In the gaucho country, the security market has grown by leaps and bounds in the last four years. The engineer and advisor Enrique Greenberg explains in this article the reason for the advances in his country, the most popular applications and the future of this market. by Ana María Restrepo
Until the early 80s, security in Argentina was incipient. In that market there was no computer security, electronic security was very elementary, it was reduced to a wire stamp from the place to be protected to the reception center or to the past motion detectors, and private surveillance did not have a great boom because the monopoly of security was assumed by the de facto government. However, in the nineties there were changes in the area of electronic security by using new and innovative materials that produced the growth of the sector, but due to the economic crisis between 2001 and 2002 all security activity depreciated and then rebuilt, little by little, in 2003 when that crisis passed.
Due to this crisis, crime in the country increased causing the reactivation and expansion of the security market, the results of which began to be seen in the second period of 2003. At the same time, the authorities looked for ways to curb the recession while security actors dedicated themselves to updating their defense mechanisms, in order to curb insecurity and protect public and private companies.
Currently, security in Argentina is covered by four different sectors such as: computer, electronic, private and public security, the last one provided by the State. These sectors have been innovated in recent years in order to provide better security strategies in the country in the face of the increase in insecurity, achieved an economic growth of 1,500 million dollars in 2006, of which 250 million come from computer security, 850 from private security and 414 million from electronics, with a growth rate, of the four sectors, between 10 and 15 percent.
With the above we can see how the security market in Argentina has grown and positioned itself in these four years, because as stated by Engineer Enrique Greenberg, each of these sectors has evolved in its applications at the same time as professionals in their studies, making the country the largest Latin American exporter of knowledge, application and development of security systems.
The most used
Within this market, private security is increasing, since it currently has about one hundred thousand associated people who are hired by individuals, who due to the lack of compliance with the state join forces to strengthen security on public roads. "For example, there are many people who, in order to have security in their residences or companies, share among the neighbors the cost of a private security guard, who although he cannot do police tasks because he could not be armed, has a radio equipment or a cell phone to call the Police and report some abnormality," explains Greenberg.
In computer security, various updates have been made due to the increase in industrial espionage, penetration into business networks and identity theft. Likewise, in public security, security mechanisms were created as a response of the State to the new forms of action presented by crime, such as computer firefighters, which help those companies or public institutions that have been victims of computer attacks.
As for electronic security, Greenberg assures that this is the area of greatest growth due to the increase in the installations of security units in public and private institutions, such as shopping centers, banks, pharmaceutical and oil laboratories, which prefer mostly CCTV, access control systems and intrusion and fire detection devices; and specific products such as electronic surveillance of items, lockers, safe deposit boxes, theft insurance, perimeter protection, armored glass and walls, security doors and computer security systems.
Argentine avant-garde
The implementation of the new security areas has become a meter of knowledge, application and innovation of both the suppliers of the systems and the heads of security of the institutions, since these heads are professionals or graduates who know the subject and demand more and more professional services and products that really meet the needs of the company.
This leads to a constant evolution of the market, its offers, its professionals and of course its products, which has made Argentina recognized in Latin America as a leading country in the security sector, as mentioned by the engineer Greenberg: "the Argentine professional is well conceptualized in terms of his knowledge, and the industry has a workforce with a greater preparation and technical training than we have been able to perceive in the rest of the countries of the area such as Chile, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, Uruguay and Paraguay".
In the same way, he assures that in Latin America the development of this type of security is very low, "Chile is a large importer, but it does not have an industrial sector, while we manufacture electronic security products such as digital video recorders, access control systems or optical barriers. Brazil also manufactures them and in larger size, but we have a higher level of development and we have produced products before the Brazilians; perhaps Mexico can be in this sector, but the state of the other countries is incipient in the manufacture of security systems compared to Argentina"
It should be noted that experts in electronic security in Argentina have advised some companies in countries such as Uruguay, Chile, Peru, Mexico. Also, that in the physical security sector there is a professional organization in the gaucho country that has a training plan for guards and has provided courses in many Latin American countries.
However, although Argentina is known in this field in Latin America and every day criminal actions incite the development of new systems or new prevention tactics, the average citizen is not very related to this issue, since, according to Greenberg, the home alarm monitored by telephone line and access controls are the most while fire detection systems are insufficient and CCTV is shunned for fear of invasion of privacy.
Beyond physical and technological security
The Ministry of the Interior, the Police, the Armed Forces, medium, small and large private companies and electronic, computer and surveillance security associations are the main players in the security market in Argentina, both in the provision of services and products and in the implementation and use.
Unfortunately, the use of different security systems is due to the increase in violence and insecurity in the country, which led to the development, not only of protection products, but of prevention policies that seek to educate and guide citizens to reduce the rate of insecurity, through action plans to prevent crime and social violence in central areas such as school violence, addictions, the defense of the rights of children and adolescents, the prevention of child labor, job training and the restitution to the community of those who have been deprived of their liberty.
Where is security going?
Taking a look at what the future of the security market will be, engineer Greenberg says that electronic security tends to replace physical security in terms of effectiveness and efficiency, although when comparing the sizes of last year's accumulated trade, of both sectors, private security with its 850 million dollars exceeds by 436 million the 414 million of electronic security, something that, as he says, will be on par approximately in eight years.
Meanwhile in Latin America and around the world, Enrique assures that security will continue to grow, "I believe that insecurity is a global phenomenon that will continue and these problems can continue to be combated. If you look at these problems, they are rather economic in nature and all these issues are due to a question of social inequality."
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