Can we start by asking you about yourself?
I'm the Site Supervisor. I work for Grubb & Ellis, which is the property manager for this building. My responsibility is to be the liaison between the tenants and the property manager.
Who are your tenants?
Convergys is our anchor tenant. They are the world's largest provider of billing software and customer management services. They're a spin-off of Cincinnati Bell. And because they are the largest tenant, the building is named after them. It's called Convergys Center. Fifth Third Bank is our second largest tenant. Then we have about fifteen other companies — smaller companies — who are tenants in this building.
How big is your department?
We have eight guards. We have two guards on site at all times, one in the lobby and one always doing patrols.
Are your officers in-house?
Two are in-house. The others are contracted from NSG. They are a local Cincinnati company that provides commercial building services. We had some problems with turnover with our previous contractor. We hired NSG for a better quality of officers.
What sort of tours do you do?
Are your officers walking up and down the stairwells, that sort of thing?
Actually, we start at the top and walk down…
...That seems a lot smarter!
We have 62 checkpoints. There are two different tours, with points inside, outside, and in the garage.
How did you get started with The PIPE?
We used to have a Morse outfit that was constantly breaking down. It was always coming back from repair with something wrong with it. I'm an ASIS member, and I read about The PIPE in Security Management. We contacted some of our security contacts at other buildings. Everyone seemed pleased with it, so we went with The PIPE.
Tell us about how you set up the system.
Our maintenance people put in the buttons. We put them in stairwells, mechanical rooms, outside, in the garage. We have our downloader in the maintenance shop.
What about reports? How do you use them?
I print reports at least once a month. I look for any irregularities, and make sure they're doing the tours properly.
What do you do if you find out they're not?
I've never had that problem.
Do you provide the reports to management?
Well, that's my call. If it's something worthwhile to bring attention to, it would probably be a maintenance problem. I take my reports to the maintenance department, to let them know that this needs to be fixed, or there's water on the floor, or whatever the problem is.
So you must be using incident buttons? What other kinds of incidents do you have?
Doors being opened, any alarms — especially alarms. That's all reported every day. I come in and I have a report of what the guard encountered when they did their tour.
Do you have any other concerns? Is liability an issue?
Yes. Corporate liability is an issue. If we didn't do the tours and something happened, then we'd be liable. If we do the tours, it's one of the building selling points. We mention that to prospective tenants.
What sort of special security issues do you face?
For our two largest customers — Fifth Third Bank and Convergys — those are secure floors anyway. No one can get into those sites unless they have an ID card. So, if anyone was to piggyback in, that would give us a problem. Then we've got an intruder. But we don't have that too much, because we've pretty well established on this corner here, that we're a no-nonsense group of people. We really don't have any major problems. Our officers don't patrol the secure floors but they do get called in there.
Is that just the pizza guy getting lost or something more serious?
You never know. Generally people are just lost, and we tell them hey, you've got no business in here. We have problems with solicitations sometimes. Then there's always — sign of the times — you're always aware of people. This is a public building and it's open 24 hours a day.
How has The PIPE been accepted by your officers? Is there any resentment?
No. We're pleased with it. It's handy, doesn't break down. Our PIPE is still in good shape — we've had no problem whatsoever. It's a very good working instrument and it's durable. That's the most important point.
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