It’s been almost 15 years since the Sept. 11 attacks, and Bo Dietl and Bisnow partner Beau Dietl & Associates feel that New York’s real estate owners have become complacent. While owners are always looking to cut costs, Beau Dietl & Associates believes that security should be preserved. The recent attacks in Paris serve as a somber wake-up call to security's importance, and the security giant strongly recommends that owners rethink their positions when it comes to robust security.

“Immediately following the attack on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, many of our clients called upon Beau Dietl & Associates to fortify and make security more robust in NYC commercial building sites,” Bo says. “We were asked to assign multiple armed and trained law enforcement professionals in the lobbies and perimeters of many of our sites. At some locations, we installed magnetometers and searched the bags of people entering the buildings to ensure against explosives and weapons entering the premise. We were asked to supply dogs trained in detecting explosive devices. However, these enhanced security procedures impacted on the bottom line.”

Dietl has expressed frustration with the common misconception that owners have, believing they should be able to get the highest quality guard for no cost. Despite the fact that security is intangible, Bo insists you need to pay more for a better guard, and the current climate makes armed security “a must” to minimize damage of an attack.

The best guards must not only be armed, but also extremely intelligent and quick-thinking. They should, for example, not only be able to recognize a threat or a suspicious car, but be able to take down the relevant information (like license plate numbers) and send that information to the right place. They must also be able to quickly absorb the training that Beau Dietl & Associates gives them. This is why Beau Dietl & Associates often uses former law enforcement officers and military personnel.

An armed guard, Bo says, can not only prevent your property being seen as a “soft target” with minimum or no security protection, but even if an active shooter or another threat does arise, your armed guards gives you and your tenants a fighting chance to reduce any potential carnage.

“Unfortunately, this is the world we must live in. We can't allow ourselves to press the snooze button as we did prior to 9/11.”

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