GDI distributes outdoor perimeter security proficiency to Florida utility industry personnel.
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"Police identify father, son killed in copper theft"- Daily Mail
"Copper prices are high thieves are dying"-The Chief Engineer
"Copper wire theft at substation forces power outages"- Nevada Appeal
We have seen a rise in copper theft world wide since 2005 due to the increase of copper prices. Now it has become a serious problem throughout the United States.
GDI, an outdoor perimeter security solution provider, was invited by the Florida Municipal Electric Association to give a speech on utility security at the Energy Connections Conference on Nov 13, 2008.
Mike Provencher, a GDI perimeter protection specialist, presented ideas on how to deal with copper theft and utility facility security. Electricity, water and heat are a critical part of our nation's infrastructure. Mr. Provencher stated that, it is essential that we protect our infrastructure from vandals, thieves, protestors and most importantly terrorists who wish to inflict heavy causalities amongst the general population, disrupt the ability for the US to defend itself from attack and/or cripple the economy.
Mr. Provencher introduced several ways to prevent these aforesaid incidents from happening, such as, signs and warnings, communication and coordination, fencing, lighting and intrusion detection, reward programs and wire devaluation. Post warning signs (High voltage, CCTV in operation, Electrified fence Security system in operation) are important so that unauthorized personnel give up and/or delay illegal activities at the facility. Communication with other facilities would benchmark what system and equipment they would need and work with local law enforcement agencies. Chain link fences, which are the most common way around perimeters, are not enough to protect utility facilities and are easy to penetrate. Therefore it is vital that we install better fences, for example, cut proof material wires or interior non lethal electrified fences. Utility companies also started reward programs for information leading to arrests. Another method to decrease copper theft is Wire devaluation, where each piece of copper is marked by county, state, or company logo.
There are perimeter intrusion detection systems. Security starts from the facility perimeter. If a facility looks easy to defeat, perpetrators will not hesitate to target and penetrate the facility. Barrier sensors, fence mounted sensors, free standing sensors, video motion sensors and buried sensors are designed to protect the outer perimeter of facilities. Providing a deterrence factor is the most important attribute in the capability of a system. The perpetrators, after examining the requirements to defeat the perimeter in order to intrude, have concluded it is too difficult and have decided to move to another location in order to effect their criminal intent.
After Mr. Provencher speech he spoke with many utility personnel. He was able to then hear first hand how many facilities experienced incidents. Mr. Provencher believes if we study, learn and implement security counter measures, facility security will be able to improve in order to stop incidents.
