Mall Security

Mar 1, 1997 12:00 PM, >By Staff

Management at the upscale Town Center Mall in Boca Raton, Fla., faced a security challenge: how to install a cost-effective, fail-safe alarm system in the 1.3-million-square-foot mall without tearing the whole place apart.

The mall hired Alert Security, a residential and commercial alarm company located near Orlando, to upgrade the original system - primarily glass break sensors at the 22 entry points to the mall. Recent smash and grab crimes - perpetrators would quickly break in and steal as much as they could before security arrived - convinced mall management more sophisticated security measures were needed.

Phil Lutes, president of Alert Security, realized installation of a wired system to secure the metal entry doors would be expensive. The solution: 900mHz Frequency Agile wireless from Inovonics Corp., Boulder, Colo. The system sends redundant messages across a 10mHz band.

Bob Moore, Alert Security's vice president of marketing, said the company installed Inovonics' wireless components: FA464DR 16 output/64 channel slave receivers, along with the FA525, an intelligent repeater that extends the range of coverage. The system incorporates a siren, strobe light and a voice-dispatched alarm that goes to the mall's security force as well as the Charlie unit, a sheriff's patrol that monitors the mall. Installation was completed in November.

Mall General Manager Ron Hatfield says the system has not been tested by an actual crime yet, but criminals will think twice before they break in here.

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© 2008 Penton Media Inc.

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