How to keep your covered walkway secure overnight

Walkways are designed to keep people secure and safe – and they can’t do that if they aren’t secure themselves. Unfortunately, walkways tend to be a popular target for vandalism, often suffering anything from simple defacement to serious property damage. Unsurprisingly, most of this vandalism occurs during the night, when the cover of darkness makes such acts a lot easier. As such, people are often looking for ways to keep their walkways safe and secure overnight to ensure that they can be used as intended for years to come.

Lights, camera, action

The main reason that so much vandalism happens at night is that the lack of visibility makes it much easier for people to carry it out without fear of being identified. As such, one of the biggest deterrents you can employ is the installation of powerful lights and security cameras around the walkway. Increasing visibility in the area and having cameras keeping an eye on things will put off potential vandals by substantially increasing the risk of them being seen and identified. As well as making it easier to catch people in the act, the presence of lights and cameras will dissuade potential vandals because it makes it clear that there’s a real security presence in the area.

Patrol the area

If you’re looking to add the impression of security, it really can’t hurt to actually have someone patrol the area around the walkway. Having a security guard can be a substantial deterrent, as vandals don’t want to have to deal with being confronted by an actual person. It also makes it much easier to take action immediately, which can help mitigate the amount of damage that gets done. This could be a particularly good idea if the area in question has more than one walkway as it could provide a more cost-effective and logistically simple solution than having to install lights and cameras on each specific walkway.

Make sure it’s built to last

One of the most basic ways that you can keep your walkway safe from vandalism is to make sure that it’s built to last. Obviously it’s not possible to prevent every kind of damage, but choosing the right materials can really help to limit the damage that’s done, and make cleaning up a lot easier. For instance, shatter-proof glass is a must-have. If someone does try to damage the glass on your walkway, shatter-proof glass won’t scatter everywhere, which would pose a risk to pedestrians and necessitate a painstaking, difficult clean-up. Choosing quality materials for the frame of the walkway is also a good idea (https://www.aceshelters.co.uk/product/mono-pitched-covered-walkway), as it’ll prevent damage and ensure the walkway lasts a long time. Coating the walkway with anti-graffiti paint is also a great option, helping to keep it squeaky clean and making vandalism much less appealing.

Ultimately, there are several things you can do to make sure that your walkway is kept secure overnight. Ensuring that the walkway has the impression of being monitored and maintained is very important, as is making sure the walkway is sturdy and easy to maintain in the first place. If you can make sure that this is the case, your walkway should remain a safe and secure shelter for years to come.