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DHS Clarifies Laptop Border Crossing Rules
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said that border-crossing officials could continue to search any device that can store electronic media without any suspicion of wrongdoing. Although the revised policy ensures searches will be completed in a "timely manner” and that travelers will stay informed about the search's progress. Officials can still seize any device, including MP3 players or flash drives and look at any file on it without giving any reason. Although these searches don't occur very often (the Border Patrol looked at around 1000 laptops and searched 46 laptops in-depth in the past ten months) the best bet for travelers concerned about privacy is to leave unneeded electronic storage behind. Another safe bet if traveling on business is to back up all files and data in multiple locations in case so you will never be left without them.
Source: PC World
Top 10 Reasons Why To Conduct Background Checks
As employees and managers, you already know why it is so important to have top performers in every position in your company. It is how you go from being a good company…to a great one.
Unfortunately, along the way we are all going to have people issues – it comes with the territory. However, none of us want to spend time dealing with people problems that could have been prevented. While it is impossible to be able to predict when and where all of the problems may develop, there are some early warning signs of potential problems.
 Those warning signs include problems with previous employers, problems in school, poor credit, a criminal record, a poor driving record – and not disclosing these on a job application.
Simply put, in the long run it pays to know whom it is you are hiring. After all, do you really want to hire someone who, unknown to you, has a suspended or revoked driver’s license and give him or her the keys to a company vehicle? Do you really want to unintentionally hire someone with a documented history of seriously violent behavior and place them in contact with the public (or for that matter, other employees)?
Successful organizations perform background checks on every employee. These checks help us to prevent many of the people problems that ultimately wind up consuming our time and energy, not to mention often times placing our companies in serious legal jeopardy.
Background checks provide facts to help you make your most important business decisions – your hiring decisions.
Here are ten reasons you should start doing Background Checks on every final candidate or new hire:
10. People Exaggerate Their Resumes
95% of college students admit that they are willing to include false information on their resume to get a job. The most common “exaggerations” are: inflated titles & salaries, inaccurate employment dates, unfinished degrees and out-and-out lies regarding specific roles and duties. The resume is a marketing document.
9. People Lie on Applications
The application is a legal document. Some say that up to 40% of applications contain false or inaccurate information. SHRM study says: Nearly half of job applications contain false information. Almost one quarter had misrepresented employment or education. By the way, most of our applications warn people that false information is grounds for dismissal, etc. Use it!
8. Criminals Don’t Advertise
Have you ever seen a criminal record listed on a resume? How many people will volunteer that they have lost their license because of an OWI conviction? Two out of ten applicants have criminal records. Thirteen percent of those screened had failed to disclose a criminal background.
Read more....
Per Mar Supports Davenport 2009 Summer Festivals
August 31,2009
Alan Cartledge
Per Mar Security Services
PO Box 4227
Davenport, IA 52808
Dear Alan,
On behalf of DavenportOne-Downtown Partnership, I would like to thank you for your support of the 2009 Summer Festivals. We are grateful to have Per Mar as a sponsor of these events.
Street Fest and River Roots Live were both great events for our community. Over 40,000 people enjoyed the great music, food and festival fun. We couldn't have done it without you!
Thank you again for everything that you have done to make our events a success! I'm looking forward to working together on the 2010 Summer Festivals.
 Sincerely,
Marcy Hyder
Director of Downtown Events
DavenportOne-Downtown Partnership
Iowa Lawmakers Looking to Revisit Cell Phone Usage and Texting While Driving Laws
In the wake of several severe auto accidents nationwide due to texting and cell phone usage while driving, Iowa lawmakers are considering revisiting laws allowing these activities while driving a motor vehicle. According to Iowa House Transportation Committee Chairman Rep. Brian Quirk, accidents due to driving while texting and talking on cell phones could lead to a public debate in 2010. Last session, Iowa lawmakers tried to pass legislation putting a ban on driving and cell phones but it faced much resistance. A new survey released by Nationwide Insurance shows 8 in 10 Americans would like a ban on the practice of text messaging while driving. Fifteen states and Washington, D.C. ban text messaging while driving. Rep. Quirk said he would like Iowa’s ban to go even further.
Source: KIMT.com
Aging Population Leads to Innovative Home Health Care Solutions
 In a follow-up to last month’s article about innovative new security solutions to help provide safety and communication with our elderly population, this month’s article focuses on technology enabled home health care.
Click here to read the article
Per Mar Security Charitable & Community Activities
 On Labor Day weekend, many of you may have seen a portion of the annual Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) telethon. Those watching in the Quad City area may have noticed a representative from Per Mar Security Services. Tim Smith, Director of Customer Care and Purchasing at Per Mar Centre, was asked to participate in the annual telethon. Tim was involved in the Muscular Dystrophy Associations’ Executive Lock Up program in August. Tim was “arrested,” by the MDA and raised donations for the MDA to “bail” him out. Tim raised $2460 in bail money, the highest amount by any individual involved in the 2009 Quad City Executive Lock Up. Tim was invited to appear on the telethon to present the check for his donation to the association.
Per Mar Centre employees have been involved in providing support to other charitable causes this summer. Funds collected for monthly Jeans Days have been provided to Kids Against Hunger, Race for the Cure, and Living Lands and Waters. Additionally, employees collected items for care packages to be sent to local military troops deployed in Iraq.
Article written by: Mindy Zumdome, Director of Human Resources
Balancing Act
Tips for finding that perfect balance between personal and professional life.
How can you get the most out of both your professional and personal life? Two words: Don’t sleep. Obviously that’s not realistic, so we achieve that balance to maximize our potential by:
APPROACH EVERY DAY WITH ZEST.
We do Special Event services because every venue, every type of event, every element brings a different set of challenges. We are not assembly line workers performing the exact task day in and day out. Each facility, promoter, agent, host and guest has different needs and our employees all have their individual strengths and weaknesses that must be managed properly.
TAKE TIME TO LAUGH.
 Remember, we are in the hospitality industry – that means entertainment for our guests. Our customers look to venues as places of refuge from their daily lives; somewhere where they can escape reality. Levity can go a long way to diffusing a tense situation. Never be too proud to laugh at your own mistakes!
UNDERSTAND THAT WE ARE ALL HUMAN.
The truth is none of us can attain perfection. Look at baseball players: if a player can get a hit one out of every three times, he’s considered an all-star. I would hope that our ratio of good decisions to bad ones is better than 33%, but the point is this: we all make mistakes. Make sure your staff knows that while you expect perfection from them, you also understand their human limitations. And do the same for yourself. Don’t dwell on past mistakes – discover what went wrong and why, learn from it, and then move on.
USE YOUR VACATION DAYS.
It’s common in Special Events to work 14, 16 or even 18 hours a day sometimes. Time frames change from venue to venue or event to event. After all, who schedules most events from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday? Weekends and nights are for those in the outside world – the very ones we count on to provide us gainful employment. With that said, we must, however, take time to recharge our own batteries or burn out will soon occur along with health or personal issues. Having a clear mind after time away will enable you to view problems (also known as opportunities) in a new light and could lead to even better solutions.
DON”T NEGLECT YOUR PHYSICAL BODY.
This can be a real challenge. The long hours, stressful situations, and easy access to junk food make unhealthy choices easy. Listen to the warning signs of your body. Exercise, walk and get your mind on something totally different periodically. That’s
another advantage of belonging to civic organizations, as this allows you to focus on something away from your daily routine.
REMEMBER TO SPEND TIME WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS.
Don’t lose sight of the big picture. Enough said!
Written by: Gene Hoth, Director of Special Events
Article, in part, courtesy of Facility Manager, Todd Hunt, Director of the BancorpSouth Arena, Tupelo, Mississippi
Southwest Air To Charge $10 To Board Early
Southwest Airlines will now charge passengers $10 each way to board early before general check in starts, but after all Business Select and premium passengers board the flight. EarlyBird check in will begin in September and allow passengers to select certain seats and secure overhead cargo space. The fee will also create "incremental revenue opportunities for Southwest," the low-cost carrier said. The recession has forced many airlines to come up with new ideas in order to increase revenue. In May, the airline started allowing some pets on board for a $75 fee and announced a $25 charge for unaccompanied minors. So far Southwest has been one of the last major carriers to refuse to charge passengers for additional bags on the plane.
Source: Reuters
Physical Security Briefs: Personnel Access
 In reviewing your security plan, you should always ask the following question, "Am I providing adequate security that will allow me to protect my people and my property?" Perhaps you can safely answer yes I am, but if you cannot we're going to cover some tips you can follow that will help you harden your site. We’re going to start by highlighting a couple measures through which you can add more protection by evaluating personnel access.
Every day you may have hundreds or even thousands of people go in and out of your facility. Because of this, you want to have an established set of controls for ensuring the right people have access to the right areas. Here are some things to consider when controlling personnel access to your facility:
- Most employees can be set up with time permitting access if you have an access control program. In other words, an employee who works Monday through Friday 8:00am-5:00pm probably won't need access to the facility at 1:00am. To correct this set up a profile where the employee can only gain access to the facility one hour before up to one hour after their normal shift.
- Limit the number of entrances through which employees can enter. If your facility has ten doors, only put access control on 1-3 entrances for employees. The more entrances you can limit access to while still allowing some ease of ingress the better. Keep in mind that this may be inconvenient for some employees if it increases the walking distance from their vehicle to their workspace, but this is done for their safety and should be a priority.
- Look for pockets of liability inside your facility such as rooms with merchandise, IT rooms, electrical rooms, telephone rooms, etc. and install additional protection measures to further limit personnel who can access these areas.
Look for more physical security briefs in upcoming newsletter issues.
Article by: Colin Vick, Physical Security Division
Source: Protection of Assets Manual
MAC - Managed Access Control
Tired of the expense of re-keying a lock when an ex-employee doesn’t turn in their key? Or a current employee loses theirs?
Need an inexpensive solution for one to eight doors of access control?
Don’t want to dedicate a PC to be the access control server? Or dedicate a person to learn and maintain the software?
Don’t want to pay for, or deal with, access control software upgrades?
Need a 24/7 web browser based access control solution?
If you answered yes to any of these questions Maybe MAC is for you…..
MAC - Managed Access Control
What is Per Mar’s MAC?
MAC is Per Mar’s Managed Access Control program offered from Per Mar’s UL listed Central Station. MAC delivers a secure, efficient single door to multi-door electronic access control service without having to invest in and install a computer and software at your location to manage the system. MAC offers…
Per Mar Managed Access Control
Per Mar will provide a “hosted and managed” access control service. Per Mar will administer all programming, cardholder database management and report services for you. This service is intended for the end user who does not have the time, resources, patience or desire to manage an access control system.
Per Mar Customer Managed Access Control
Per Mar will provide a “hosted only” access control service. This service is intended for customers who recognize the value of eliminating the computer, software and associated maintenance from their location but prefer to manage the access control database themselves. This service allows the customer to gain entry to the database from any internet connected PC 24/7.
Why is MAC unique?
Traditional access control systems require the installation of a dedicated computer and access control software at the user’s location. They require the user to learn how to use the software to set schedules, create door groups, add persons to the access control database, run reports, initiate database backups and provide day to day management of the access control system. MAC eliminates these requirements and provides our customers a secure facility without having to develop access control expertise. And, with the reduced costs of the MAC program, doors once considered too expensive for access control can now be included as part of your security program.
- No need to have an employee expert on how to use access control software
- Reduced equipment and installation costs
- No dedicated PC required
- No software required
- Program options suited to your needs
Palmer Campus Security Department Assisted Local United Way
On Wednesday, September 2, 2009 from 0930-1130, members of the Palmer Campus Security Department assisted the local United Way in the distribution of fire safety literature and smoke detectors in the neighborhoods surrounding the campus.
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