Security Patrols: More than Wandering the Hallways
Good security patrols aren’t about scanning each checkpoint reader on your route to prove you did your job.
Key Takeaways
Effective security patrols are one of the best forms of incident and loss prevention measures in a hotel.
Whether or not you use a digital patrol reporting system, patrols are only effective if those undertaking them are vigilant and observant.
Gamifying patrols can make them more interesting and less mundane, and improve quality.
Five tips for more meaningful security rounds.
Questions for Consideration
Do you have checklists that highlight key hazards in different areas at different times of the day?
Have you involved those that carry out patrols and colleagues in other departments when developing, maintaining, and updating checklists for patrols?
How do you train and inspire your security to be observant and vigilant?
When I first started as a night security guard in a 500-room central city hotel in a European capital, we didn’t have digital guard patrol systems. Some of our activity reports would look like this:
“0200: 23rd floor to basement. Nothing to report.
0215: Returned to office.”
Sometimes people were back in the office faster than their colleague could replace the VHS cassettes in the video surveillance system. It was all about completing the task, ticking a box, or writing the least amount possible in the activity report. I believe even if we’d had a digital guard system, we may have concentrated mostly on hitting every checkpoint as swiftly as possible and been oblivious to most of what should have been found during the rounds.
When it was discussed in department meetings, colleagues often complained that they kept having to report the same things and they felt there was no point in reporting everything. Besides, it was boring to walk around a hotel in the middle of the night.
