Managing Theft with low tech and high tech techniques

Security Lighting Survey of a Facility
The facility selected for this study is Aventura Mall. This is a major regional shopping mall that is situated in Aventura in the state of Florida. This is the biggest conventional shopping mall in the state with an area of more than 2.8 million square feet. In addition, Aventura mall has three different floors of retail space, consisting of more than 300 businesses selling commodities and services. The center is anchored by five department stores, including Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s, and features luxury retailers such as Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Burberry, Fendi, Givenchy, CHANEL Fragrance & Beauty, Bally, Breitling, Tiffany & Co., Rolex and many more (Aventura Mall, 2018). The main objective of this assignment is to complete a security lighting survey of this particular mall, which takes into account fundamentally examining the exterior lighting and those found around the doorways as well as other points of ingress and egress.
The installation of security lighting is purposed to aid the protection of people and property from criminal activities, and to generate a perception of security. The principles of security lighting that are applicable to not only new but also existent facilities comprise of the assimilation of illumination into the security system as a whole therefore facilitating the efficacy of other security devices or procedures, illumination to put off criminal acts by increasing the fear of recognition, identification and apprehension and also illumination that permits individuals to easily evade threats and to take cautious action when threats are observed (IESNA, 2003).
The images below illustrate the security lighting at Aventura Mall. They display the lighting of the facility not only externally but also within the parking spaces of the mall. It is imperative to point out that security lighting can end up being counter-productive. This is largely for the reason that bright, exposed floodlights more often than not preclude individuals from detecting any criminal activity taking place, and aid criminals to perceive what they are undertaking. Despite the fact that sufficient lighting encircling a physical structure is positioned to diminish the risk of an intrusion into the facility, it is pivotal that the lighting be designed in a careful manner owing to the reason that wrongly arranged and organized lighting can generate shimmer which in fact hinders vision. As shown in the images, the setup at Aventura Mall provides adequate security lighting along the external parts of the mall on all sides that are exposed. Furthermore, the stores situated within the mall add extra lighting past the common area lighting. In addition, it was noted that the lighting after the normal operating hours were downgraded but at the same time were adequate enough to help in the surveillance of the area by the security patrols (Atlas, 2013).
Image 1
Image 2
Image 3
Image 4
As outlined by IESNA (2003), numerous supermarkets in the present day are major volume operations surpassing more than 100,000 square feet, and offering a huge range of service whilst attracting thousands of consumers on a daily basis. Numerous of these supermarkets and malls such as Aventura Mall operates 24 hours every day of the week and their parking lots are massive. Approximately, 40 percent of crime in retail facilities takes place in the parking lots where consumers and personnel are most vulnerable (IESNA, 2003). As illustrated in the diagrams above, it can be seen that the security lighting at Aventura Mall is sufficient with illuminance levels that are greater than 30 lux on the pavement. In addition, it can be perceived that the mall makes use of LED lighting, which helps in the improvement of light quality. The mall uses homogenously spaced poles and luminaries that offer sufficient lighting. This lighting is sufficient owing to the fact that all individuals and cars within the parking space area and also the external area of the mall are sufficiently illuminated.
Lighting can impact crime in different ways. To begin with, it enables surveillance by the authorities of the facility and also the community after hours of operation and at night. If such increased surveillance is seen by criminals as augmenting the determination and risk by diminishing the reward for a criminal activity then the levels of crime are bound to be reduced. In addition, such lighting increases confidence and assurance and therefore is bound to draw in more individuals. For instance, in the case of a mall, consumers will have a preference of well illuminated facilities that guarantee safety and appeal. In this case, it was perceptible that the mall was well-illuminated during the night time period. All of the areas within the mall and also outside the mall ought to be properly lightened to facilitate security and also to be properly perceptible to the consumers as a whole. In the case of Aventura Mall, the lighting was assimilated with the building as well as the grounds to augment the displays of the windows and also the trees and the shrubs. As is seen, during the evening, the shrubs and trees are well illuminated. Furthermore, the lighting augments the curbside appeal and as a result facilitates increased shopping by consumers (Purpura, 1993).

















References
Atlas, R. I. (2013). 21st century security and CPTED: Designing for critical infrastructure protection and crime prevention. New York: CRC Press.
Aventura Mall. (2018). About Us. Retrieved 1 October 2018 from: https://aventuramall.com/about-aventura-mall/
IESNA, G. (2003). Guidelines for security lighting for people, property and public spaces. Illuminating Engineering Society of North America.
Purpura, P. (1993). Retail security and shrinkage protection. New Jersey: Butterworth-Heinemann.