Parking lot security can be a difficult problem for office-retail-apartment property owners to handle. A large percentage of problems & liabilities usually occur in the parking lots; yet, illegal activities there are hard to monitor & control. Property damage or assaults, particularly sexual assaults involving females as the victims, will have a very serious affect on tenant relations.
The purpose of this article is to provide property managers with substantial background information for understanding and dealing with parking facility risks. The assistance of a qualified security professional is also advised to help insure no serious holes exist or practical options are missed in a particular situation.
The following sections describe specific design concepts for parking facilities in the areas of lighting, natural surveillance, stair towers and elevators, access control, signs & graphics, and security personnel.
Lighting is considered the most important security feature in a parking facility. Good lighting deters crime and produces a more secure atmosphere. It is one of the few facility features that has been documented to reduce crime in parking facilities.
The top three and most critical mistakes in lighting design are (1) inadequate vertical illuminance, and (2) poor lighting uniformity, and (3) poor understanding of IESNA industry standards.
Natural surveillance is the ability to observe one's surroundings. It is the next most critical security design issue after lighting. Natural surveillance is easier to achieve in surface parking lots; however, relatively minor design changes can significantly improve natural surveillance in other types of parking lots and garages as well.
Openness enhances natural surveillance. Long-span construction and high ceilings create openness and aid in lighting the facility. Building codes currently require a minimum amount of openness on the exterior facade of parking facilities to provide natural ventilation. The openness of the facade should be maximized for crime prevention. For example, a code may only require openness on two sides; however, openness on four sides is preferable. Obviously, an underground structure cannot be open.
Pedestrian walkways should be planned to concentrate egress. Bringing all pedestrians through one portal rather than allowing them to disperse through numerous exits improves the ability to see and be seen by others. Likewise, concentrating vehicular entrance and egress to a minimum number of locations is beneficial. Attendant booths, parking offices, and security stations should be located where attendants can directly monitor activity.
For openness, shrubbery should be planted away from the facility and kept trimmed to eliminate criminal concealment. The facility must be kept well maintained. Trash and graffiti leaves an impression the facility is not secure.
Stairs, lobbies, and elevator cabs have been high risk areas for personal attack incidents. The main reasons is that small enclosed spaces tend to provide opportunity for persons with criminal intent. One of the basic rules of crime prevention is to design stair towers and elevator lobbies to be as open as building codes permit. Potential hiding places below stairs should be closed off.
Other design elements include glass backs for elevator cabs and well-lighted elevator lobbies that are visible both to patrons of the parking areas and to the public out on the street. When enclosure is required, as in underground parking garages, an automatic fire door, or for a larger opening, a rolling fire shutter with an access door, can be installed so that the area is wide open during normal use. Either the door or shutter would be closed by smoke detector when needed.
High risk facilities often require access control. Access control and perimeter security are best considered in the initial design stage. Even if a potential parking facility site is in a low-risk area, the risk level may change in the future.
Ground level pedestrian exits that open into nonsecure areas should be emergency exits only and fitted with panic bar hardware. Local alarms that activate if a ground level door is opened can be useful when an exit is intended for emergency use only.
Controlling vehicular access to a parking facility, even a public one, is extremely beneficial to security. Merely requiring the driver to take a ticket on entry (often observed by a security camera) and interact with a booth attendant at exit will make a facility less attractive to criminals than one that is wide open and unattended.
Careful placement of signs and graphics helps orient patrons and allows them to move quickly in and out of the parking facility, making them less vulnerable to attack. Color coding and/or unique memory aids also help patrons quickly relocate their parked vehicle when they return to the facility. Signs and graphics can also assure patrons that their safety is being monitored. Likewise, potential perpetrators may be deterred by a notice that they are under surveillance.
Such active tools as panic buttons, intercoms, sound surveillance, and CCTV can be practical enhancements to crime prevention in a high-risk facility.
Restrooms are another high risk area. Generally restrooms are not recommended in unsupervised parking lots. If necessary, they should be inside and under direct observation of security personnel who control the access after hours.
The visible presence of uniformed officers is one of the best crime prevention methods and should be considered in high-risk facilities. Unscheduled patrols who vary their routes throughout the shift appear to be most effective. In very high-risk situations, check-in stations at key locations should monitor and record the frequency of patrols.
The selection of appropriate security features depends on the vulnerability to crime of various locations within the facility. The neighborhood in which a facility is located will usually have the greatest effect on this factor, i.e., the higher the general level of crime in a neighborhood, the greater the vulnerability of a particular facility.
Before security features are selected, a security assessment should be conducted. The survey involves developing an incident history and profile for a neighborhood by contacting the local police and the managers of nearby facilities. The assessment includes: risks, threat, vulnerability, exposure, probability of harm, security concept, program, and design. Using this information, facilities are classified as low risk, moderate risk, high risk. A professional security assessment will properly identify risks and indicate the most risk-effective and cost-effective security features for a particular situation.
SecurityNet has extensive experience in assessing parking lot and garage security for office-retail-industrial-apartment complexes. We would be happy to answer general questions by building owners and property managers at no charge and to discuss options for obtaining expert solutions to specific security challenges.
Please feel free to call us at (415)392-1810 or email carlisle1@securitynet.com.