6.28.24 – SSI – Scott Goldfine
Great music cannot be created in a vacuum – and neither can true security. Everyone needs to be in harmony.
Through the years, many security industry friends, colleagues and associates have become aware of my deep passion for music.
I am especially keen on electric guitar and blues-based rock. I learned how to read music while playing alto saxophone as a kid. Yet, much to my chagrin, I am unable to sing on pitch — just ask my family!) — and lack a high aptitude for playing an instrument. All the more reason I appreciate, and am so in awe of, those who excel at it.
One of the key things I’ve learned from musicians is that there is no substitute for playing with others. When a player has to listen, adjust accordingly, share ideas and keep up with others, it takes them to new heights, and it allows the whole to exceed the sum of the parts.
Unfortunately — particularly in the YouTube era and amid the isolation of a pandemic — that element is often lost on talented young people, who replicate renowned artists (rather than innovate or find their own voice), focus on speed rather than feel, and noodle away in solitude or with only computerized accompaniment.
Security Cannot Be Created in a Vacuum
Great music cannot be created in a vacuum — and neither can true security.
No matter how much technology advances and no matter how sophisticated electronic security systems become — including the very impressive capabilities emerging from, and being developed related to, video analytics and artificial intelligence — our industry cannot achieve success in a bubble.
Although the solutions we sell and deploy increasingly bring end users ancillary operational value, the core mission of protecting people and property is only realized in cooperation with, and in support of, law enforcement.
Like most in the security trade, I always knew this, and I’ve always highly respected the guys and gals in blue. However, the past several months have allowed me to gain a whole new level of appreciation.
This has come about through my role with Elite Interactive Solutions, which includes coordinating the company’s Law Enforcement Advisory Board (LEAB) and routinely interfacing with current and former law enforcement officials.
This has given me a window into the mindset, challenges and needs of police; how they view security providers; and what our industry can do to help ease their burden, fight crime and help them respond to calls more safely.
Much of that has been captured by the in-depth roundtable that I recently conducted with the LEAB. I urge you to check it out in this issue.
Especially eye-opening was attending my first law enforcement event — the 32nd Annual FBI-LEEDA Training Conference in San Antonio — in early May. The hardships that police face today, on a multitude of fronts, are daunting to say the least.
I spoke with them about those hardships, and I heard even more during conversations and presentations.
The High Stakes
The high stakes were made all too real. While I was there, four officers were shot and killed in my adopted hometown of Charlotte, N.C. Despite it all, those in attendance projected a positive outlook and a resolve to carry out their sometimes-perilous public safety duties.
That was heartening, as was the experience when an LEAB member and I took a break from the conference to join three San Antonio PD officers for a crime prevention meeting with apartment complex management at a customer site.
It was a powerful example of how getting everyone on the same page is the ultimate means of hardening properties, enhancing community safety and strengthening public-private relationships.
Such meetings optimize security, help customers gain a firmer understanding of their systems and strengthen the provider-police dynamic. Moreover, they assist law enforcement in accomplishing their goals, and they can lead to more business through upgrades, greater client loyalty and referrals.
For these reasons, I recommend that your company try it, when possible and where appropriate. Yes, it takes effort and work, but the benefits are worth it.
More than ever, law enforcement needs the security industry to step up as a force multiplier. Let’s all recommit to focusing at least as much on being true partners as we do on our own bottom line.
At the end of the day, like the tight interplay of a great band, it’s all interconnected.
SCOTT GOLDFINE –
Scott Goldfine is the marketing director for Elite Interactive Solutions. He is the former editor-in-chief and associate publisher of Security Sales & Integration. He can be reached at sgoldfine@eliteisi.com.