If you own a church building or ministry facility, at one time or another you have probably experienced some type of vandalism. There are crazy people out there these days and churches are definitely targets for their frustration. The essential component of risk management is insurance, but along with that comes careful planning. We can mitigate our risk by doing several simple things that can deter people from attempting to deface your property. The best way to deter vandals is to make sure that your building isn’t an easy target by making it as unappealing to vandals as possible. Spend a few hours thinking like a vandal and assessing your property from a vandal’s perspective…

Lighting – Because most vandalism occurs under the cover of darkness, dark areas may attract vandals, thieves, juveniles, transients, and others who don’t want to be seen. Which areas of your building are well-lit? Which areas are not?

Location – Where your building is located could also be a problem. Highly visible locations are attractive to taggers who want recognition while secluded areas may attract juveniles and drug users. While it may not be practical to change your location, you can beef up its security. Monitored surveillance systems with speakers that allow security personnel to warn intruders that they’ve been spotted and that law enforcement is on the way could be an effective deterrent.

Design – Complexes with parapet roofing, hidden courtyards, and other areas where vandals can easily hide are attractive to vandals. After all, vandals don’t want to be caught doing their deeds, so locations that offer the best concealment are often selected. Tearing down parapet walls may not be practical, but you could make your building less attractive to vandals by removing access routes, adding razor wire along the perimeter, and beefing up security with floodlights and surveillance systems.

CMI Risk is an independent insurance agency that specializes in protecting churches, ministries and non-profits protect their assets, staff and resources.

Tags: Christian Insurance, Church insurance, church liability insurance, leadership insurance, leadership liability, ministry insurance, ministry liability, northwest risk insurance, oregon church insurance, Risk Management, vandalism liability

This entry was posted on November 14, 2011 at 9:48 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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