Modern technology, like video doorbells and keyless entry, is no longer just for home security. Technology like this can also significantly increase church safety and provide appropriate access to your church building. In this post, we continue our discussion on church design safety and security features by focusing on church building access.
Challenges and Solutions for Deliveries to Your Church Building
Not long ago, a standard technology available for controlling access to your church building was a push-button audio system. This allowed delivery drivers or other visitors to push a button, announce their presence, and be admitted into the building. The problem with this system was the lack of visual confirmation. Without a direct view or video view, anyone could walk up, push the button, saying they had a delivery—and get into the building to do mischief or cause serious problems.
Fortunately, modern technology has provided video solutions to this issue. Those same smart video doorbells used in many homes, as well as larger-scale business technology solutions, can be installed in your church building. This allows church staff members or security teams to view exactly who is at the door and what they’re carrying, before allowing anyone to be admitted into your church building.
The Church Safety Advantages of RFID Products
Another significant technological advance is the use of RFID in church security. RFID stands for Radio-Frequency Identification and it is the technology used in wireless key fobs on most cars these days, as well as the access cards used for most hotel rooms and office buildings. RFID has many advantages over traditional entrance methods. Each RFID card or fob is unique and can be programmed to allow access to specific areas of your church building, for specific individuals, and at certain times.
For example, you can set times for individuals or teams of people (such as children’s teams, worship teams, or security teams) to be granted access to certain parts of your church building. Such individualized access also gives you the ability to track the entry and exit of each person, which can be helpful for establishing patterns or addressing situations that might arise.
Another option in access control is magnetic locks, commonly referred to as maglocks. These provide the security of locked doors, but also have other benefits including lock-down capability. Doors with maglocks can be secured with one touch of a button in the event of a security threat. Also, maglocks can be controlled remotely from a office computer or mobile device, or follow a preset locking and unlocking schedule. Maglocks can also be controlled with an RFID card or fob from the exterior, and usually include motion sensors on the interior to allow free exiting.
Integrating Security and Church Design in Your Public Spaces
We think a lot about security when creating the public spaces in any church design. The key idea here is transparency—keeping public spaces easy and comfortable to use, especially for guests. For example, you want to place restroom doors in very public locations, both for ease of use and to make it more difficult to enter a restroom without being seen. Including welcome counters in your church design with authorized security team members present will go a long way toward helping guests and attendees relax and focus on worship.
As you can see, we think a lot about church safety. In our next article, we look at building hardening from the inside. Meanwhile, click here to learn more about the many church building topics we will cover in our upcoming i3 webinars.
