Building Security? There Is No Such Thing

I had an exciting night last night. I was sitting in my office writing an article when I heard police cars in the distance. Then they got closer and louder. Then even louder until they were right next to my apartment. I then heard somebody running up to the building and entering, then running up the stairs. Suddenly police were in the lot wondering where the suspect ran. I put 2 and 2 together and realized the dude they were after ran into my apartment building. I notified the officers of where the suspect was and they were able to apprehend him.

After this incident, I started thinking about the security in my building. Apparently this guy knew the code to the main door. He didn’t live in my building, but he knew it somehow. The code had been the same for over a year. I suppose many people know it by now since residents often provide the code to their friends. Not only that, if a person doesn’t know the code to get in, they just wait until another resident opens the door and they follow behind. The same thing happens with any ’secure’ building you go into. Unless there is a security guard there to stop a person, your building is not truly secure. People can pretty much get into your building if they really wanted to.

Having to punch in codes and use security cards just makes us feel more secure. Any of these security methods can be thwarted mainly because nobody takes security seriously. We are all too trusting and nice as a society. We don’t dare question anybody or cause confrontation. There is no reason to since most people have no ill intentions. But it only takes 1 time out of a million to result in somebody being endangered because a perpetrator wasn’t stopped when they should’ve been.

So from now on I’m making it my goal to confront people when they try to walk in behind me at any door. If I don’t know them, I’m turning them away. There’s nothing rude or wrong about making somebody show why they should be allowed access into a secure building. In fact, it’s rude to try to scoot by behind somebody. I challenge you to do the same.