Prevention is better than cure

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It may never be possible to stop crime from happening, but any technology that can deter it must be welcomed. One of the most dramatic examples of crime deterrent technology is the fog security system, in other word, security fog generators. Matt Gilmartin, Managing Director of Smoke Screen, one of the originators of this technology, argues that the industry should be working together to do as much as possible to support crime prevention efforts.

Matt Gilmartin, Managing Director, Smoke Screen

They say that crime prevention is better than cure. Of course, in the real world it is sadly unrealistic to expect to find a cure for the criminality which would put companies like ours out of business. However, although we know that our fog alarm systems have a very real and direct impact on the safety and security of our customers, we also recognize that the industry that we are a part of has a responsibility to do what it can to tackle the root causes of crime.

That’s why we think of our company as being a purpose-led business. It’s why we are proactive in trying to understand the causes of crime and helping people who have committed crimes turn their lives around and reintegrate into society.

None the less, our clients are, without exception, organizations that fear intruders. When they come to us, they come to the company credited as being the first company in the fog security system field. In fact, we can trace our roots back to 1974 when the original company was helping organizations such as The Bank of England protect their gold bullion vaults. Today, we are closely aligned with the European standard for security fog alarm systems with several members of the team on the working group for the standard, including the chairperson and principal experts.

About security fogging technology

Smoke Screen products work by putting a barrier between criminal intruders and their targets. When they are triggered, our fog security system passes a non-toxic solution (composed of glycols mixed with distilled water), through a very high temperature heater. This instantly vaporizes and then, as soon as it hits cold air, it condenses to produce a thermally generated fog which is extremely dense and obscures everything. The fog leaves no residue and is odor-free. If the room is unvented, it remains for approximately 40 minutes.

The effect which confronts intruders is dramatic. The security fog generators create extremely thick clouds of fog very rapidly, accompanied by a very large hissing sound. At the same time, normal sound is suddenly muffled.

I’ve been in many rooms over the past 25 years I’ve worked here and if I am not aware that the generators are about to trigger, then I still find the effect genuinely shocking, making me jump and instantly making me want to get out of the room. This is psychologically, as well as physically, which is why it can be such an effective crime deterrent.

We have one banking client, for example, that is operating across several Latin American countries. They were constantly suffering attacks on their ATMs using dynamite. Each attack cost them approximately $5,000,000 in terms of losses, damage to premises and loss of trading. This was bad enough; but now consider that they suffered no fewer than 100 such attacks each and every month. By deploying our security fog alarm system, however, our client was able to reduce those 100 attacks per month – to zero.

How Smoke Screen integrates with Hikvision AX PRO

Some powerful crime prevention solutions such as our fog security system, require a good deal of installation experience and technical know-how. With the Latin American bank installation, for example, we used IoT technology to enable the client to monitor and maintain over 1,500 security fog generators spread over a number of different countries.

But installation is usually far simpler, especially for companies who already have Hikvision’s AX PRO wireless alarm system.

AX PRO is, after all, a system which includes, as part of its supporting devices, wireless relays which can be used to control other devices. This is the very simple and straightforward nature of the integration between Smoke Screen and the AX PRO system. In fact, it couldn’t be simpler to add one of our fog generators to an existing AX PRO intruder alarm installation: after the Hikvision wireless relays are installed inside the machine and wired directly into the inputs, installers simply scan a QR code and the integration with AX PRO happens automatically.

Hikvision supported us every step of the way during the technical integration with AX PRO. Our concern had been that a fog generator operates, out of necessity, within a metal box. Technically, that makes it a Faraday cage, which is something that was originally invented specifically to block electromagnetic fields and which can pose significant problems for wireless systems such as AX PRO. The key thing we needed to test, therefore, was that Hikvision wireless relays could be installed within our metal fog generator box and still work.

It turns out that they not only work, but they work extremely well. It is worth noting that Hikvision was extremely helpful during this process, especially in providing the information that we needed to test various particularly challenging scenarios thoroughly.

Conclusion: the right kind of profit

A fog security system can provide very real security benefits to organizations as well as people who are threatened by crime. We see this, firsthand, every day.

But as human beings we also think that no person is born pre-destined to become a criminal. Often, we are working in some of the most deprived parts on the planet because that’s where the most security challenges are. These are areas where there is often an extreme divide between the many people with hardly any money at all and the few who have a great deal of it.

These experiences make us think: how much responsibility should we as an industry take for not just selling solutions, but for proactively trying to address the social and environmental conditions that lead to crime?

It’s not that we’re a security company that wants to put themselves out of business. Like any other commercial organization, we must make a profit. But we want to make what I like to call ‘the right kind of profit’. That’s why we redirect some of the profits from the sales of fog fluid into funding rehabilitation programs. It’s also why we’re currently trying to get retailers in the UK mobilized in partnership with police and industry to create a standard of best practice to support the victims of crime when the worst happens.

We know we will never be able to stop, or cure, crime. But we will do all we can to help mitigate its effects and, wherever possible, prevent it from happening in the first place.