Commercial Burglary: Tips for Prevention

Commercial burglary is a crime of opportunity. The longer it takes for a would-be thief or looter to enter your premises, the more likely they are to give up. Therefore, your job is to slow down or prevent access to your building or location until the police arrive.

Here are 3 tips that will help you accomplish that goal.

3 Tips to Prevent Commercial Burglary

In most cases of commercial burglary, thieves or looters enter the building using physical force. Although Hollywood would like you to believe that all burglars are master lockpicks, the reality is that most thieves and looters resort to low-tech, low-skill tools like cinder blocks, sledgehammers, and crowbars.

Keep them out using these 3 things that deter burglars:

1. Clear the line of sight

Make it hard for would-be intruders to access your premises by trimming trees and bushes and using good lighting both inside and outside your building or location.

2. Rely on security technology

Alarms and security cameras are critical tools that help you reduce the time a burglar remains on your premises, as well as identify criminals (even looters!) after the fact.

3. Strengthen your entry points

As they say, “prevention is the best cure.” Prevent commercial burglary by making it nearly impossible for thieves and looters to get into your building or location. The best way to do this is to use shatterproof “glass” known as Riot Glass.

What Is Riot Glass?

Riot Glass is a patented access denial system consisting of a clear shield and mechanically anchored frame system that is invisibly installed over the tops of your existing doors and windows. It is shatterproof and extremely impact resistant, with a 100% success track record of holding up against sledgehammers, crowbars, cinder blocks, bricks, bats, and more.

In essence, Riot Glass looks and acts like an unbreakable glass that keeps looters and thieves out. Think of Riot Glass as a clear, permanent board up that is always working and requires no maintenance.

Let’s Look at a Real-Life Case Study…

Wondering how to prevent burglary at your business or location? Let’s look at a real-life example of a foiled commercial burglary.

Check out this brief, real-life video of an attempted smash and grab and see if you can identify the crime-prevention methods the building used successfully.

As you saw, the gas station in the video effectively and appropriately used the following methods to prevent commercial burglary:

• Clear line of sight – there were no trees or bushes blocking our view of the would-be thief, and although there were a few low obstacles in the way of the windows that looked like pallets of water bottles, the gas station used bright lighting that illuminated the criminal’s actions.
• Security technology – though entry was denied and we therefore weren’t able to determine if there was an alarm system, we do know that the gas station had multiple security cameras, both inside and outside. This is why we had a video to watch.
• Strengthened glass – as you could see in the video, it appeared as if there was a metal security gate that someone had forgotten to close and lock on the interior of the door, but it didn’t matter because the entrance was protected by impenetrable Riot Glass.

If you watch the video carefully, you notice that, although the gas station used multiple burglary prevention tactics, the only method that truly foiled the crime was the Riot Glass. The would-be thief was determined — throwing his whole weight into those 19 hits from a large sledgehammer in his attempt to get in — but the burglar-proof “glass” door stopped him.

However, it was only when he realized he would not be able to enter the building that he finally gave up and left, presumably to find an easier target.