Following up on STE’s cover section coverage of retail security , here is some more news for employers in this sector: The federal government has updated the law regarding how certain employers can use criminal background checks in hiring practices. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has updated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which focuses on employment...

PSA-TEC wrapped up its 2012 conference and educational sessions in Denver with some 800 registered guests and more exhibitors than ever before in the history of its event. With some 50-plus educational sessions, including certification classes, there was no shortage of cutting-edge topics that kept rooms packed with attendees. From sessions with top-level executives on mergers and acquisitions...

How do you grow your security systems integration business? That was the topic yesterday of a panel discussion at PSA-TEC 2012 in Westminster, Colo. The panel discussion brought together some of those honored in SD&I magazine’s 2012 guide to the fastest growing systems integrators – the SD&I Fast50. Chaired by SD&I magazine editor Deborah O’Mara, the panel included Kurt Will of Will...

If you use criminal background checks in your hiring decisions, you’re in the majority – 92 percent of employers subject job candidates to criminal backgrounds investigations. And usually for good reasons; to combat theft and fraud, address concerns about workplace violence, and meet state and local laws, like licensing requirements or those requiring background checks for particular...

There are certain profound events that take place during the course of life that you will always remember where you were and what you were doing at that specific moment. I’m sure most everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing on September 11, 2001. That happened to be the first semester of my freshman year in college. I had built a break into my schedule that fall so that I...

Recently there was a civil lawsuit in New Jersey settled in favor of the plaintiff while the case was in trial. The case was about an unannounced mock robbery training exercise conducted in a hospital pharmacy setting on Christmas Eve 2007 by senior hospital staff members. The hospital claimed the action taken was a "safety drill." The pharmacy staff had no idea of what was about to happen to them...

Phones enabled with wireless Near Field Communications (NFC) technology are already gaining speed in the marketplace as access control and other platforms utilize its advantages for mainstream deployment. Here’s what Raj Venkat, vice president of Marketing for Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies, Carmel, Ind., had to say on the topic. “Near-Field Communication, or NFC, provides simplified...

Much like the coaching staffs he is charged to protect, New Orleans deputy mayor Lt. Colonel Jerry Sneed, USMC retired, says that good game preparation is the key to success. Speaking as a keynote at the second annual National Sports Safety and Security conference, Sneed, who became New Orleans' first director of Office of Emergency Preparedness and director of Homeland Security following the...

I originally posted this February 8, 2009 on my Microsoft blog and thought I should share it here. I really became interested in RFID after reading RFID Toys back in 2002. Amal Graafstra the author and I have been friends ever since, though Amal travels constantly to work with clients both nationally and internationally. The thing that really caught my attention was the RFID chips that Amal...

 Storage is a big part of IP video security and so I thought I would start a small series of video storage starting with the basics.  Today we will discuss RAID.  RAID has been discussed many (x4) times throughout the years but I still get questions about it.  What is it, what is the best choice for RAID for my VMS, etc.  So here we go. There are 4 major types of RAID 0, 1, 5...

Recently, following on New York City Transit’s theme, See Something, Say Something, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano announced the kickoff of a broader federal program to enlist the public in helping to identify suspicious people and events to provide another barrier to terrorism and other criminal activity on public transportation. She made the announcement in New York’s Penn Station, the...