Posted by Amy Wall on Fri, Jan 29, 2010 @ 06:35 PM
Today CSC launched the Snitch Security Video. It's a 4 min. clip 
visually describing the theft problems plaguing the commercial real estate sector today, and the reasons why The Snitch Security System is so successful at stopping equipment theft, material theft, copper theft and property damage from occurring at our client's sites.
Check out the video clip when you have a chance! If you have any questions about the Snitch, or want more info on how CSC's state-of-the art wireless burglar alarm system can help solve your security problems, you can request a Free Snitch Demo or contact us anytime at (888) FLAG-CSC.
Posted by Amy Wall on Wed, Dec 30, 2009 @ 04:43 PM
This week, KGO Radio reporter Leslie Brinkley reported on the rise of copper thefts occuring in the Bay Area now that the price of copper has risen above $3/pound.
The KGO story reported that very recently, four parks in the City of Concord have been stripped of copper wiring, costing the City tens of thousands of dollars. Additionally, the City of Mountain View, and several housing developments in the City of San Jose have also recently reported similar copper theft incidences, as copper thefts are beginning to surge once again in the Bay Area.
CSC copper theft expert, Brian Wall, was featured as a main source for the KGO news report. According to Wall, copper thieves are commonly breaking into vacant commercial budilings and specifically targeting the rooftops of buildings, as the rooftops are among the most vulnerable areas for copper thieves to attack. Wall also said that many unemployed plumbers and electricians are intelligently and systematically conducting the copper thefts because they have inside knowledge to commit the crimes.
CSC's team of copper theft experts are routinely advising companies and public sector organizations on the best solutions possible today to stop copper theft. CSC also offers the Snitch Security System, which is designed specifically to help commercial property managers, building owners and construction sites fend off would-be copper thieves. Developed by leading copper theft experts, The Snitch is CSC's impenetrable and unbeatable wireless burglar alarm system designed specifically to stop copper thieves from attacking commercial sites. It boasts a 100 percent success rate at stopping copper thieves and provides complete protection around the clock to ensure CSC's customer's sites are always secure.
If your business or public sector agency is currently facing copper theft problems, or if you want to prevent these problems from developing in the future, give the CSC copper theft experts a call today at 408-295-2600 or contact us for a free Snitch System demo.
Posted by Amy Wall on Fri, Dec 11, 2009 @ 03:04 PM
CSC will be attending the 1st Annual Crime Prevention/Safety Fair in Yountville, CA on December 12th. The fair is hosted by the Napa County Sheriff's Problem-Oriented Policing Program and the Town of Yountville.
CSC will be hosting a booth at the event and educating attendees on copper theft, which mainly impacts commercial buildings and construction sites, and photovoltaic theft, which specifically targets the solar panel installations at many businesses and public sector agency buildings.
Copper thefts and Solar panel thefts have been on the rise all over the country lately, and more specifically, these problems have been plaguing the Northern California region within the past few years. Within the Napa Valley and Bay Area regions, solar panel thefts have been a main focus for several wineries and school districts, who have sustained tens of thousands of dollars in lost assets and property damage as a result of thieves ripping off the solar panels from their unprotected buildings.
As more solar panels and copper wiring become stolen, and the problem continues to grow, businesses and government agencies being targeted for the thefts are searching for security solutions specifically designed to help protect their solar panels from thieves.
CSC's Snitch Security System is one of the few answers that exist today for stopping solar panel theft. Uniquely designed to protect anything, anywhere, anytime, The Snitch is a burglar alarm system that's fully capable of stopping copper thefts and solar panel thefts and providing 100% protection.
For those companies and government agencies that have made the investment in solar panel installations, and/or have been targeted for copper theft, practicing risk management and implementing a security solution to protect your investments is probably a good idea. The team at CSC is here to help and will be at the Crime Prevention/Safety Fair this weekend to answer any questions you may have.
The event will be taking place at the Yountville Community Center from 12-4pm and we invite you to attend!
Posted by Amy Wall on Wed, Dec 02, 2009 @ 04:34 PM
Recently, copper metal prices have soared back up to over $3 a 
pound. According to many economists and this latest report from CNN, copper metal is a leading indicator of economic recovery because it's used so broadly all over the world. During the recession, there was concern over the drop in demand for copper, but with the economy turning around, copper is back on the rise. Additionally, there's still a great deal of pent up demand for copper from the Chinese market, and economists predict that once this demand opens up, there will be an exponential rise in copper prices.
So what does the rise in copper prices mean for the security of your business? Plenty.
Rising copper prices generally equate to an immediate rise in copper thefts. With copper piping and wiring becoming much more valuable in the open market, copper thieves know they can fetch a hefty price tag for this precious metal in just a few hours time.
At specific locations, such as commercial buildings and construction sites, copper metal can be found in abundance and is relatively easy to steal. Once stolen, it's virtually impossible for authorities to track or recover from recyclers, making copper theft a low-risk, high-profit crime that many copper thieves can't resist.
Within the past year alone, copper thefts have increased in some Bay Area counties by as much as 300%, with two-thirds of these thefts occurring at commercial buildings. With vacancy rates at all-time highs, and copper prices soaring once again, thieves will be stealing more copper and damaging more commercial property at extremely alarming rates. Losses from the copper thefts are costing companies thousands, while costs to repair damaged buildings, missed project deadlines and soaring insurance premiums, some by as much as 500%, are compounding the problem.
Solutions such as CSC's Snitch Security System exist today and are designed specifically to help commercial property managers, building owners and construction sites fend off would-be copper thieves. Developed by leading copper theft experts, The Snitch is CSC's impenetrable and unbeatable wireless burglar alarm system designed specifically to stop copper thieves from attacking commercial sites. It boasts a 100 percent success rate at stopping copper thieves and provides complete protection around the clock to ensure CSC's customer's sites are always secure.
Don't let the recent rise in copper prices put your company's safety and security at risk of being attacked by copper thieves. Contact 
CSC today for more info on how the Snitch can provide you with complete protection for a fraction of the cost of traditional security measures. You can also download a free CSC webinar on "How to Stop a Copper Thief" and learn cost-effective methods for stopping copper thieves at commercial buildings & construction sites.
Posted by Amy Wall on Mon, Nov 16, 2009 @ 06:52 PM
CSC's site security & patrol services were selected by the water utilities for a number of reasons, one of which is that CSC is highly capable of providing Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) services to protect their water systems, employees, customers, property and assets from potential threats during all stages of the Department of Homeland Security's threat advisory system. Specifically, CSC is providing cost effective security guards to protect each water utility's various facilities and water treatment plants during normal periods of operation, while also ensuring the highest level of security protection is available in emergency situations.
CSC is well versed in CIP and has helped actively promote the process and apply our knowledge in this area to several private and public sector organizations alike. CIP services are a core-competency among the CSC management staff, and a value added service that we provide to clients as part of our site security and consulting services.
As a result of the extensive law enforcement background, training and security certifications that CSC's management team has collected over the years, we are uniquely qualified to advise both private and public sector organizations on how best to secure the effective protection of mission critical people and systems. While it may be impossible to prevent all attacks against critical infrastructures, CSC understands that CIP can reduce the chances of future attacks, make it more difficult for attacks to succeed, and mitigate the outcomes in the event they do occur.
Posted by Amy Wall on Fri, Oct 30, 2009 @ 05:42 PM
One of the latest and fastest growing trends among criminals is to target solar panel installations at government and commercial sites.
Known as "photovoltaic theft," thieves are literally ripping off 20-50 solar panels at a time from atop schools, commercial buildings and wineries all over the world. The panels each cost about $1,000 and fetch a few hundred dollars a piece on the black market.
According to this recent article in the WSJ.com, "Stop That (Solar) Thief!," many places in Northern California have been hit especially hard for solar panel thefts, including dozens of wineries in the Napa Valley region and the Pleasanton school district.
As more solar panels are stolen and the problem continues to grow, businesses and government agencies being targeted for the thefts are searching for security solutions specifically designed to help protect their solar panels from thieves. Because photovoltaic theft is a very new and unique type of crime, there are not a wide number of security solutions that exist and currently available on the market today.
However, CSC's Snitch Security System is one of the few answers that exist today for stopping solar panel theft. Uniquely designed to protect anything, anywhere, anytime, The Snitch is a burglar alarm system that's fully capable of stopping solar panel thefts and providing 100% protection.
Originally designed to protect commercial buildings and construction sites from theft and vandalism, the Snitch has been adapted to fit the unique needs of businesses and government agencies desperately needing to protect their solar panel installations. The Snitch can also be configured to run off solar energy, making the solar panel installation and the security system designed to protect it completely energy and cost efficient.
For those companies and government agencies who've made the investment in solar panel installations, practicing risk management and implementing a security solution to protect that investment from photovoltaic theft is probably a good idea. The team at CSC is here to help should you have any questions about taking the necessary steps to protect you from solar panel theft.
Posted by Amy Wall on Wed, Oct 14, 2009 @ 06:09 PM
As we alluded to in our earlier post, a model security facility is one where all critical assets have been identified, the threats to them identified and prioritized, and effective security measures put in place to mitigate them. Additionally, this should be done in consultation with all outside stakeholders, including first responders, and in compliance with local, state and federal regulations. And above all, a customized security plan should be implemented with management and employee buy-in, to budget, and on time with minimum ongoing disruption to the facility's day-to-day operations.
Of course, this is the ideal situation, but in order to strive for these security objectives, these are the six steps you should follow: 1) Deterrence, 2) Detection, 3) Delay, 4) Response, 5) Recovery and 6) Re-assessment.
Deterrence - provides countermeasures such as policies, procedures and technical devices and controls to defend against attacks on the assets being protected. This can include security guards, and patrols, burglar alarms like the Snitch Security System, business security systems like CCTV systems, etc., or any combination of these services.
Detection - monitors for potential breakdowns in protective mechanisms that could result in security breaches.
Delay - provides measures that in the event of a breach, intruders will be delayed long enough to allow a security team to apprehend them before they achieve their objective.
Response - procedures and actions for responding to a breach.
Note: Because total protection is usually very hard to achieve on a specific budget, a security program that does not also incorporate detection and delay is incomplete. To be effective, the three concepts of detection, delay and response must be elements of a cycle that work together continuously.
Recovery - your plan to continue business and operations as normally as possible following an incident. Mitigation planning is part of your response and recovery elements, with the aim of minimizing the effects of any incident.
Re-assessment - crucial and ongoing process. Before implementing any changes, you need to revisit your strategic security plan to ensure that goals and objectives will be met. Whenever there are changed circumstances, or when new threats are identified, revisit your strategic plan and conduct a re-assessment to see what additional measures, if any, are needed.
Once you have gained a better understanding of the best practices needed to create a model security facility, work with your security consultant and/or vendor to develop a customized plan that meets your site's unique needs.
The team of security professionals at CSC is highly trained at developing strategic and customized security plans for our clients. We understand the importance of striving toward creating a model security facility and we believe our broad and diverse set of innovative and creative security consulting and solutions can help you achieve this goal.
We offer a comprehensive "Security By Design" approach that allows us to create a tailored security solution to satisfy our clients' security requirements whatever they might be. By taking this approach, we can effectively reduce your total cost of security and, at the same time, minimize your overall risk. And by taking this approach, we believe we can provide you with a substantially higher level of service and protection than anyone else.
Posted by Amy Wall on Wed, Oct 14, 2009 @ 05:50 PM
For many building owners, property managers and construction companies, security is one of those things they know they need to have, but few know the best practice measures they should be following in order to create a secure facility without spending a fortune.
In an ideal world, everybody could simply hire an internal security manager to make sure all of a site's security needs are being met in the most cost-effective manner. Since hiring a security manager isn't feasible in many cases, many building owners, property managers and superintendents will seek advice from security consultants and outsource these concerns to a security firm better equipped to handle the job.
Most security firms servicing the commercial real estate industry, however, will sell you on the need for expensive round-the-clock guard services that often leave a lot of room for security vulnerabilities to exist. While security guard forces can be very effective in certain situations, this is usually a one-size-fits-all approach that typically has the highest pay-out for a security vendor.
So if you're faced with this situation and need to create a secure facility on a reasonable budget, what is one to do?
Our suggestion is to work in partnership with your security vendor to create a model security facility and build a custom security plan and that works within your budget parameters. At CSC, we refer to this as our "Security By Design" approach, and we believe that by taking this approach with our clients we can set ourselves apart from other security vendors.
The first step in this process begins when you're initially meeting with security vendors. Be sure to discuss all of your security needs with them during the consultation phase. This consultation should not cost you any extra money - so if the vendor wants to charge you for this service, walk away.
Next, work with your security vendor to develop an actionable plan for creating a model security facility. In our next blog post, we'll outline a basic formula of the key components required for building a model security facility. By familiarizing yourself with this concept, you can work hand in hand with your security provider to design a customized security plan that meets your exact needs and fits within your budget.
Posted by Amy Wall on Thu, Oct 01, 2009 @ 01:29 PM
This week, CSC is exhibiting at the Northern California Facilities Expo at the Santa Clara, CA Convetion Center. We're located in Booths #300 and 302, right next to our partner Surefire Security Solutions.
Members from CSC's Site Security & Burglar Alarms divisions are at the show this week talking with facilities managers, building owners, property managers and a host of other show attendees about their security concerns.
CSC is also showcasing a demo version of the Snitch Security System at the show, which is the company's unbeatable state-of-the-art wireless alarm system supported by a 24/7 monitoring service and alarm response team that's linked directly to local law enforcement agencies. The Snitch is specifically designed to solve the unique security problems plaguing facilities and property managers, such as copper and material theft and vandalism.
If you're planning to be at the Facilities Expo this week, be sure to stop by and speak with one of CSC's security experts. They'll be happy to answer any of your questions and help you find a solution to your security concerns.
Posted by Amy Wall on Wed, Sep 23, 2009 @ 12:30 PM
If you're a property owner or property manager at a vacant commercial building, chances are you've considered many of the security options available for protecting that building from theft and vandalism. Vacant commercial buildings are prime targets for thieves to attack, and with
commercial vacancy rates nearing all time highs right now, thieves can make a healthy living by hitting one vacant building after the next.
When evaluating what type of security is best for protecting a vacant building, cost and quality of protection are key factors property owners and managers use when making a decision. The site needs a business security system that's incredibly affordable since there is no tenant in place to pay the rent. Yet, the quality of protection needs to be high because while the property sits vacant, it's completely vulnerable to attack. With this is mind, it's often cost-prohibitive to even consider hiring security guards to protect a vacant site, since guards often cost tens of thousands of dollars a month.
Instead, most property owners and managers look into installing burglar alarm systems at their vacant commercial sites. But then the question becomes whether to install a hardwired or a wireless burglar alarm system? It's been our experience over the years that for vacant commercial buildings, wireless alarm systems are hands down the absolute best route to go because they cost significantly less and can provide complete protection.
Dollar for dollar, wireless alarm systems are much less expensive than hardwired alarms. That's because hardwired alarm systems require more expensive equipment and time to install, which drives up the overall installation costs. Additionally, the range of protection from hardwired systems is limited to where the sensors can be located and physically connected to the system. On the other hand, wireless alarm systems, like the Snitch Security System, come in completely portable base units that include 115 decibel sirens, strobe lights and anti-temper sensors. High performance wireless boosters can be easily added to increase the range of the wireless alarm system, and often these systems can be installed in a few hours, which keeps the initial equipment and installation costs way down. 
Hardwired alarms are also less secure than wireless burglar alarms, because the hardwired systems depend on phone lines to communicate when a breach occurs, which thieves can easily cut to disarm the system completely. With wireless alarm systems, there are no phone lines to cut and virtually no way to break through the system. With a wireless alarm system like the Snitch, the base unit is completely tamper-resistant, so anything trying to disarm the base unit will immediately trigger the alarm, greatly increasing the building's protection.
Additionally, the installation on hardwired systems is not always done in a professional, aesthetically pleasing way. It's typical to see exposed wires, sometimes hanging down or loose from the wall or ceiling, when an install on a hardwired alarm system is complete. This usually creates an eye sore in a vacant building and turns off many prospective tenants from wanting to move into the space. With wireless alarms, there are no wires at all, and the base unit and wireless sensors can blend easily into any building.
In other situations, hardwired burglar alarm systems can offer many advantages and are sometimes the better route to take for securing a business. But in the event you are looking to secure a vacant commercial building and you want to get the best protection for the lowest possible cost, wireless burglar alarm systems are no doubt the way to go.