Camguard has more than 400 surveillance units in the field, and a good number of builders employ technology in their defense against job-site intrusion and crime. For a number of years, Centex Homes' Northern California division has used surveillance cameras, whose quality and delivery in monitoring multiple areas at once “has been a great asset,” says Jeff Randolph, the division's vice president of construction. But while Centex wants employees and trespassers to know they are being watched, Randolph says surveillance can't be too overt, or residents will feel as if “they are walking into a stalag.”
Technology, however, isn't foolproof. Paul Barnes, president of Shea Homes' San Diego division, says he soured on using cameras after surveillance failed to help apprehend arsonists at one competitor's jobsites a few years ago. (In their messages taking credit for certain arsons, the Earth Liberation Front has mocked builders' use of electronic surveillance as futile.) Barnes says his company leans toward “more people than high tech,” and the days when builders allowed security guards to sleep during parts of their shifts are over. (Brown issues his guards phones with GPS chips and spoke about “geo fencing,” which electronically defines the perimeter of the property and detects movements of anyone or anything attached to a tracking device, thereby indicating if a guard leaves the premises.)
But even an army of guards supported by a battery of cameras can cover only so much ground, which may explain why builders try to enlist new residents to help secure their communities during construction. “We get neighborhood watch programs going sooner rather than later,” says Mick Pattinson, president of Carlsbad, Calif.–based Barratt American. Centex makes a presentation to buyers before they move into their homes to encourage them to report any suspicious activity. “It's this neighborhood awareness, this sense of community, that we try to create as soon as possible,” says Randolph. “We depend on it.”
SOURCES: NATIONAL FIRE INCIDENT REPORTING SYSTEM; NATIONAL FIRE PREVENTION ASSOCIATION FIRE AND ANALYSIS RESEARCH