquire drugs (51 percent [or respondents]) or money (37 percent), although many reported needing the money to support drug problems.” Additionally, 44 percent of these burglars specifically sought out prescription drugs during their crimes. In a 2011 presentation for the Centers for Disease Control National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, epidemiologist Dan Hartley reported that pharmacy robberies tend to focus more on on getting controlled substances than cash, and that 82 percent of these assailants were armed (compared to just 55 percent of robbers who focused on the store front and check-out clerk.

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07/08/2021

Getting Hospital Security Right From The Start

Common Problems in Healthcare and Hospital Security

In Scaglione’s experience, there are four tell-tale signs that hospital security was a late addition or afterthought to a construction project. These include:

Inconsistent door hardware and access-control technology

Examples: Doors that don’t need returns have them, doors are missing locks or have redundant locks, locking mechanisms are inconsistent or mismatched
Equipment installed incorrectly or put to the wrong use
This includes mag-locks or other systems modified to fit on a door type for which they weren’t designed
Fire doors with exterior handles when not required by code/law

Scaglione: “All that is is a handle for someone to pull on and force the door open” or a handy tie point for someone to prop that door open and start bypassing security as a matter of “convenience”
Redundant cameras or cameras mounted too close to lights

Cameras too near security lights will be blinded at night; redundant cameras leave staff and visitors wondering how well the security is thought out—and would-be criminals doubting the cameras function at all

A Note on Security Cameras and Deterrence
Although not very common in hospital security, Scaglione is extremely opposed to leaving up a non-working video camera as a “deterrent.”

First, he’s quick to point out that the presence of a video camera has never been shown to act as a consistent deterrent to crime on its own. On top of that, the idea that you sought to deter crime with a camera you knew did not work creates a huge liability:

“I was involved early in my career, in the ‘70s, with a Fortune 100 company in New York City that made the decision to install a fake camera, because it was too expensive to run the cable [at that time]. … A woman was r***d in view of the [fake] camera. … That institution paid tens of millions of dollars to that individual … Here’s the thing: If you think you need the camera there, then you’ve determined there’s a risk. So, if you determined there’s a risk, you need to mitigate the risk.”

Possible appropriate measures would have included putting up more lighting, adding the area to a regular security patrol, or mounting working monitored security cameras. “Putting a fake camera up that doesn’t work doesn’t mitigate a risk, there’s no proof that happens. … So the liability is extremely high.”

Six Steps to Providing Hospital Security for Patients, Visitors, and Staff

According to Scaglione, there are six steps that will help you successfully address hospital security through facility design:

1. Include Security at the Beginning of the Design Process

This is number one. In the absence of comprehensive planning, you almost always make design choices that run counter to good security practices, or run afoul of the operational needs of the facility. This leads to expensive last-minute changes. It also manifests as good, properly specced equipment that isn’t used or activated. Often, that’s because it’s functionally redundant, or because using it hinders some vital business or healthcare operation.

If you’re practicing CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design), bring in the landscape architects early, and connect them with your security consultants. It’s extremely common to see otherwise secure facilities undermine safety with poorly thought out landscape elements. Although an increasing portion of landscape architects are knowledgable about security, it still isn’t the norm across the industry. Expect they’ll need security guidance.

2. Perform a Comprehensive, Facility-Wide Risk Assessment

This is another situation where it’s important to have as many people “at the table” as early as possible. A good, comprehensive risk assessment will leave you with a broad understanding of the risks and threats to the building, staff, patients, and visitors. This should take into account attackers of all motivations (ideology/terrorism, emotionally disturbed patients/visitors, spillover domestic violence, economically motivated crime, etc.) as well as natural disasters, weather-related events, and social instability/civil disturbances caused by outside factors.

3. Work with the End Users

Not including end-users (e.g., nurses, technicians, doctors, maintenance, etc.) in your planning is the second great cause of the sorts of mistakes listed above. When security gets in the way of people doing their day-to-day jobs, they will circumvent the security. This isn’t malicious—it’s human nature. And if a person can accidentally circumvent your security, what hope does that system have of protecting your people from a motivated attacker?

Additionally, end users have the deepest insight into the “unpredictable” things confused or stressed hospital visitors do. Consulting with nurses early will prevent huge headaches later.

4. Coordinate Door Hardware with Fire Safety

The interaction of building codes, fire safety codes, ADA-compliance, and the safety realities of a specific organization and community can be maddening. But, in the end, most contractors can sort it out with a safe result. The real problem is that you end up with nonsense redundancies, like door returns on doors without fire ratings. This creates needless visual clutter, undermining security by fostering a sense that the “people in charge don’t know what they’re doing.”

5. Help the Security Director/Consultant Follow Through the Entire Process

It’s not uncommon for vendors, integrators, or installers to make minor changes during installation. But they only work on one part of a complex system. They are no in a position to understand the knock-on effects and stacking errors such “tweaks” create. For example, swapping out a specific door because of some unforeseen issue may make it infeasible to later install the access control system used elsewhere in the building.

6. Make Sure the Security Director/Consultant Validates the System

The same security consultant who shepherded this project from the start should walk through and validate the entire system at the end. What was installed? Was it installed correctly? Does it look good? Does it work as expected?

Little errors and adjustments happen at every stage of any project. Over the course of events, they stack up. A slightly wider than necessary gap between the door and jam isn’t a big deal. Neither is swapping in a different strike plate, because the specified plate was out of stock. And every door is going to have some play in it. But all of this taken together can make for a situation where a dead latch doesn’t engage properly. Your expensive building-wide cloud-controlled access control system won’t help if the door latch can be defeated with a butter knife. call us:+1 469 679 1495

07/08/2021

United Way Youth Center

When SWP GLOBAL was contact by United Way, it became obvious that there were competing demands with the project. The facility requiring the barrier was a Youth Center in an “at-risk” area, so it was necessary to control access. The budget, however, was extremely limited. Total Security Solutions was able to craft a bullet-resistant system that met the security needs without blowing the budget. The most notable element of cost savings was in the installation of the barrier as the client could not afford the barrier as well as the installation costs. The SWP GLOBAL’ team felt that it was important to help this client get the barrier in place right away so with one of the team experts on the phone, the client was able to install the barrier himself.
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07/08/2021

Non-Rated Aluminum U Channel

The Non-Rated Aluminum U Channel is designed to accept bullet resistant glazing materials (acrylic, laminated polycarbonate or glass clad polycarbonate) from ¾” to 1⅜” thick. The smaller profile of the channel allows for a larger viewing area. Non-Rated Channel is typically used for windows in Level 1 or 2 applications. Available in a clear satin, dark bronze anodized aluminum, or custom paint finish.

07/08/2021

Frosted, Mirrored Or Graphics: The “Pretty” Side Of Bulletproof Security Glass

Glass continues to be an integral part of today’s architecture with designers striving to push the limits of this material, from digitally printed and curved glass façades to suspended glass walkways. When you first hear the phrase “bulletproof security glass,” you might think of a simple bank teller window, but that doesn’t have to be the case. Total Security Solutions can work with you to design an attractive, custom bulletproof barrier that complements the design of your facility while meeting your security needs.
If you’re an architect or designer, you might be interested in what architectural treatments can be applied to bulletproof security glass. You’re in luck!

While there are some limitations to the material, bullet-resistant glass can be tinted and frosted, as well as made various colors by adding a colored polycarbonate cap sheet as the outer layer of the security glass. Similarly, a film can be added in between the layers to achieve a frosted appearance. Glass-clad polycarbonate is also available with a mirrored finish for outdoor use.
Companies looking to apply a removable logo or other graphic can do so using a special vinyl cling-type material, such as the 3form Glazing material. These non-adhesive type graphics can easily be applied and later removed without damaging the surface of the bulletproof security glass.

Vinyl Cling Graphics Do Not Mean Adhesives

Despite the ability to apply removable vinyl cling graphics, it is important to remember to never apply adhesives as the backing on most stickers and tape eats away at the finish on ballistic glass. The worst culprit is common scotch tape. According to Total Security Solutions vice president Jim Richards, “That stuff’s impossible once it’s on there for even a couple days. After a couple days it starts to absorb into the material. Then, inevitably, some kid tries to scrape it off with a utility knife, and it’s over.”
This isn’t to say that adhesives or scratches cause structural damage to the security glass–a sheet of bullet resistant glass stops a 9mm bullet just as well with banana stickers as without–but adhesives will scar the surface, and an apologetic workers’ attempts to clean up the mess can make the damage even more visible.
Applying vinyl cling graphics or using frosted bulletproof security glass can provide a high-end, custom aesthetic to a standard ballistic barrier. To learn more about custom architectural treatments available for bulletproof security glass, please give us a call at +1 469 679 1495.

We do all commercial and residential glass related works such as shower glass, windows, custom patio