Five Cultivators Share Security Lessons They Learned From Experience

This article originally appeared in the August 2018 print issue of Cannabis Business Times. To subscribe, click here.

With high-value crops and the industry’s cash-heavy reputation, it’s not surprising that cultivation-business security generates a lot of interest—and tight lips. Staying compliant with stringent state regulations is an essential first step in securing your grow, but the lessons learned through experience can be priceless.

Cannabis Business Times interviewed several market insiders willing to talk security for the industry’s greater good. Their hands-on, beyond-compliance security tips can help you make your cultivation areas more secure.

With nine years in the industry, Green Man Cannabis partner and Director of Cultivation Corey Buffkin has seen a lot of changes regarding buildings and security. He currently oversees six indoor cultivation facilities in three states, including a 120,000-square-foot building in Aurora, Colo., complete with 24/7, state-of-the-art security inspired by tough lessons learned “back in the early days.”

1. Have multiple barriers to entry.

Reinforcing cultivation areas with multiple barriers helps prevent smash-and-grabs. Buffkin recommends the following barriers, for starters:

• doors that automatically lock,
• five-point locking system doors,
• key card entry for all doors, and
• parking bollards to prevent people from driving through doors.

“We do the doors that lock behind you in every facility,” Buffkin says. “It can take 15 to 20 minutes to get through one of those doors if you don't have the right kind of tools.” That delay can be critical to effective response from local law enforcement.

Years ago, thieves hit a Green Man Cannabis location during a blizzard. “They got $200,000 worth of product in seven minutes,” Buffkin recalls. Police didn’t arrive until 30 minutes after alarms sounded. “We learned a lesson that day not to count on the police to stop [thieves],” he says.

Green Man added parking bollards after two Aurora-location break-ins, just six days apart, where large vehicles smashed through commercial overhead doors. No one has tried to hit the facility since the bollards arrived. “It's pretty heavily fortified,” Buffkin says.

2. Key-card all doors, and tie clearance to responsibilities.

Green Man uses key card access on every door and programs cards with job-specific clearances. Higher clearance cards that work on every door are limited. Other cards restrict access to specific areas and prevent employees from wandering or entering areas that aren’t required for their jobs.

3. Keep night security active.

Buffkin recommends contracting with security firms whose nighttime protocols keep guards alert and moving. “Even with your best intent, it's hard to stay up all night long, especially when you’re not really doing anything,” he says.

4. Deter internal theft with robust checks and balances.

“In addition to what's outside your organization, you have to look within your organization,” Buffkin advises. He recommends multilevel checks and balances to protect everything from finished product to proprietary genetics. “Don't have any one person holding the keys to everything. Have multiple people that are checking and, if they see something, raising the flag,” he says.

To read the full article in Cannabis Business Times' August 2018 issue, click here.

Top graphic: © akindo | iStockphoto