Security Conversations: Tackling non-profit security challenges with Jay Gossett from The SAFE Alliance

 

In this Q&A, Jay Gossett, Chief Operations Officer at The SAFE Alliance, shares some of the challenges and risks his team faces daily. He also talks about how upgrading to Security Center drives real savings and value across operations, helping his staff stay alert, uphold privacy, and most importantly—keep clients safe.

EBOOK

 

Q: What daily challenges do you face when securing your environment?

One of the biggest challenges we face at SAFE is ensuring that only authorized personnel can access certain areas. This is a constant task, especially in busier, high-traffic zones. We have to stay on top of monitoring all doors because even a brief lapse in surveillance could allow someone to slip in unnoticed.

Keeping our cameras up and running is just as important. Any camera downtime or blind spots could compromise our physical security and put our staff and clients at risk. We regularly monitor device statuses and tackle any camera maintenance right away to ensure that doesn’t happen.

We also take our clients’ privacy very seriously and protecting that is top-of-mind for our team. Plus, we’re dealing with limited staff and resources, a steady flow of new and departing clients, and even unauthorized people trying to get onto campuses. It’s a lot to manage, and every day can bring something new.

Q: How has Security Center helped you address those challenges?

Investing in Security Center has made a big difference for us. It’s helped us tackle and mitigate a lot of the day-to-day challenges we deal with. Having everything—video, access control events, intercom calls, alarms, reports— all in one centralized solution makes it much easier for our security staff to stay on top of things. They work more efficiently and respond confidently, no matter what comes up.

Using their mobile devices, our staff can check cameras or door alarms while out on patrol or responding to a call, which means we can react to crises immediately. They can assess and respond to situations remotely, without needing to come in to check on things in the middle of the night.

Q: What are the top results that came from using Security Center?

Since making the switch to Security Center, we’ve seen plenty of positive results. Off the top of my head, here are some of the biggest ones:

• Improved access control – We have reduced the risk of unauthorized entry and made it easier for our staff to manage who can and can’t enter specific areas.
• Enhanced live monitoring – With high-definition cameras, motion detection, and real-time monitoring, we can keep a close eye on all entry points and critical areas. This expands our visibility and helps us react quickly to any suspicious activity.
• Better incident tracking and investigation – It’s easy for us to pull up video recordings and access logs to get the whole picture. Since video and data is linked, we can quickly review what happened, identify weak spots, and take action to fix them. This has also been an asset for audits and compliance.
• Strengthened security culture – Having visible security measures around us reminds our staff to stay sharp about following our security protocols. Generally, they’ve become more mindful and cautious about things like not allowing tailgating or making sure doors aren’t propped open.
• Increased privacy protection – We’re committed, and legally obligated, to protect the confidentiality and privacy of all clients and staff. Security Center offers us end-to-end encryption and multiple layers of defense. This means only authorized staff can securely access footage, and people’s privacy is always protected.

Q: How has an open, flexible security solution benefited your team?

We’re a growing organization. Right now, we have 22 buildings spread across four campuses. In total, we use Security Center to manage 137 cameras, 72 access points, and 11 intercoms, which are at our vehicle and pedestrian gates. And that’s just the start. We’ve got two new campuses with three more buildings under construction as we speak.

Having a flexible, open platform like Security Center means we're never stuck or limited in what we can do. As our organization grows, we know our security platform will grow right alongside us, which gives us a lot of peace of mind.

Q: Do you face budget or staff strain? How does Security Center help?

Yes, we definitely face budget and staffing constraints, like many non-profits do. But Security Center has helped us stretch our resources further and operate more efficiently.

For example, our front desk staff can keep an eye on all campuses at once. So even if the only person on-site has to step away to deal with something, someone is still monitoring the campus remotely. That helps us optimize our resources while still delivering solid coverage that keeps our clients and people safe.

We were also able to integrate existing cameras from two different manufacturers into Security Center, which meant we didn’t have to buy all new equipment. That was a significant cost saver.

Q: What has working with Genetec been like? And what’s next?

Working with Genetec has been a positive experience. The Genetec team has been responsive, easy to work with, and really tuned into our needs. They don’t just offer us standard solutions but come up with creative ways to support our specific challenges.

We have three new buildings under construction, and Genetec has already shown us that scaling up won’t be a problem. Knowing this, we’re excited to keep expanding and evolving what we’ve started. We’re looking at adding new capabilities, refining our processes, and finding ways to strengthen our security posture.

After all, when we stay on top of security, our team can focus on what matters most: creating a safe, stable, and healing environment where our clients can get back on their feet and thrive.