Criminals have become more brazen than ever. Despite the higher-than-average security requirements cannabis operators are required to meet, they haven’t done much to deter criminals. In fact, it’s become all too common for a group of thieves to smash a vehicle into the front of a store or facility, even through bollards, and loot the property before responders can arrive.
“If you look at mainstream media, all you hear about are these smash-and-grab robberies,” says Tomasz Borys, the vice president of marketing for Deep Sentinel. “Businesses feel like their hands are tied behind their backs because the city is not getting as involved and police responses are too slow due to being overburdened or stretched too thin.”
To that end, Deep Sentinel has developed FlashBang, a new line of defense for businesses, built specifically in response to the ongoing wave of criminals who seemingly cannot be deterred. The FlashBang is a wall- or ceiling-mounted device that, with a push of a button, deploys one of four countermeasures to incapacitate would-be thieves — smoke, strobe, siren or pepper spray.
“Once they have penetrated the business, this is the best solution,” Borys says. “The FlashBang impairs and subdues criminals from causing further damage and making off with thousands of dollars in cash or product.”
Each of the FlashBang deterrents can disable intruders using non-lethal force within seconds. The smoke option can fill a large room or office with a dense wall of impenetrable smoke, completely obfuscating potential theft targets and the exit in roughly 10 seconds.
The FlashBang strobe produces rapid, high-intensity flashes of light that blind, confuse and disorientate intruders, inhibiting their ability to move through the premises.
Much like how the strobe impairs sight, the siren achieves similar effects by emitting a high-frequency noise that panics targets, renders communication impossible and can even cause fatigue and disorientation.
The FlashBang pepper spray is possibly the most effective deterrent as it deploys a mist that temporarily blinds intruders and causes enough discomfort to put criminals into submission.
“It’s the most proactive solution on the market,” Borys says. “It’s the next best thing to having a physical guard onsite and it’s at a fraction of the cost.”
The FlashBang security devices work in concert with Deep Sentinel’s surveillance technology. Deep Sentinel’s surveillance sends an alert to the monitoring agent the moment someone steps onto the property after business hours. Borys says the surveillance technology has been remarkably effective against prospective criminals who are quickly alerted to the fact that they are being monitored.
“When there are individuals who are obviously casing the property, our security guards will intervene and let them know through the system’s speakers that they are being monitored,” Borys says. “About 99% of the time those individuals end up leaving and not coming back because they know that the property is live monitored.”
But after the recent wave of criminals ramming a vehicle into the building, Borys says the company began developing its anti-raiding technology.
“Six years ago, we would never see footage of anyone taking a car and driving into a business,” Borys says. “But that has been the trend lately and, as you can imagine, by the time they have driven into the building the guards are just being alerted and then contacting the police.”
In some instances, the police arrive in time to catch the intruders, Borys says. But with the aid of the FlashBang, the monitoring guard can severely inhibit the criminals right then and there, with just the push of a button.