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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Firm Locks Up Building Sites

Construction sites are littered with expensive bulldozers, copper wire, stacks of reinforcing bars and other materials and equipment that often cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Most of those supplies sit behind a flimsy chain-link fence with little to no oversight, which raises the question – who is watching all this stuff? Kevin Wright Carney, who served 23 years with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, feels his new construction security consultancy, Silver Gauntlet International, is the answer. The Thousand Oaks company specializes in job site security and theft prevention for the construction industry. Carney hopes that by creating and implementing tailored security plans for construction sites, he can change the industry’s mind-set, which tends to enlist security only after a theft has occurred. “It appears to be the practice in the construction industry to roll the dice, because security comes out of their bottom line on a project,” he said. “They don’t implement it until they feel the need is there.” One reason construction security has become an issue is the high price of metals, particularly copper, which is used for electrical wiring and plumbing pipe. The other main targets for thieves are equipment and tools. National Equipment Register, a company that maintains a database of heavy construction equipment, estimates the annual cost of equipment theft ranges from $300 million to $1 billion, with most estimates coming close to $400 million. Site security In 2008, Carney transitioned from law enforcement to security when he joined Pacific Protection Services Inc., a guard service in Woodland Hills. On the job, he saw firsthand the problems with pilfering at construction sites. It inspired him to write his third book, “Securing the Outdoor Construction Site: Strategy, Prevention, and Mitigation.” The book became the premise for Carney’s business, which he launched in June. Silver Gauntlet also developed out of Carney’s consulting work at Pacific Protection, and his new company aims to serve construction and insurance companies through vulnerability studies, site assessments and security plans. On a typical job, the company will visit a construction site and determine what it needs, such as lighting, fencing, alarm systems, security cameras and/or guards. Silver Gauntlet will then identify a point person within the client company who will regularly be at the site to help execute the plan. Once a plan is approved, Silver Gauntlet will help implement it and provide support throughout construction. The cost for this concierge-style construction security is around $1,800 a day plus expenses. Most jobs take between one to five days, and additional costs might be incurred if other steps are needed after a plan is in place. Silver Gauntlet also works on cases after a theft and helps companies revamp their existing security plan with supplementary steps to limit losses. Although the company was established in June, Carney waited to begin marketing the business until October when the book was published. The marketing push includes social media, websites, speaking engagements and a presence in the Blue Book Building & Construction Network, a directory of commercial construction companies. But the company must deal with competition from traditional security firms as well as the doubts of contractors who are concerned primarily about reducing costs during the job. Scott Caswell, a real estate broker for Delphi Business Properties Inc. in Van Nuys, said that even when construction companies hire guards, property is often stolen. Human error still occurs, and then a construction company loses money both from the security expense and the lost property. “The cost of security to monitor a construction site is very expensive,” Caswell said. “And sometimes those guys are less than phenomenal.” But Silver Gauntlet hopes to separate itself from competitors through professionalism. Carney has put together a team of security specialists comprised of himself, Pam Graham and Paul Scauzillo, who all belong to the American Society of Industrial Security International, an industry professional association. Graham, a retired FBI agent, oversaw several construction projects at the federal building in Los Angeles and was responsible for physical, personnel and IT security issues, according to her company bio. Scauzillo and Carney attended the sheriff’s academy together and both held management positions at Pacific Protection. Scauzillo specializes in metal theft prevention. “Metal theft in the United States is the most frequent,” said Scauzillo. “From all sites, including construction, it’s a billion dollars a year (in losses).” ‘Dirty’ politics Fifteen years prior to the inception of Silver Gauntlet, Carney planned to enter politics until his life took an unexpected turn when he was charged with 16 counts of felony child molestation. He was acquitted on four counts, and a judge dismissed the case after the jury was deadlocked on the other 12 counts favoring acquittal. Carney was never convicted of a crime, but the episode changed the trajectory of his career. It caused him to resign his elected seat on the Palmdale City Council. “That is part of the dirty game of politics,” he said. “It was done strictly for political reasons, and I’m not going to put my family through that again.” The ordeal cut the ex-deputy’s political career short but he hopes his new venture will show the bottom-line value of security for contractors and insurers. “You get what you inspect, not what you expect,” said Carney. “You can have the best security plan in the world but if you don’t go out, take a look at it and see how it is being implemented, you may or may not get what you are planning to get.”

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