Riot Glass® Solutions for Smash and Grab Crime

Glass windows and doors offer a sense of security, but do not protect your property from a determined assailant.

The recent riots in Charlotte, North Carolina showed us just how vulnerable retail stores can be when an otherwise peaceful downtown street erupts into chaos. On September 21st, 2016, several stores were looted and hundreds of thousands of dollars in damaged property, clean-up costs, business downtime, and stolen merchandise were the result. Tourism was all but extinguished for weeks following these events as visitors avoided the downtown area while restoration efforts continued. Local downtown store owners were left to sort out the mess and rebuild their businesses.

The vulnerability of glass windows and doors are abundantly apparent in this photo. Unfortunately with all of the costs of opening a retail location, protecting the glass is not on the top 100 list of things to do by opening day.

Doors are the most often targeted point of entry, and the tempered glass used in door glass is no match for a hammer or rock. It breaks into thousands of tiny fragments and is easily pushed from the frame resulting in a pile of glass gravel on the ground. The good news is that Riot Glass offers low-cost retrofit solutions that allow retailers to keep their existing doors and windows, and still protect against smash and grabs thieves. There are several levels of protection available to fit almost any budget.