Evaluating Security Needs
Determining an appropriate level of physical security for your facility
As published in Worship Facilities, Nov/Dec 2006
Turn on the news today and in no time you will hear a story involving some form of security. Security is a very general term and can often take on different meanings depending on perspective or need. For example, the protection of data in a networked environment is known as virtual security. If you wish to fly today, the airport requires a screening process. This process is overseen by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and the employees present during the screening process are providing physical security. The equipment used to scan carry on items is considered electronic security. All these examples fulfill a security need and, in most environments, they are interdependent. Today we will focus on the topic of electronic security in the church environment.
So how do you best determine what your specific needs are? Everyone seems to have an opinion on how to best secure your facility. Even the security companies called to provide cost estimates will often differ on their approach to securing the facility. It is best to determine on your own what of value you are trying to secure. For instance, the modern church has begun to spend considerable amounts of money on sound systems, lighting systems and musical instruments. In addition to the business office, it has become imperative that you consider a security approach that includes these items. Additionally you should consider your physical surroundings. What are the crime statistics in your neighborhood? Spend some time speaking with local law enforcement in your community to gain a better understanding of the types of crimes that are occurring. Do the break-ins involve theft, vandalism or both? If you don’t arm yourself with this kind of data you may end up with more electronic security than you need or less than you want. The salesperson calling on you will not likely have the answers to these questions and may not provide an adequate design.
Recently the church I attend built a new facility, and electronic security became a topic of conversation. The new church would be located in the heart of a growing community and crime was minimal. We understood from local law enforcement that most break-ins involved the theft of items that could be easily transported and quickly sold. For this reason, we chose to pay special attention to securing the rooms where our sound, lighting and musical instruments were stored. The second decision we needed to make was whether we wanted to focus on apprehending an intruder or simply scaring them away. In other words, did we want a silent or audible alarm? Along these lines we needed to determine whether or not we wanted the system monitored by a central station. In the event of a break-in, the central station would call the police followed by individuals on a call list. The final building design provided for a centrally located sanctuary surrounded by classrooms. Based on life safety code, every classroom had an exterior exit. If we wanted to secure the perimeter of the facility we would need to install an electronic door contact on every door which would provide an immediate alarm if opened.
As we began to assess the contents of each classroom, it was apparent that the rooms housed items of little value. Although door contacts themselves are inexpensive, the cable and installation labor required to monitor the door contacts would be costly. Since all of our sound, lighting and musical instruments were stored in rooms off of the sanctuary we chose to consider the hallways around the sanctuary as our perimeter instead of the exterior of the building. We installed infrared motion detectors in the hallways which provided for an immediate alarm if it sensed both motion and heat simultaneously. Six motion detectors replaced twelve door contacts. Additionally, we installed door contacts on the rooms where our sound, lighting and musical instruments were stored. Since an intruder would have to first bypass the motion detectors in the hallways we now had two layers of protection for the items which were of most value.
Our final design included an audible alarm and central station monitoring. We felt that an audible alarm would minimize vandalism by scaring the intruder away and the central station would insure that the police and church staff would be notified immediately in the event of a break-in. We were able to save approximately $25 per month in monitoring fees by interfacing an output of the security panel with an input on the fire alarm panel. Local code requires that the fire alarm panel be monitored by a central station and the fire alarm control panel is capable of reporting different alarm types (i.e. fire, security, system trouble). The central station, therefore, had calling instructions for each alarm type. Many churches have different providers for fire and security, so combining them is a potential cost-saving opportunity.
Beyond the physical security of the new facility, we wanted to control who had access. Historically, key access is controlled by a master key system. The pastor or church administrator might have a key that opens every door in the building while other staff members’ keys will only open the doors to which they need access. In this environment you have to group doors together by security levels and too many levels can become cost-prohibitive. If a key is lost or stolen, some (or all) of the doors will need to be re-keyed at a moderate expense. It was our intent to make the facility available for events outside of normal church or office hours so we would be faced with loaning keys to various church members with the hopes of getting them back. After assessing the potential short falls of a key system, we decided it would be best to install electronic access control on one designated entrance into the facility as well as the rooms where we secure our sound, lighting and musical instruments. Electronic access control allows us to issue access cards to individuals which can be programmed for specific doors, during certain days of the week and hours of the day. If an individual needs access to the facility for a meeting on Tuesday night from 7:00PM to 9:00PM, we provide the individual an access card that allows access to the facility on Tuesdays only for this two hour time period. If the individual loses their card we can eliminate it from the system using the software programming. The electronic access control system is also interfaced with the alarm system to arm and disarm the security panel. In the event of a break-in, we can run a history report which details who gained access to the facility and who armed or disarmed the security alarm system by name of card holder, date and time.
The electronic access control system comes with software that allows for monitoring of system activity and programming of cards by trained church personnel. Use of the system for staff and church members is straight forward and easily retained. To gain access to the facility, they present an access control card within two inches of the card reader. The door automatically unlocks by means of an electric door strike. The access card is then presented to a reader tied to the security alarm panel. This automatically disarms the security alarm panel allowing for free egress throughout the facility. If allowed, the same access control card will provide entry to the other access-controlled rooms. When leaving the facility the access control card is presented to the interior card reader which arms the security alarm panel. The security alarm panel is programmed with an exit delay allowing the individual free egress from the facility. Staff members have retained keys for individual offices only. The security approach described in this article was cost-effective and clearly served our needs. With the assistance of some volunteer labor we were able to stay under budget. If you have budget constraints, consider installing the system in stages. If you choose to install the system in stages, insure that you have a complete security plan prior to starting any work. When discussing this approach with perspective alarm companies, insure that they include the installation of all necessary cable as part of the phase one plan. As funds become available for additional phases, the cable infrastructure will already be in place at today’s labor rates.
If budget constraints will not allow for electronic security and access control, consider additional exterior lighting at a minimum. It is said that a well-lit property is the first layer of security.
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