Page 20 - Security Today, July 2017

From Seed to Sale
Williams noted that all marijuana is tracked online by the state and his company from seed to sale.
“The damage that an intruder could cause, could cost well beyond the inventory they might steal, as there are a lot of [cannabis] plants being cultivated and the damage to the facility itself might cause us to have an interruption of service,” Williams said.
The nature of the inventory creates a need for security as Medi- cine Man’s company believes their business could be the target for criminal activity.
“Our big concern is that we are a target,” Williams said. “In the criminals’ mind our business is swimming in cash and we can’t bank with banks and so, in their minds, they believe that we have a large store of cash on-site, as well as product that they can steal and sell readily. Because of that, we are at a higher risk than most businesses.”
Colorado’s Marijuana Enforcement Division (MED) rigidly reg- ulates this relatively new industry, requiring strict compliance. The MED is under the umbrella of the Colorado Department of Rev- enue, and licensed businesses must comply with a myriad of regula- tions, including strict security standards.
The Blue Line Protective Group, retained by Medicine Man, pro- vides two armed security guards at each of the three dispensaries.
Customers are initially buzzed in at the front door, where an armed guard checks their driver license or passport. The guard uses a hand-held scanning device to review and record the magnetic strip contents for the MED.
A retail marijuana store’s license would be in jeopardy if they have compliance issues, including selling to people under 21 years old. A significant compliance issue/s could also result in the loss of all licens- es under which the violation/s occurred. In addition, there is a po- tential to lose the license required to operate their cultivation facility.
Blue Line also provides armed services for the transport of cash and product. Additionally, they provide patrols during non-business hours.
Always On the Monitor
Medicine Man’s master control room contains a monitoring station for the company’s 127 high-definition surveillance cameras, displayed on six large screens. The secure room also houses the company’s ar- ray of eight DVRs and a safe in compliance with the MED’s stringent requirements.
The respective counties and municipalities determine the regula- tions as to the length of time to retain archived surveillance footage. The city and county of Denver requires DVR footage to be retained for 45 days; Aurora requires 60 days. After that period, all footage is automatically deleted.
“There has never been a successful burglary of our facility, it’s just really hard to get into and they will typically set off alarms, they have every time, before being successful and so our exterior is really well guarded,” said Williams, sharing that the exterior is illuminated
to assist the surveillance efforts.
Medicine Man will dole out approximately $600,000 for security
expenses this year for their three dispensaries and cultivation facility. Over time, Williams estimated that Medicine Man has invested around $300,000 for security enhancements relating directly to the
cultivation facility.
Medicine Man facilities have installed highly-rated security doors
in each of their facilities and incorporated fire, burglar and mechani- cal alarms into the mix, along with the addition of motion sensors. Their access control network is accessed through distinctive keys and alarm codes.
Williams recounted a recent attempted smash and grab burglary that occurred at their Aurora retail facility that was effectively thwart- ed. Around 2 a.m., four men pulled up in a car, one of the perpetra- tors had a gun and a pick ax, while the others had sledge hammers.
“They walk up to the door and they take a big swing with the sledge [hammer] and the sledge bounces off. All three of them start pummeling the glass all over the place trying to get in. The guy with the gun gets frustrated and starts shooting the door. After a couple minutes of this, they give up and drive away.”
While the attempt a burglary failed, the men would not have got- ten much even if they had gained entry into the facility as all of the inventory is locked up at night.
“They did this in other facilities, just destroyed it [sic] and it would have put us out of business for probably a couple of weeks while we repaired the damage. That bulletproof glass really saved us,” said Williams, who filed an insurance claim to replace the $80,000 in bullet-proof glass damaged in the attempted break-in. Aurora Police later shared that this same group of people had been breaking into other marijuana facilities in the city.
In the beginning, this now powerhouse cannabis company only met the minimum security requirements issued by the MED due to financial constraints.
“The biggest challenge for us was scaling to the point where we could afford to do security the way it needed to be done,” said Wil- liams who has developed a system through trial and error.
Guarding Against Crimes
Medicine Man has developed an elaborate accounting system, process- es and procedures to guard against both internal and external crimes.
The company uses panic buttons strategically placed throughout all of its facilities. Williams recounted that during construction, a panic button was inadvertently set off. Within 90 seconds, six Denver Police vehicles and officers responded with guns drawn.
David Behrns, Medicine Man’s manager of IT, shared that all sur- veillance cameras are hard-wired into the systems’ multiple DVRs that are hooked up to a network. Surveillance video can be quickly accessed by top executives via an encrypted system with a smart phone using secured passwords through a Virtual Private Network (VPN).
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