If you consider the history of the security industry, it has largely focused on selling hardware and providing guarding services.
Very few have conducted investigations to identify the risks that lead to crime or to understand the broader security risks that need to be prevented. Security has been the first option used to fight crime for more than sixty years. For decades, security has been presented as the primary solution whenever crime becomes a concern. Yet despite the growth of the industry and the introduction of more technology, crime has not been defeated.
In many situations, when security fails, the response is simply to invite another security company to the discussion. However, the reality is that the same approach has already been applied for decades without solving the underlying problem. Repeating the same process with a different provider does not change the outcome if the real risks have never been properly identified or understood.
The key lesson is simple.
If the risk is not understood, it cannot be addressed. If the risk is not identified, it cannot be covered. Without understanding the actual vulnerabilities that create opportunities for crime, no amount of equipment, technology, or manpower will produce effective security. Adding more hardware does not resolve a risk that has never been clearly identified.
The security industry in South Africa has existed for more than sixty years. Despite the growth of technology and the wide range of security solutions now available, crime has still not been defeated. Over the past twenty years alone, I have seen billions of rand wasted on security. In many cases this happens because people follow the wrong advice.
If a person with a heart condition relies on advice from a chemist instead of consulting a heart specialist, the medication that a chemist can legally provide is unlikely to address the real problem.
The chemist may offer basic assistance, but diagnosing and treating a heart condition requires the knowledge and experience of a specialist. Security works in much the same way. Without the involvement of a specialist who understands how risks develop and how criminals identify opportunities, the solutions that are applied may appear helpful but often fail to resolve the underlying problem. We often say: If you do not understand your risk, what exactly is your security protecting?
It is also important to remember that criminals spend more time thinking about security than most business owners, procurement officials, or homeowners.
Criminals study weaknesses, observe patterns, and look for opportunities. This reality should never be underestimated. Until the real risks are identified and understood, security will continue to struggle to produce the results people expect. We must also recognize that we live in the twenty-first century. Criminals, insiders, assassins, robbers, and kidnappers all operate with access to the same tools. In many cases, they have even more technical tools and a deeper understanding of how businesses and private homes operate.
One reason for this is that criminals often spend more time studying security and looking for loopholes than clients or procurement departments spend on security.
Criminals are also not restricted by procedures, paperwork, or procurement rules. They can act quickly and without the administrative barriers that corporate organizations must follow. Procurement systems, red tape, and point-scoring processes sometimes result in the wrong company or the wrong individual being appointed. Over the past sixty years this has happened far more often than many people would like to admit.
One of the assessments we conduct for a certain company is a reference assessment.
It focuses on the background and credibility of those providing security services. There is an old saying in the military that soldiers around the world use: “This phrase is often included in lists of ‘Murphy’s Laws of Combat’ or ‘Rules of the Road’ for soldiers, expressing a cynical trust in equipment that must meet minimum specifications while being manufactured as cheaply as possible.” The same principle can be seen in construction. Builders who use poor-quality materials produce houses that crack, weaken, and eventually fall apart. The failure usually begins long before the building is completed. It begins with poor planning and the decision to cut costs instead of doing the necessary groundwork.
Security follows the same principle.
If a proper independent security risk assessment has never been conducted, then real security has never truly existed. That is why 95% of installed security equipment and hardware eventually fails the client. This is a conclusion we have reached after more than twenty years of conducting assessments and examining the causes of security failures.
This brief explanation provides some background to our approach.
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