As with many consumer-oriented businesses, fast food restaurants need to maintain a strong but unobtrusive security profile. Their structures and access points need to remain accessible while still preventing malicious behavior. This security survey of a fast food restaurant provides an example of how to perform a total security audit, identify weaknesses and risks particularly with regards to customer and employee safety, and offer suggestions for improvement.Property and Perimeter
The outermost boundaries of the fast food restaurant are the limits of the company’s locus of control. There is a lot the fast food restaurant can do to improve its perimeter security, without deterring customers. In fact, making upgrades to the perimeter security can serve a dual purpose as improving aesthetics. The current perimeter is empty, dark, and exposed. These weaknesses open the possibility for criminal behavior, as the access points are “obscured by low light,” (Locknet, n.d., p. 1). Darkness is the criminal’s best friend, which is why the fast food restaurant needs to upgrade its lighting to cover the entire grounds including the outer perimeter. The restaurant does, however, keep on interior lights after hours to prevent property crimes including break-ins and vandalism.
Additionally, the owner is advised to plant hedges around the perimeter to strengthen the outer barrier to entry. The hedges serve as additional boundaries that reduce...
Theoretically, the more popular the restaurant, the safer it will be because crowds would deter opportunistic property crimes, but this would not necessarily reduce the likelihood of an armed robbery. Therefore, an armed security guard is recommended only if there is a genuine need for an additional layer of protection. The building does have security glass installed.
Security Cameras
The proposed hedges would offer one type of physical barrier, but to welcome cars and pedestrians into the restaurant, it is necessary to keep open points of entry to the property. Without resorting to gates and other hard barriers that would impede business, the owners could instead improve safety by installing additional security cameras at each entry and exit point. Currently, the external security cameras are only installed in a few areas closer to the building: at the drive-through area and at each doorway. Installing two more security cameras where pedestrians and cars enter the property, and an additional two in the parking lot would prevent crime. Improved lighting along the outer perimeter is also necessary for ensuring the quality of the camera footage (Reynolds, 2015).
The parking lot cameras are essential for reducing property crime, while the access point cameras would allow…
