Jamaican businesses should stop wasting money on security guards and invest in technology instead, argues former deputy police commissioner Mark Shields.

“There’s one [medium-sized] hotel I know that spends $12 million a year on security guards,” said Shields,

But the human element makes guards prone to fall asleep at night, and vulnerable to extortion and intimidation by criminals.

“I’m amazed, still, that we spend so much money and put our resources in guards when there is so much technology around,” he said.

One New Kingston-based hotel admits that it can easily cost $1 million a month to use guards but insisted that they are indispensible.

“We are heavily dependent on technology,” the hotel’s operation manager said. “But you can’t avoid using guards, especially if you need to apprehend someone”.

Frequent rotations, auditing and checks help to lessen the susceptibility to intimidation or extortion, he said.

However, despite the “relatively cheap” devices that can help protect businesses, many companies are reluctant to invest in technology, said Shields.

“Technology is certainly the way forward,” he said at last week’s Health, Safety, Security and Environment conference hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce and international conglomerate 3M.

“It’s particularly important that Jamaica embrace technology and move away from guards. Prevention is far cheaper in the end”.

One technology that Shields said would help protect companies from theft is SelectaDNA.

With the British system, owners can invisibly mark their property using a spray containing a unique DNA molecule.

The technology, endorsed by local police and due to be rolled out here within three months, has a track record of reducing crime by 85 to 90 per cent, he said.

Even without technology, Shields said, there are things companies should be doing to prevent criminal activity.

“Offenders can be the employees themselves,” he said. “Companies tend to pass on problems to other companies. That is, they might fire someone for theft or other inappropriate behavior and then next week, the same person is working for the competitor”.

One reason this happens is because companies fail to do proper background checks.

“Stopping a crime happening in the first place is cheaper than having it investigated,” he said. “Put your money into prevention.”