Just a “heads-up” about the 2011 IAPSC Conference in San Diego.

Once you become a consultant, you are immediately treated differently—both by new contacts and old friends. People immediately think you are only looking out for yourself and constantly trying to put one over on them. Many companies view consultants not as highly qualified professionals, but as dime-a-dozen peddlers. Many people who say they have similar qualifications have rung their bells and knocked on their doors. Do not expect immediate respect. You’re going to have to earn the respect of your clients. How will you do that? Here are a few recommendations.

You are an outsider
If you miss the friendship of your corporate colleagues, get closer to your own family—or buy a dog.

Consultants and crass and showy opportunists
My recommendation is to be squeaky clean and impeccably honest in all of your dealings and to treat all client information as if it was the recipe for Coca ColaTM. Continue to promote yourself as larger than life, but when people meet you, play down your accomplishments and be humble. You will demonstrate your expertise as consultant far better by truly listening to your clients and working with them as friendly equals, than by puffing yourself up.

At the end of the day, you are just another supplier
I recommend that you run the other way when a client calls you a supplier. I feel that consulting is a very personal service and lowering it to the level of someone selling an “off-the-shelf” commodity demeans the profession and the talented people who make it their life’s work.

Think about this
How did you see consultants when you worked for a corporation? Be honest. How would you like your clients to see you? What can you do to accomplish this?

Credit for this article goes to Joel Gendelman of Future Technologies, Inc. who is the owner of the LinkedIn Group “Consulting Mentor.”

This award is presented to the Association of Security Consultants (ASC) member who has made the most significant contribution to independent security consulting in the preceding year, nominated by members of the ASC, as judged by the ASC Award Panel. Jack Case was honored on June 22, 2010 for his work on strengthening the link between the ASC and the IAPSC. Congratulations Jack!

The Association of Security Consultants is a sister organization to the IAPSC based in Surrey, UK.

The Center for Problem-Oriented Policing has posted a new paper by Karim Vellani on their website.  In an easy 25 steps, this manual shows security professionals how to select and implement appropriate countermeasures to reduce the opportunities for the everyday crimes that are the most common threats to assets and targets that security professionals must protect. Drawing on problem-oriented policing and situational crime prevention the manual is essential reading for security professionals, facility managers, risk managers, property managers, and as well for both public and private police who are concerned with everyday crime problems in business settings.

Download Crime Analysis for Problem Solving Security Professionals in 25 Small Steps

The International Association of Professional Security Consultants welcomes its newest member - Mark Peterson MC Peterson & Associates, LLC 11984 East Lake Circle Greenwood Village, CO 80111

The IAPSC has learned that member Gordon G. Redding, of El Cajon, California, recently passed away. Gordon, with over 45 years of experience, was a IAPSC member since 2000. The IAPSC has made a donation to the American Cancer Society in his memory.

The International Association of Professional Security Consultants welcomes the following new members:

Gerard Busnuk
Roland Park Security Consulting
1103 Falls Hill Drive
Baltimore, MD 21211

John Cholewa
Mentor Associates, LLC
11435 W. Buckeye Road, Suite #104-225
Avondale, AZ 85323

Donavan Seay Fidelity Investments 82 Devonshire Street, Mailzone W6A Boston, MA 02109
Toney Slater Quintech Security Consultants, Inc. 102 Sangaree Park Court, Suite 4 Summerville, SC 29483

James Black CPP, PSP, CSC, CET

IAPSC Member, James Black wrote an article for June/July issue of Security Technology Executive titled, “Shortening the Learning Curve”.

“The higher education security standard of care continues to evolve, with technology playing a more important role than ever. Today’s more security-conscious environment requires much more than a well-thought-out plan. Effective implementation of key strategies is paramount to both security program perception and reality.”

Read the article.

Fred Miehl, CPP

IAPSC Member, Fred Miehl wrote an article titled, “Hospital Security Strategies” for the June/July issue of Security Technology Executive.

“Hospital facilities are usually comprised of a number of buildings with many entrances, rooms, areas with high-value equipment, supplies, drugs and a variety of people – patients, visitors, staff and vendors – with a need to move about freely. Controlling this environment from a security perspective requires knowledge of current and future physical and logical access needs, coupled with an understanding of the standards and regulations facing today’s health care practitioners. As part of physical security, health care security practitioners are implementing the latest state-of-the-art security systems for access control, video  monitoring and communication, which will also improve their staff’s productivity.”  Read the article.

“A former employee at solar products manufacturer Emcore Corporation in Albuquerque, N.M., walked into the business and opened fire, killing two people and wounding four others before turning the gun on himself. Police say the gunman, later identified as 37-year-old Robert Reza, was involved a bitter dispute with his ex-girlfriend over custody of their children.”

Felix Nater, CSC

In this “At the Frontline,” SecurityInfoWatch, Assistant Editor, Joel Griffin speaks to Felix Nater, president and owner of security management consulting firm Nater Associates, for his take on this incident and what businesses need to do to be better prepared to prevent acts of workplace violence.

Read the Article.

Ron Heil, CPP, CSC, CHS

IAPSC Member, Ron Heil talks with SecurityInfoWatch.com Assistant Editor, Joe Griffin about Securing the Corporate Mailroom”.

“Ronald Heil CPP, CSC, CHS , assistant vice president and senior security consultant for TranSystems, an independent consulting and security systems design firm, said that one of the things his company advises clients to do to help mitigate mail threats, no matter what form they take, is to have their mailroom separated from the rest of the corporate campus. However, if a company has their offices in a high-rise complex and the mailroom cannot be separated, Heil says it should be located on a ground floor, preferably on an outside wall.” Read the article.

Kelly Klatt, CPP

IAPSC Members, Kelly Klatt and Curtis Baillie participated in a 40 minute SecurityInfoWatch podcast about their experiences starting and running independent security consulting businesses. The podcast titled, Getting Started in Security Consulting covered topics including  making the transition from law enforcement and corporate security to consulting, setting up a small business, marketing your security consulting business and finding clients, working as an expert witness and more. The IAPSC organization was also discussed as well as the upcoming Successful Security Consulting pre-seminar (October 10 & 11, 2010) being held at the ASIS Conference being held in Dallas, Texas.

Curtis Baillie, CSC

Click here to listen to SecurityInfoWatch podcast #52.

IAPSC Texas Security Conference 9/15/10

The International Association of Professional Security Consultants is hosting its first regional security conference in Texas.  Building on successful regional conferences in New York and Southern California, IAPSC seeks to continue its expansion into the Southwest.

Learn more about the conference.

The first charges from Northampton County’s grand jury involve an expert trial witness who is accused of lying about his credentials. District Attorney John Morganelli announced Edmund G. Knight III was arraigned today on charges of perjury and false swearing.

Knight, who worked as a fire investigator with Robson Forensic in Lancaster Pa., is accused of claiming he received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Millersville State University. Read the story from leighvalley.com

Jim McGuffey, CPP

CHURCH SECURITY TIPS
by Jim McGuffey, CPP

Far too many churches in our country provide little or no physical security for parishioners. I believe that this lack of security is due to concern that a security program will create unnecessary alarm for parishioners. Many church leaders believe that a security incident will not occur at their church. Also church officials in rural areas are less concerned about major crimes. However recent church tragedies show that church crimes can happen anywhere. There is also the concern that security is expensive and will not be cost effective.

Jim McGuffey, CPP owner of A.C.E. Security Consultants has held church leadership roles for 10 years. While Jim understands these concerns, he also is aware that a well managed security program need not be burdensome or costly.

The following suggestions are not intended to address all security issues, but they will substantially improve security at churches where security is lacking or non-existent. Basic low cost actions to improve church security:

1. Form a safety and security committee and select a chairperson to provide leadership.
2. Train ushers, greeters and other key volunteers to recognize, report and respond to suspicious activity or a security or safety incident.
3. One or more trained persons from the safety security committee should remain posted at designated areas to observe people exiting cars and walking towards the church. Part of training is to be observant for signs of stress or suspicious actions.
4. An emergency plan should be developed and tested annually in response to any natural or man-made disaster that could occur in your area. This requires work but there are many inexpensive books and free government publications available on emergency planning.
5. Conduct a security risk assessment prior to purchasing security equipment. This assessment will help you to determine what is expected from the security equipment. Often equipment is purchased and installed only to discover that it does not meet all of the needs or solve all of the problems since the needs and problems were never identified in the first place. Please refer to www.acesecurityconsultants.com website where you can print a white paper titled “Security Risk Process”.
6. Review outdoor lighting to make sure it is sufficient.
7. Maintain plants and shrubbery low to the ground to reduce hiding places.
8. Ensure that a process exists to release children to parents or authorized adults.
9. Perform background checks on both volunteers and paid staff that have responsibility for children. I suggest background checks on all the safety security team regardless of involvement with children.
10. Personnel records must be secured when the designated person of those records is not present.
11. Two people should remain present from time funds are collected until counted and stored. Key control for essential doors and containers for valuables must be managed.
12. Major or expensive assets should be marked in case of theft and inventoried at least annually.
13. Be proactive and observant for safety violations such as exposed wiring, locks that don’t work and cleaning chemicals that are not stored properly. Safety and security go hand-in-hand.
14. The most important strategy or action that can be taken to prevent security incidents is to increase security awareness with all members. This concept applies to all organizations.

Check out the Spring IAPSC “Independent Security Consultant” newsletter.

Click here.

By: Jim McGuffey, CPP

During my 26 years career in the cash-in-transit industry, I was responsible for overseeing and reviewing numerous theft reports. Investigations in the cash-in-transit industry can be complex due to the numerous people and organizations that touch the funds which are transported, stored, or processed.

When tamper evident plastic deposit bags replaced the cloth bag and lead seal nearly two decades ago, I was optimistic that the introduction of these bags would help catch thieves and reduce losses. I was disappointed to discover that many of these bags could be compromised without leaving obvious indication of tampering. We also learned that many of these bags would burst open during routine handling.

Poorly designed bags serve only to make an already complex investigation even longer and more complex. I recently tested several bags (April 2010) from different companies only to find that these security bags could still be accessed and resealed without reflecting a compromise to the bag.

The cardinal rule in the cash-in-transit system is to always “get and give a receipt” for each transaction.  Many tellers signing for these bags rely on a quick visual observation of a bag to determine if the bag has been compromised. However, they may fail to spot that tiny slice at the bottom of the bag that was resealed after money had been removed or another part of the bag which had been opened and resealed using a freezing or heat process. After a quick check of the bag, if no compromise is noted, the teller signs for and accepts custody and control of the deposit bag and its contents. A visual check of these bags can be effective provided the bag is of good quality.

When a tamper evident bag is compromised, a marking such as VOID should appear on various parts of the bag; the type of marking varies. If these markings do not appear, the bag is considered un-compromised when in fact a poorly designed bag may not reveal that the bag was indeed compromised. The absence of industry standards adds to the confusion.

Another problem is that some bags are so poorly designed that these tamper indicator markings easily appear on the bag during normal handling even though no attempt was made to access the bag. These markings are referred to as false positives and occur by simply handling and transporting the bag. The problem created in this scenario results from a steady stream of false positives and the need for tellers to work quickly. Tellers often become complacent in reporting these false positive markings for a more thorough review prior to opening, since no funds are missing in the vast majority of case. This is simply due to the majority of cash handlers being honest, hard working people but there are those not so honest who seek to capitalize on these vulnerabilities.

During an incident involving missing funds from a properly designed bag, an investigation is shortened when the compromised bag is discovered and reported to management.  This action eliminates other organizations which would have handled the bag had the compromise not been discovered.   A properly designed bag will often lead to an immediate resolution upon discovery.

It was evident during my recent examination of sample bags that some vendors may have lowered the quality of their bags, perhaps in reaction to the recent economic down-turn.

Proper utilization of an evident tamper resistant bag involves: 1- Recording the numbers listed on the bag onto a receipt provided during the handling process. 2- Maintaining this paperwork in a secure place. 3- Verifying these numbers and the integrity of the bag during each transaction.  4- Collecting and maintaining used bags for a period of time as prescribed by contract or policy. 5- Controlling and accounting of unused bags. 7- Immediately reporting a bag suspected of compromise.  8- Monitoring the process to ensure that the quality of the bag does not deteriorate. 9- Ensuring that bags are not overloaded to the extent that they cannot be sealed properly.

If a teller at the bank observes that the seal number on the bag does not match the seal number on the paperwork, the carrier’s management is notified and the teller refuses to accept the bag. CCTV playback and other investigative tools are also used to aid in verifying the internal audit trail to determine at what point the bag was compromised.

Prior to purchasing evident tamper bags, I would suggest obtaining sufficient bag samples to test with heating and freezing applications. Also test to ensure that normal handing does not result in a false positive reading or inadvertent opening. Remember, cash-in-transit carriers do not have the luxury of handling these bags with kid gloves so make sure that the thickness of the plastic is sufficient to hold the loads expected.

Disclaimer: This article is written for general information purposes only and is not intended to be, and should not be used as, a primary source for making security decisions.

The IAPSC welcomes Steven M. Mensing, CPP as its newest member.

IAPSC Member Curtis Baillie recently spoke with on-air personality Andy Cunningham at Station WCHE, located in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Curtis discussed the topic of shoplifting and employee theft and ways for retailers to reduce their losses. Curtis also took calls from listeners and answered questions. Callers were rewarded with a copy of Chuck Sennewald’s book , “Shoplifters vs. Retailers – The Rights of Both.”

Tamper Evident Plastic Deposit Bags

During my 26 years career in the cash-in-transit industry, I was responsible for overseeing and reviewing numerous losses in the armored car/cash-in-transit business. Investigations in this industry can be complex due to the numerous people and organizations that touch the funds which are transported, stored, or processed.

When tamper evident plastic deposit bags replaced the cloth bag and lead seal nearly two decades ago, I was optimistic that the introduction of these bags would help to catch thieves and reduce losses. I was disappointed when I learned that many of these bags could be compromised without leaving obvious indication of tampering or burst open during routine handling.

Poorly designed bags serve only to make an already complex and lengthy investigation even longer and more complex. I recently tested several bags (April 2010) only to find that these security bags could still be accessed and resealed without reflecting a compromise to the bag.  I was surprised that the same defects still existed so many years later.

The cardinal rule in the cash-in-transit system is to always “get and give a receipt” for each transaction.  If tellers signing for the bag relies on a quick visual observation of the bag to determine if the bag has been compromised they not spot that tiny slice at the bottom of the bag that was resealed or another spot where the bag was opened and resealed using a freezing or heat process. If no compromise is noted, the teller signs for and accepts custody and control of the security bag and its contents.

When a tamper evident bag is compromised, a marking such as VOID should appear on various parts of the bag. The type of marking varies. f these markings do not appear, the bag is considered un-compromised when in fact a poorly designed bag may not reveal that the bag was indeed compromised. The absence of industry standards adds to the confusion.

Some bags are so poorly designed that these tamper indicator markings easily appear on the bag during normal handling even though no attempt was made to access the bag. These markings are referred to as false positives and occur by simply handling and transporting the bag. The problem created in this scenario is that due to a steady stream of false positives and the need for tellers to work quickly, tellers may become complacent in reporting bags with these markings for a more thorough review.

During an incident involving missing funds from a properly designed bag, an investigation is shortened when the compromised bag is discovered and reported to management.  This action eliminates other organizations which would have handled the bag had the compromise not been discovered.   A properly designed bag will often lead to an immediate resolution upon discovery.

It was evident during my recent examination of sample bags that some vendors may have lowered the quality of their bags, perhaps in reaction to the recent economic down-turn.

Proper utilization of an evident tamper resistant bag involves: 1) Recording the numbers listed on the bag onto the receipt provided during the handling process. 2) Maintaining this paperwork in a secure place. 3) Verifying these numbers and the integrity of the bag during each transaction.  4) Collecting and maintaining used bags for a period of time as prescribed by contract or policy. 5) Controlling and accounting of unused bags. 7) Immediately reporting a bag suspected of compromise.  8. Monitoring the process to ensure that the quality of the bag does not deteriorate and bags are not overloaded to the extent that they cannot be sealed properly.

If a teller at the bank observes that the seal # on the bag does not match the seal # on the paperwork, the carrier’s management is notified and the teller refuses to accept the bag. CCTV playback and other investigative tools are also used to aid in verifying the internal audit trail to determine at what point the bag was compromised.

Prior to purchasing evident tamper bags, I would suggest that you obtain sufficient samples to test with heating and freezing applications and also ensure that normal handing does not result in a false positive reading or inadvertent opening. Remember, cash-in-transit carriers do not have the luxury of handling these bags with kid gloves. Make sure that the thickness of the plastic is sufficient to hold the loads expected