Thought Leadership by Tom Henkey, CEM
Vice President of Emergency Management, Titan Security Group
Across the country, in locations both urban and suburban, property managers are dealing with an emerging threat unique to our digital age. Young offenders are accessing building rooftops by literally any means necessary, all to film short video clips for social media.
It is called “rooftopping” or urban exploration – urbex for short. Videos are regularly popping up on TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Reddit and other platforms. The youthful trespassers view the activity as harmless, or at most a victimless crime. Yet property owners are often left with badly damaged doors and locks, and enormous liability concerns.
From a deterrence and risk mitigation perspective, it is vital that property management, engineering, and security teams work closely together to recognize the hazard and reduce any vulnerabilities. There are identifiers and patterns of behavior which can flag would-be offenders and prevent unauthorized access.
Young rooftoppers will seek any available access points to a structure, and may perform extensive surveillance to determine the path of least resistance. Common points of entry include via the main lobby by piggybacking employees or trying to talk their way past personnel at the security desk. Other points of entry include service entrances, loading docks, or attached parking garages. They may also make false appointments at shared working spaces (Regus, WeWork, etc.) in commercial office buildings to gain access to occupied floors.
As soon as they are inside the building envelope, they will seek to go vertical via elevators or emergency stairwells. (And yes, they will climb 50 flights of stairs to reach the roof.) These individuals have no qualms about doing major damage to doors, doorframes, and/or locks. Any barrier between them and their imagined rooftop video glory is fair game.
Demographically, offenders will be in their late teens to mid-20s and overwhelmingly male. They travel in small groups of two to five individuals and will be casually dressed in jeans or cargo pants, and are likely to be carrying multiple backpacks or messenger bags. They will be carrying prying tools or large screwdrivers in their bags, and likely also “selfie-sticks” to take smartphone video.
Thankfully, there are extensive and cost-effective steps that property managers can take to counter this risk. First and foremost is to walk the path leading to any vertical access routes – stairwells or elevators – with the mindset of a trespasser trying to reach the roof. Look for any unsecured doors, and crawlspaces, any service hallways out of the view of security personnel. This is precisely the surveillance that will be performed by potential rooftoppers. Situational awareness of any potential vulnerabilities, and of the traits of potential trespassers, is half the battle.
There are multiple steps which may be taken to harden or secure access routes:
- Utilize hardened physical locks on door and hatches with rooftop access
- Schedule door/hatch tours by engineers or security on a daily or per-shift basis
- Install latchguards or full-height astragals on all doors leading to rooftop access
- Position motion-activated cameras displaying all rooftop-access routes
- Install contacts on rooftop doors/hatches, connect to existing access-control system
- Install a local, high-decibel audio alarm on all rooftop doors/hatches
Finally, establish clear procedures for management, engineering, and security to follow if they become aware of trespasser(s) attempting to make unauthorized access to such areas. Each player should know their role and be ready to assist law enforcement in safely removing and/or detaining the offenders. Being prepared for such situations can greatly increase the safety of a facility and greatly reduce its liability for potential loss.