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Safely under lock and key

Armed robberies in South Africa are unfortunately becoming very common, although the average home or business has installed various security measures possibly including alarms, gates, electrified fences, safes and armed response yet the armed attack remains a growing criminal trend.

Defender Safes offers a range of new generation security products designed to fit onto safes and to offer protection to both the user and the safe contents. Jeff Morrow, managing director of Defender Safes, has been in the security business for over 20 years, specialising in safes and their applications, and has during this time introduced various innovative security products designed to help combat crime, and ultimately save lives.

His latest invention is an easy-to-use safe lock, which took five years to develop, and serves two purposes - a standard safe lock that doubles as a transmitter to send a secret and silent signal to an armed response company or the authorities in the event of an emergency or armed robbery.

"A standard code unlocks the safe normally," explains Morrow, "but in the case of an armed robbery, a slightly different code can be punched in which will open the safe, but at the same time secretly alert the relevant, predetermined people that there is an emergency situation and that urgent assistance is required."

This signal can be identified as coming directly from the safe and cannot be mistaken as a false alarm, and may assist the armed response companies or authorities in adopting a safe and appropriate response. The safes and locks operate independently from the mains power supply, are wire-free and can easily be linked to a security company through the alarm system or to a telephone line to alert the authorities or even neighbours in isolated farming communities. Defender can supply either a small safe suitable for the cupboard for home use, or can fit the system to a larger heavy-duty SABS safe or as a addition to an existing safe. "The locks are compatible with most alarm systems and cannot be triggered accidentally," Morrow continues. "The system has been well received by gun owners as the risk of safe keys falling into the wrong hands is removed. It is already successfully being used at a number of large retail outlets, smaller grocery stores, petrol stations and other businesses that carry cash or operate late into the night.

"I do not believe that the locks alone will make it possible for the authorities to catch every criminal. But with the combination of the lock, the owner, his or her safe, the alarm and the armed response company all safely working together, things will be more difficult and less attractive to the criminal for this type of crime," he concludes.

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