The constitution of the USA allows its citizens to peacefully protest the action of anyone or any organization they feel necessary. Normally, the protests are peaceful, but when tension escalates out of hand, things can go wrong easily. Commercial buildings can get in the middle of everything and what usually follows is damaged property and looting. No business owner wants that.

In this article, you will learn a few tips on how to protect commercial buildings during protests.                                

Stay Informed

It is essential to keep yourself informed of the things that are going on in your area. For starters, you can start reading news for any events that could attract a protest. In order to accumulate more participants, most protesters advertise those events.

Keep track of the events that are happening in your community. You can view the website of your city and contact local officials for information on upcoming events. You should also stay alert of emergency protocols in your area.

Change Business Hours

Your top priority should be keeping your employee as well as yourself safe during a protest. So, when something like that takes place near your business, close early or keep your commercial buildings close in total. This will make sure everyone including you is safe. Plus, this approach will keep your property safe. This will help everyone avoid police action as well.

Talk to Local Authorities

Contact the local authorities or the police department to find out what they think of the upcoming protest. Try finding out whether they expect it to cause any violence or property damage. Ask what they recommend to do to keep your commercial buildings and property safe.

Call The Police

If intruders won’t leave your property, you should immediately get police assistance. You shouldn’t deal with someone who is causing any disturbance; it should be a police officer. It is better to not take the matter into your own hands. It is also not advisable to use firearms to protect your business.

Hire Security Guards

Security guards may not be able to avert all damages to commercial buildings, but the presence of an armed security guard will certainly send the message that your business doesn’t take theft or vandalism lightly and make protestors think twice before they enter your property illegally. If any security issue arises, you will have the presence of a trained professional to deal with the problem. You can hire more than one guard if necessary. Contact Plaza Protection to hire any number of security guards to protect commercial buildings during protests.

Add Property Protection Measures

Consider adding other safety measures in addition to security services. You can install cameras at the front and inside of the commercial buildings. Take the valuables away and keep your money protected in a fireproof safe. Other measures that can help prevent property damage and deter criminals are secure locks, alarm systems, and boarding up windows.

How to Protect Your Business From Looters

Looters are uncontrollable. They don’t hold back anything. They can break windows, burn dumpsters, steal store merchandise, or even set the building on fire.

While you can’t control the behavior of a ruthless looter, you can do things to reduce your losses. 

If the protest is race-related and you are a minority-owned business, then protesters might not target your business. You can display a sign on the front of your building to let the people know this information.

Remove most valuable merchandise or money from your store. Take them to a safe location. In the window of your store, post signs that all the valuables are removed from the store. You can also leave the cash drawers open to imply that there is nothing to steal here.

Have a sprinkler system in your building and make sure it works should anyone set a fire. Install cameras and post signs that looters will be held accountable and prosecuted to the fullest degree of the law.  

It is very important to make sure that you never put yourself or the employees at risk. You and your employees should never make an attempt to stop a looter.

Protests happen every now and then and there are almost always people in a protest who don’t play by rules and those who are there to take advantage of the protest and do looting. To keep your business protected you need to know how to protect commercial buildings during protests and safeguard your people, valuables, and investments. Protecting the commercial buildings during protests is important, after all, you don’t want your business to be damaged or looted.