01 / Video
Remote video monitoring
Your current cameras watched live during the hours your Gilroy property sits empty.
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How to secure a warehouse yard overnight.
The building locks. The yard doesn’t. Here’s how distribution sites keep trailers, docks and fence lines covered after the last shift.
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Why the yard is the weak spot.
Most distribution buildings are well locked. The yard around them is a different story. Loaded trailers sit against the fence, dock doors face open asphalt, and fuel, pallets and equipment wait outside until morning. Along the Highway 101 corridor, where freight moves at all hours, a quiet yard is easy to reach and easy to leave. Our warehouse security page covers the plan for the whole building.
Trouble in a yard rarely starts with a broken lock on the building. It starts with a cut fence, a trailer seal that has been tampered with or a pallet jack that walks off.
Start with the gate and the fence.
Keep the number of open gates as low as your operation allows, and make sure the main one can be watched by an officer or a camera. Walk the fence line regularly, because gaps appear behind trailers and in corners nobody visits.
If drivers arrive before or after the office opens, decide who meets them. A gate officer who signs in drivers and records trailer numbers gives you a record of every arrival and departure, and keeps people who don’t belong from wandering in behind a truck.
Light it and watch it.
Lighting is the cheapest security upgrade most yards can make. Dark corners between trailer rows are where problems start, so note which fixtures are out and get them fixed. Our officers write dead lights into the log on every round.
Cameras help only if someone is looking. Live monitoring turns an existing system into an active one: monitors watch the yard during closed hours and follow your plan when they see movement, whether that means calling your contact, sending patrol or calling emergency services.
Choose the overnight coverage.
For a small yard, a few randomized patrol visits a night are often all it takes. Officers check the gates, walk the trailer rows and look over the docks, logging each stop with the time. For a large yard, or one that has already been hit, a posted officer or a hybrid of cameras and patrol covers more ground.
For a bigger distribution site, a strong setup is a gate officer during the busiest hours, camera monitoring overnight and patrol for anything the cameras pick up.
Read the reports.
Every round, visit and camera event ends up in a report by email. Over a few weeks, those reports show patterns: the same gate found open, the same light out, the same corner where people cut through. That is the information you need to adjust lighting, fencing or coverage before something goes missing.
Drivers who arrive early
Freight does not keep office hours. Drivers often show up before the building opens and wait in the yard or on the street. Decide in advance where they wait, who checks them in and what happens to a truck nobody expected. A gate officer, or clear instructions for patrol, keeps early arrivals from becoming a blind spot.
Seasonal swings
Distribution sites often get busier at certain times of year, with more trailers in the yard and more traffic at the gate. Coverage can follow that pattern: a gate officer during the busy weeks, then patrol and cameras the rest of the year, all on month-to-month terms.
Walk your own yard first
Walk your yard one evening after close. Count the trailers, try the gates, look for dark corners and gaps in the fence, and notice where you would stand if you did not want to be seen. That walk tells you most of what a security plan needs to cover.
A few useful answers
Quick answers.
Can camera monitoring cover our yard without a guard?
On many yards, yes, when it’s paired with patrol for anything that needs a person on site.
Do officers record trailer numbers at the gate?
Yes. Gate officers can log trailer numbers along with each driver.
Do officers check fuel tanks in the yard?
Yes. Fuel tanks, equipment and stored materials are part of every yard round.
Should we light the yard all night?
Lighting the gate, the dock face and the trailer rows makes patrol and cameras far more effective, and it costs less than most other upgrades.
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02 / Patrol
Mobile patrol
Marked patrol cars checking your Gilroy property at unpredictable times all night.
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