SSI Spotlights 2020 Security Solutions Awards Winners

While Securitech Group can’t disclose the project due to its confidential nature, the manufacturer was sought out for its custom high-security locking solutions. Like most businesses, the client in Minneapolis envisioned a welcoming, attractive, fairly modern facility to sell their high-value, luxury product. The client’s vision included discreet door hardware that protected the perimeters and prevented forced entry at all costs.

The locking hardware needed to interface with the access control system, provide signaling (including door and bolt position information) and meet single motion egress code requirements. The client was determined on having a visually “open and inviting” floor plan. The locking hardware could not counter this image and project insecurity. After meeting and coordinating with Securitech’s product design team, the ABM — which offers both surface-mounted and concealed options — was selected.

There were multiple doors to be secured, some of which were open to the public and others which would be considered “back-of-house.” Just a few short weeks later, the concealed option was installed on their doors where visitors would frequent, and the surface-mounted installed on retrofit openings in inventory and backrooms. Multipoint locking was selected as the locking principle to be employed, as securing the door to the frame at several points, like a bank vault door, has been proven to be the most effective method of protection against forced entry attempts.

In today’s holistic security environment, all elements must contribute to protecting the facility. Access control is used for people flow, with the ability to transmit and store user data. Dashboards and reports can show how many people are in the facility (an important factor in the COVID-19 era), how frequently access is gained by an individual (employee control), which rooms the employee is accessing and occupancy patterns to determine staffing requirements.

Security camera systems are vital for observation in real time and investigative reporting after an incident. Cameras are now being used as part of health access control systems as well. Physical security elements, barriers such as gates, doors and locks, are important elements in standard access control, but also critical elements in providing the last defense against forced unauthorized entry. Selecting the right doors, frames and locking hardware will come in to play when repelling brazen forced entry attacks.

While cameras can notify authorities of an event in real time, facilities must provide enhanced resistance as recent events, like the coordinated looting in downtown Chicago, have shown that today’s criminals can create scenarios where a police response cannot be assured. All that stands between the burglar and entering the facility is the strength of the door, frame and locking hardware.

This is why multipoint locking and automatic locking products like the ABM are used in commercial, industrial, retail and government applications. A year later in 2020, events in Minneapolis would spark the largest civil unrest movement since 1992 — as we’ve all followed closely in the news, looters and rioters quickly took advantage of the city’s already fragile pandemic state resulting in retailers suffering horrific damage and loss.

While the client’s perimeters had been vandalized, and several attempts appear to have been made to break-in, the lock and door remained secure. The door frame had been abused with several crowbar and hammer wounds and the cylinder bent. But the door did not separate from the frame. Multipoint locking prevented these attacks as the locking deadbolts fused the door to the frame. Forced entry was repelled.

Attacking the exterior lever trim was also unsuccessful. The anti-vandal slipclutch and frangible lever performed as designed. The lever was forced downward without opening the door (or being damaged). Next, they attempted to use the lever to pull the door out of the frame. As designed, the lever bent outward, preventing use as a grip or fulcrum to grab onto the door. Shortly after discovering that their business was one of few who survived the chaos, the client eagerly contacted Securitech with the good news. After having replaced their hardware, the ABM was specified for all their locations.