Physical Security Requires Properly Assessing Threats/Issues

Physical security is an ever-increasing need. Unfortunately, we too often recognize this need “after the fact.”  A changing world — and its ever-evolving security issues — requires us to treat threat assessment and planning as important to our organization as its building design.


The terms “safety” and “security” both relate to risks and threats, but they are not synonymous and must be defined separately. Physical security is defined by Murray Neal (1996) as “any and all necessary requirements that once implemented are designed to prevent, deter, inhibit or mitigate threats that face the safety and security of persons and/or property. ”Safety provides for the reduction of the risk of occurrence of injury, loss, or death from accidental or natural causes.” (Murray, 1996)

Examples of safety issues would include whether our walkways and parking lots are smooth and free of cracks, bumps and holes? Are there “up-to-code,” handicap-accessible ingress and egress routes at your location? Do doors and windows function as they should? Does a water leak at a fountain create the risk of a fall? Any of these pose a “safety” risk.

On the other hand, security provides for reducing the risk of injury, loss or death from the deliberate or intentional actions of man. (Murray, 1996)Physical threats come in a broad range of categories, but we might place them in two general categories — cash and non-cash assets.

Protecting Cash Assets

Cash assets are the ones most often thought about and the first things we protect. Currency is usually locked in vaults, safes and teller drawers. Doors and windows are locked with alarm trip switches to alert authorities to a break-in. Motion sensors detect unauthorized activity in the secured building. These are the areas most often addressed by “physical security.”

Protecting Non-Cash Assets

Non-cash assets are more numerous, often more valuable and usually are the least considered when planning physical security. These include:

  • Paper Negotiables, such as money orders, Traveler’s Checks, postage stamps, event, movie and theme park tickets, etc., all of which are usually kept in the vault at night. But are your handling, accountability procedures, and controls appropriate during your business hours? Is your supply of teller and cashier checks adequately protected? With today’s technology, criminals can produce paper instruments that cast doubt on the validity of anything from your CU and can cause a drop in the public’s confidence in your organization. While the loss of reputation and image is difficult to measure, it is certainly costly to regain.
  • Personnel and Members in your building create the greatest risk of loss to your CU. The actual cash loss from a robbery is much less than the potential loss from medical and legal costs of the injury or death of someone present during the event. Do you have procedures, policies, and safeguards to handle domestic violence involving a staff member or patron that finds its way into your CU? Is your lobby filled with ready-made hostages? Bullet resistant glass might protect the teller area, but what if the robber can grab another employee in the lobby?
  • Buildings, Furniture, and Equipment are loss producing when damaged by vandals, theft, fire, flood, accident, and other disasters. These also produce insurance claims if they are unsafe, poorly maintained or used improperly.
Layering Security Features

Approach physical security with forethought. For example, when planning your facility’s physical security, use the “layered” approach, meaning you should use various concurrently functioning systems, plans, and procedures that will back each other up in case one or more areas have a failure.


Crime Prevention Through Design

Incorporate CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design) in your site development. Current CPTED doctrine encompasses a broad approach to the security needs of your institution that combines all elements of the security arena.

  • Once your plans are completed and implemented, follow up regularly by surveying your facility for health, safety, and security problems.
  • Require proper maintenance or replacement of damaged property. Repair or replace property damaged by vandals. Make certain that entrances and exits as well as the paths to them are as clear and free of obstacles as possible.
  • Ensure that the building has open visibility from the outside. This allows law enforcement and others to observe what’s happening inside and could also prevent unsuspecting individuals from entering during a robbery.
  • The building and grounds need to be well lit, have open visibility, be free of “hiding places” and need to be monitored with a video system. Specified staff parking, covered by surveillance cameras and positioned to provide the safest access to your building, could reduce the risk of robbery during opening and closing. Encourage police patrols through the property, especially during staff arrival and departure times. Have opening and closing procedures that are followed.
  • Ensure the facility is protected by an alarm system equipped with panic buttons for key personnel. Ensure that passwords to this system are kept confidential and changed regularly.
  • Have a key/ID Card policy and procedures in place for reporting lost keys and replacing them.
  • Consider having a “meeting” office in the lobby for loan and member service personnel. When no members are there for assistance, have the employee behind the “barrier” and out of the lobby.
Information Security

Information security is more than protecting access to your computer system data.

  • Is your member’s information left lying around for all to see? Can information be obtained from your trash? Are your telephone and mail practices placing you at risk of helping an identity thief?
  • Lock file drawers when you leave your area. Set the screensaver function on your computer to come on after a short interval so someone’s information isn’t displayed on the screen for others to see.
  • What does this have to do with physical security? The answer is found in the question, “Why do you lock your files at night?” Physical security protects your information, as well as any other asset. An information thief saves a lot of effort if they can get the information they need from your unattended desktop.
  • Threats can be internal as well. Surveillance systems, access controls and accountability measures can reduce the risk of inappropriate employee activity. Make sure checks and other paper negotiables are protected from theft. Embezzlement does not require cash.
  • Most robberies and security events are planned. Make sure the planning didn’t begin when you initially decided on your location and design. As we’ve seen, physical security is much more involved than simple locks and alarms.

There are as many solutions as there are questions in the matter of physical security. In addition to cost effectiveness, you must include your potential risks in your planning and preparation.

Note: Security Zone is a feature of reMember, covering a wide range of security-related issues, including robbery, fraud prevention, data and information system security. The articles are written by members of the Leagues’ Security Committee.