property management in a new world

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How do you factor terrorism into your property management protocols?

Are you more careful about how you screen potential tenants? Do you pay more attention to the activities of your current tenants? Are you taking security measures to help make your property less of a potential target? Are you dealing more closely with law enforcement authorities now than you used to?

You would like to think that only high profile properties in well known cities are potential taargets, but who knows what a practitioner of terrorism might dream up.

I used to work in the security field when one was primarily worried about theft and vandalism. I also worked in airport security before even the Pan Am airline bombing. I can tell you from experience that it is easy to pay lip service to security and even easy to increase the presence of security personnel, but it is difficult to secure a property from a determined “Bad guy”. It is certainly not enough just to give people the feeling that things are secure or safe. One must actually improve the security activities and make sure security personnel are actually being vigilant.

The last time I passed through airport security, I had to say “Excuse me” and wiggle past a police officer at the security checkpoint who was busy flirting with an on-duty TSA agent. I am all in favor of people flirting, but not on the clock, and certainly not if they are suppossed to be protecitng the safety of the public in a high profile potential target area.

If you are going to create security protocols for your properties, you have to be prepared to make sure they are followed up on seriously. Otherwise, people will see that you are just pretending to make everyone more secure, or that your protocol may make sense, but your personnel are not on the ball. This will annoy and even alarm the people you are suppossed to be securing and it will make you an attractive target for some “bad guy” or another.

bye for now, Tron

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