What does it mean to have a strong security culture?

Date: Nov-19-2025

Author: Kim Brown

In environments where patrols, incident management, and real-time reporting are essential, a strong security culture helps to ensure both people and property remain protected.

A strong security culture is created by tailoring behaviors and practices. Everyone prioritizes safety, vigilance, and responsible conduct to create a safe space.

The hardest part about fostering a security culture is getting the staff, residents or guests to participate.

People don’t generally give much thought to security unless they are getting paid to do so, therefore, getting them to follow through with small but meaningful changes is key. Their actions should become “second nature” so that participating doesn’t feel burdensome.

    

Table of contents

    

Why should you or your clients care about creating a security culture?

You might be thinking, security is my job. Is it really necessary to get others involved? Yes. Security works best when everyone helps to reduce risks and maximize efforts.  

For example, when a resident or staff member goes out of their way to hold a door open for a stranger, they negate access control systems designed to keep unauthorized people out.

Conversely, requiring staff to use two-factor authentication to access company emails and programs helps to minimize cyberattacks.

The more active people are about protecting assets and others, the safer the facility will be.

    

Core principles of a strong security culture

In order to achieve a strong security culture, you will need to actively enforce the following principles and concepts:

    

Awareness and education

Security culture begins with knowledge. You can’t expect people to implement best practices if they don’t know what the best practices are.

People who live or work in designated areas should receive ongoing education about common threats, preventive security measures, and how to respond to security issues.

Regular training and communication will help people to identify suspicious behavior, avoid complacency, and respond confidently.

If possible, incorporate interactive elements, such as quizzes or images, in training materials to enhance retention and engagement.

    

Shared responsibility

As mentioned before, security is a team effort. While having security staff to patrol, supervise and direct makes a big difference in deterring crimes and reducing losses, everyone plays a part in maintaining a secure environment.

By empowering individuals to speak up, report concerns, and understand how their actions impact the overall safety of the property, you end up adding additional security layers.

    

 Vigilance and proactive behavior

Alertness is crucial. If someone sees something that doesn’t look right, whether it’s an email or a stranger, they should know where or how to report the activity.

Proactive behavior, rather than reactive approaches, helps prevent incidents from escalating.

    

Consistency in following protocols

Adherence to standardized procedures ensures gaps do not form in security procedures. Following best practices some of the time is far less effective than following proper procedures all of the time.

This is where scheduling patrols ahead of time can come in handy. With a system like Patrol Points, you have the power to customize how often a route should be patrolled. You can even specify what time the patrol should begin so that staff are present when malicious activity is most likely to occur.

    

Accountability

A strong security culture includes clear expectations and responsibility for one’s actions. This is more relevant to security staff than anyone, but it may be helpful to reinforce the importance of everyone doing what they can to keep their home or workplace safe. Positive reinforcement, such as recognition for being proactive, encourages participation and higher standards.

    

How to build a security culture

Not sure how to build a stronger security culture? These practical steps can be applied to start or continue your journey:

  • Risk assessments – security is a complex system, and you may not be able to identify all of the weak spots on your own. By hiring a company to conduct periodic risk assessments, you will receive detailed feedback about vulnerabilities within the property, allowing you to take pre-emptive defensive measures and prepare appropriate risk responses. More importantly, security risk assessments can also highlight where employees or residents need additional training in order to minimize weaknesses.
  • Use the seven dimensions – keep the seven dimensions in mind as a guideline for improvement. The seven dimensions are attitudes, behaviors, cognition, communication, compliance, norms, and responsibilities. 
  • Use engaging educational materials – build awareness and shape attitudes using videos, comics, statistics, and anything else that will get people to pay attention and retain the information you are sharing. Ensure you are communicating regularly to keep security top of mind.
  • Use the champion model – if appropriate and relevant, consider mobilizing a champion program across your organization in order to have advocates in every department or location who can further translate and embed the security message within your properties.
  • Engage with peers – The security landscape is always changing, making it hard to keep track of it all. Leverage your community to learn from others, find out where they have been successful, and share your own knowledge and experience.

    

Measuring success

Once you have launched an action plan, ensure you evaluate how it performs. Your success metrics will vary depending on what your objectives and goals are, but make sure your measurements are quantifiable.

For example, you could measure the number of thefts, fraudulent emails opened, or costs associated with vandalism, and see how the numbers change at the end of the year.

 These indicators will show whether the culture is improving or needs more attention.

    

Conclusion  

Establishing a strong security culture within a community or organization is crucial. Threats can come from anywhere, and can even transcend spaces. For example, a cyberthreat could have physical consequences.

But to create such a culture, it is crucial that everyone, including employees or residents, has relevant knowledge, is trained to be proactive, and is motivated to participate. These elements are essential for the development of an enduring security culture.

Ensure recommended actions are reasonable; non-security personnel will not go out of their way to do things that are too complicated.

In addition, leadership commitment is critical to strengthening security resilience and serving as a role model.

Leaders can help security teams perform at their best by equipping them with effective security tools that standardize processes and reduce tedious or repetitive manual tasks. By using a system like Patrol Points, security teams can automate security tasks and centralize data. Leaders can use the data to see what’s working well, and where improvements can be made.