Security Management: Technology's Impact on Workplace Crime

This essay examines the extent to which security managers rely on technology to manage crime in the workplace. It begins by defining the roles of a security manager and providing an overview of technology, before delving into the specific roles and uses of technology, such as CCTV and biometrics, in security management. The essay discusses various types of workplace crimes, including embezzlement, sabotage, misuse of assets, and harassment, and evaluates the effectiveness of technologies in preventing these crimes. It also explores the motives behind crime, drawing on criminological theories like rational choice theory, routine activity theory, and social disorganization theory. Case studies are presented to analyze the effectiveness of CCTV, along with a discussion of its costs and the dependency of security managers on CCTV. The essay concludes by highlighting the importance of technology in security management while also acknowledging its limitations and the need for a balanced approach.

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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Role of Security Manager:...............................................................................................................3
Technology: An Overview..............................................................................................................3
Roles and uses of technology in Security Management..................................................................4
Types of Crime in the workplace.....................................................................................................4
Effectiveness of Technologies:........................................................................................................6
Motives behind Crime.....................................................................................................................6
CCTV: Case Studies and analysis...................................................................................................7
CCTV: Cost Generator....................................................................................................................8
Dependency of Security Manager on CCTV in Security Management at workplace:....................9
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................13

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Introduction
Now these days, crimes are increasing rapidly. Simultaneously technologies are also developing
by fast speed. In this scenario, people are adhering to use technology in crime management.
There so many technologies are available with the help of which one can manager his/her
organization in a proper manner. Security Management is also a significant factor of organization
Management. Techniques such as “closed-circuit television” (herein after mentioned as
“CCTV”) have developed in order to prevent crime but the same has some limitations, which are
further mentioned in this discussion (Whatls.com, 2018).
As the general manager is the responsible person an organization’s overall management,
similarly for the area of security and protection, security manager is the responsible one. These
technologies in the security management area are uses for various purposes such as criminal
identification and prevention of crime. It is not necessary that by using the techniques like CCTV
camera protect someone’s organizations properly. Challenges are always there, but these
advance techniques decrease human efforts up to a limit (Ismail, 2017). Not only the private
sectors but government is also dependent on these security techniques. Now these days in very
government offices, one may find CCTV camera for security purpose and technical devices such
as bio metric for other managerial purposes. Further here this is also need to take into care that
these technologies have their cost and a security manager must consider this factor also. There is
no doubt in saying that CCTV controls the crime level by spreading fear among criminal yet this
depends on criminals anyway. There are many types of criminals, who work according to their
criminal theory (Criminal Justice, 2018). CCTV has and uniform structure and working styles,

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this is the reason that sometimes it prevents crime and sometimes become failing to do so. CCTV
although is good feature in security control area yet it has some limitations. ,
Role of Security Manager:
In an organization, security manager plays very crucial role as he is the liable person for all the
security hacks. In case of any crime, he is the answerable person. A security manager needs to
develop and implement security plans and policies (Schweitzer, 2014). In addition to this he/she
evaluate the requirements of security and protection and recruit and supervise the security
officers and other related persons. Security Manager is the superior person in the area of security
management in an organization. Being designated on this designation, he carries heavy
responsibilities in respect to organization as well as employees. Such manager also plan and
allocate budgets for the security Management (Gill, Howell, 2014). In the term of working
definition a security manager can be software or a person who takes on Security Management
activities.
Technology: An Overview
In a literal mean technology is a structure of information and knowledge which is useful in
creation of tools, processing tasks and extracting of materials. In a general meaning, one can
understand the term technology as a helping tool. Technology brings ease in an action and
processing (Kelly, 2010). Technology is a smart way of doing a task. There are so many sectors
of a human life where the same uses technology at a sound level. These sectors are
transportation, scaling business, security management and others. Technology is a dynamic
element. It never can be static. On a daily basis it improves and keeps improving. Technology

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can be o so many kinds such as communication technology, construction technology, assistive
technology, medical technology, information technology, security management technology and
so on (Aunger, 2010).
Roles and uses of technology in Security Management
As earlier discussed, technologies can be of various types. What will be the role and use of a
technology completely depends on it is nature. In a general view it may state that technologies
are here to help human beings. It makes procedures easy and reduces human efforts. At many of
events it saves the time during a process. In the sector of security management there some basic
technology are available (Schneier, 2018). Here, this discussion is focused on the fact that in
what circumstances such technologies can be used.
In the area of security management, most frequently used devices are biometrics and CCTV
(ifsecglobal, 2018). Biometric is a useful devices in that situation where in person verification is
required. It can be used for marking the attendance of employees and to verify that who were
presented at the time of crime. Whereas on the other side CCTV is useful in those circumstances,
where culprit of a crime need to be identify. CCTV also helps to reduce crime in an organization
as it record significant activities (Kore Solutions, 2018).
Types of Crime in the workplace
Crimes happen at workplace are known as “Business Crimes”. There are certain types of
business crimes. Security management tools alike CCTV and biometrics are adhere to control
these crimes (Ravelli, 2018). Before discussing effectiveness and other issues related to these
technologies, it is hereby important to discuss that what kind of threats an organization faces on

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regular basis while working and why security management tools are required. Some of the
important and frequent types of business crimes are mentioned hereunder:
1. Embezzlement: - It is one of the common kinds of business crime. Being a part of
organization, employees have access to some confidential information and assets. When an
employee takes inferior advantage of aforesaid access for his/her personal gain. It is termed
as “embezzlement”. This can have very much adverse impact on organization (Binde, 2016).
2. Sabotage: - Sabotage is a circumstance where employees do some negatives acts just to give
pain and harm to employer. These acts include wiping of database, physical harm to
employer and other such type of activity (Giglio, 2013).
3. Misuse of assets: - This is also an important threat to organization which cannot be ignored.
It has noted that many of the times, employees misuse the organization’s assets. They do not
behave alike a responsible person in respect to assets allocated to them in order to
performance of the duty (Library Index, 2018). This issue becomes even more serious when
employees do the same deliberately. This is considered as crime in such circumstances.
4. Harassment: - Harassment can be physical or mental. Irrelevant to the type of the same,
harassment is a crime. Almost every organization has human resources, so in this context,
probabilities of doing harassment by an employee to other are always exist. These
probabilities enhance when organization has woman employees (McLaughlin, Uggen, and
Blackstone, 2012).
This is also to be mention here that it is not necessary that always an insider person do crime
at workplace, but the same can be an outsider also. Theft is the lead example of crime where
outsider gets involved (Town of Salem New Hampshire, 2018).

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Effectiveness of Technologies:
Effectiveness of these technologies can be different from case to case. Such as, in some cases
CCTV has proved a very effective tool in order to ensure security and has also prevented crimes.
Whereas in some of the cases, the same could not help at all due to it is limitations of coverage
and other issues (Ashby, 2017). Effectiveness of CCTV also depends on the nature of industry of
an organization.
Further, biometrics has two major functions. One is identification and another is verification. In
an organization, if it comes to security management, biometrics plays important role (Vielhauer,
2017). It identifies the person at a time who is in the premises and who is not. It allows access
and also marks presence and absence at a particular time. Similarly as CCTV, biometrics also
has some failures. In some of the circumstances it has noted that people do fraud in order to
commit crime, if employees of an organization are not aware a responsible, this technology can
be manipulated by marking false entries (Aitel, 2013).
Motives behind Crime
This is important to study that what the forces who promote Crimes at workplace are. Why
people commit crimes? In order to answer this it may state that in the subject of criminology
there are theories are available. These theories define the motive and purpose behind
commitment of crime. Criminological theories are basically the reason of commitment of a crime
(Elias, 2013). These can be of various types according to the area of study. As this discussion is
focused on the security issues at workplace, some important related theories and their application
in this area are given as under:

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1. Rational choice theory: - This is a situation where a criminal calculate the risk involved
and expected benefit from a criminal activity and also compare to both of them. In this
theory, when a person think that expected benefit is more than the risk, he/she is going to
take by committing a crime, the same process such crime. At workplace, when an
employee or other person thinks that he/she can commit some crime and they will not get
punish in a strict way, they do the same.
2. Routine activity theory: - In the application of this theory, there is a lack of social forces
to commit a crime such as poverty, unemployment and so on. In this theory, people
commit crime because they get used to of the same. They do not have a proper cause for
doing a criminal activity but they still commit crime because it becomes their habit. At
workplace when a person does not get any strict response in relation to commitment of a
crime, he/she repeat the same and soon it becomes their habit.
3. Social disorganization theory: - This is one of the important theories in relation to crime
commitment at workplace. This theory leads most of the crimes that happen in an
organization. According to this theory a person commits crimes when he/she get some
motivation to do so from his/her society and surrounding (Ministry of Children and youth
Services, 2018). Social and physical environment are the factors which define and guide
a person’s character When a person lives in a society where crimes are general, he/she
also learn the same and practice the crimes in his/her workplace (Briggs, 2018)..
CCTV: Case Studies and analysis
How much a CCTV can be effective? It depends on the circumstances. Here are some case
studies, by reviewing those results, this point may become clear.

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Case Study 1.
In this case, 51 new cameras has installed in addition to existing 16 cameras in south city. Due to
new cameras there was an extension of target area and they started to provide 72% coverage of
the total target area. The new cameras has installed with the objectives to provide assistance to
police, prevention of crime and to spread fear among public in relation to crime commitment.
Later on it the study, it has noted that crime has reduced by 10% in target area and 12% as
whole. But further, it also comes into light that such reduction was not the result of CCTV but
the result of general trends. In this case CCTV has not proved a better technique to prevent the
crime in a particular area (Home office, 2018).
Case study 2.
According to a survey done by Daily Telegraph, it has studies that in a year around 86 cases out
of 90 were dependent on CCTV for their investigation purpose and senior officers said that
CCTV helped to identify culprit in 65 cases.
Further in another case, Mr. Richard Whelan stabbed to death in 2005, while he was attempting
to defend his girlfriend. The whole incident has recorded in a camera (The Telegraph, 2018).
By reviewing the aforesaid cases, it may state that giving any positive or negative comment
about effectiveness of CCTV camera would be unfair. As in some circumstances it proved it is
great significant whereas in some other the same has not been successful in prevention of crime.
CCTV: Cost Generator

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Budget is also a factor for security management. Whenever a security manager make plans and
policies for his sector i.e. security management, he/she need to keep the expenditure in
consideration. As it is general that every new security management tool and application
generates cost to organization, similarly CCTV also brings additional cost in an entity. This cost
extended more in comparison when CCTV is dynamic rather than static. Here this is to
understand that whether this addition cost actually provides extra security and benefit to an
organization or not (Lawson, Rogerson and Barnacle, 2018). It may also state that a comparative
analysis in between costs accrued to an organization due to CCTV and profits gained by the
organization due to installation of the same is a necessary exercise which is required to be done.
Only installation of CCTV is not important, until unless the same is properly managed and
operated (Cordery, 2015). Crime is a very quick activity. In most of the cases, it has observed
that although CCTV was there but the same could not capture anything due to be in non-
operating situation. In this context it may mention that CCTV has it is own requirements which
generates high cost to an organization. In small size organization, it becomes more typical to
afford CCTV. High cost of this advancement demotivates people to use CCTV (Stutzer and
Zehnder, 2012). In addition to this as studied in aforesaid case, it has also come into knowledge
that CCTV has not proved very effective in crime control. So, it is advisable for a security
manager to check the viability of CCTV installation as a security management tool.
Dependency of Security Manager on CCTV in Security Management at
workplace:
Use of CCTV is increasing day by day in order to maintain and ensure security management at
workplace. It has noted in many of the cases that security manager is reliant on CCTV for the

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purpose of managing security at workplace up to a great extent. CCTV can be used for many of
the purpose in an organization such as keep employees secure by preventing theft or other
similar activities, to ensure that the procedures are following by the employees of organization,
to prevent unfair activities such as harassment, theft and misconduct at workplace (ICAEW,
2018). Whenever a security manager develops policies in respect of security management, the
same identify some security management tools, CCTV is one of them. It is not a natural guide,
yet the same has it is own functions and positive aspects. In the present era where structures of
organization are going wide and extend, it is not possible to maintain security via guard or other
human resources. These are natural guide and have their own importance, but the same cannot
use as security tools in a big size organizations (Government Europa, 2018). In these kind of
entity, manager use CCTV as a guide. But as earlier discussed that the same some limitations and
in most of the cases it has noted that CCTV has not fulfilled the requirements and expectations of
security manager (Doctorow, 2018)
As CCTV is technological machinery, the same cannot do mistakes, results of CCTV are correct
and appropriate in general. Further, as this is an advance technique, one can also review the past
activities with the help of CCTV. This is the reason cause of which security manager rely upon
CCTV. Many of the times, security managers does not employee any human resources to check
out the activities, instead they put a CCTV in their organization. This reflects that up to what
extent, security managers rely upon CCTV. Workplace is an area where liability of manager is
limited somewhere. It is limited up to particular premises. Most of the organizations are close
one and only employees have access to a particular zone, so one or two CCTV are sufficient. In
general, securities of employees are the most important context, when it comes to security
management at workplace (McEnery, 2015). How much a security manager is dependent on the

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CCTV for security purpose is depend on the certain factors such as size of organization,
organizational culture, behavior of employees, entry frequency of outsiders and personal opinion
and believe of manager. Further, budget is also a factor which influences the level of trust of
manager over CCTV. In that organization where budget is an issue, manager has to reply upon
CCTV only as he /she cannot hire natural guide over there in addition to CCTV (Granneman,
2018).
Conclusion
In an organization, many of the criminal activities are happening these days. These activities can
be done by internal persons of an organization such as employee and assistants or can be an
outsider such as supplier, investor or other related person. People commit crime due to their
criminological theory. Every criminal has his/her own reasons and perceptions but in case of
crime an organization has -to suffer from loss. Such crimes also defame the reputation of an
organization.
Security manager of an entity is the person who is responsible to maintain proper and secure
atmosphere at workplace. CCTV is the one of the kind of security management tool. It is an
artificial guide, which means it can only record the things and answer the query accordingly.
CCTV is an effective tool in order to ensure security at workplace but it has some limitations. It
has observed in some cases that CCTV has not proved effective as expected. Security manager is
the most concerned person in field of security management and the same believe at CCTV for
this purpose. After the required study of CCTV, it is features, positives and negative impacts, it
may state here that CCTV is a good security management tool but it is effectiveness is influenced

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by some of the factors. It cannot prove more effective in the circumstances where natural guide
is also available. CCTV has some limitations due to his machinery nature, so presence of nature
guide can remove such limitations and can bring out more effective results. In the conclusion it
may state that although CTV is an effective measure to control crimes and the same also does
help in identification of criminal, yet the same has it is limitations also it is advisable for security
manager to not to reply blindly on CCTV.

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