Despite the increasing risk of criminal attacks against business premises “probably less than thirty per cent” of the major business houses in the city have invested in adequate security equipment,” according to General Manager of Starr Computers Rehman Majeed. And according to Majeed the point has long been reached where the private sector ought to take a serious collective look at the role that electronic surveillance can play in reducing risks associated with criminal attacks against businesses.
“Although some of the major businesses are now covered by electronic security the general tendency in the business community is for business owners to become interested in security surveillance during spates of robberies and to return to a condition of indifference once it appears that that particular wave has passed. Majeed said that checks with other electronic security equipment dealers would probably reveal files containing scores of quotations for electronic security equipment requested during and immediately after major robberies. “As soon as they think the moment has passed many of them either forget about those quotations or begin to ask about cheaper surveillance systems,” Majeed said.
And according to Majeed the indifference among sections of the business community to electronic security is entirely inexcusable since, he says, the investment is more than worth the risk. “It is actually possible to acquire some degree of electronic surveillance from Do-It-Yourself (DIY) kits that cost as little as $12,000.00,” Rehman said. He said that while a more comprehensive system might cost $200,000.00 this was a small price to pay “for protecting millions, perhaps billions of dollars in business assets.”
The Starr Computers General Manager told Stabroek Business that major business houses still appeared preoccupied with acquiring electronic equipment for the purpose of internal security. “My own observation is that businessmen still appear more concerned about losses resulting from internal theft than losses associated with armed robberies. They tend to argue that the risks associated with internal theft are far higher and that such practices are far more prevalent than armed robberies,” Majeed said.
The Starr Computers General Manager says that what is needed is the swifter deployment of electronic surveillance equipment in the commercial centre in order to deter criminals, “One of the impacts of the deployment of electronic surveillance by major business houses is that those systems actually help to protect other premises in the area. Depending on what the cameras on that particular business premises are equipped to do, video footage can actually be used to help solve crimes committed on other premises,” Majeed said.
Asked to express his views on the slow pace of investment in security equipment by the local business community Rehman said that perhaps some businessmen still remained to be convinced that such equipment is effective. “Perhaps what we really need is a major breakthrough in which security surveillance equipment plays a central role in solving a major crime. Perhaps, if that happens and it becomes a matter of public knowledge more businesses will begin to see the benefit of electronic security surveillance.
And the Starr Computers General Manager says that government should move quickly to establish a video surveillance laboratory in Guyana in order to better equip the security forces to use electronic surveillance material to help solve crimes. According to Rehman it was important that the pace of the introduction of electronic equipment into Guyana be equaled by the development of a capacity at the level of the security forces to use the material that derives from that equipment to solve crimes. He said that official initiatives should be taken to train video forensic experts. “We desperately need to develop a capacity to analyse the data and the footage recovered from electronic security equipment since this may actually improve what, at the mement, is a very low post-crime apprehension rate,” Rehman said.
