A CCTV camera: The security of your customers and staff cannot be compromised by a paranoid employee. FILE
By DR FRANK NJENGA
Q: Safety has become paramount today and I
plan to instal surveillance cameras in my retail shop within Nairobi.
However, I’m caught in a dilemma over what reaction my trusted employees
will have on the whole issue.
I fear that some of them are likely to think
that I’m spying on them and react in a negative way, which could hurt
our relations as well as the business. How do I handle this matter
because I strongly believe that it is for the good of the business?
About 10 years ago we evaluated a man who had
visited our clinic and formed the impression that he had Paranoid
Schizophrenia. He was treated, improved and led a normal life for as
long as he remained on treatment. He visited our clinic because he had
been unable to sleep for several months.
He remained awake most nights because he feared
that a German group of Secret Agents was following him and was about to
kidnap him, take him to Germany where he would be forced to confess to
having been a spy during the Second World War! (He was not born then).
To protect himself he had fortified his home,
office and had a number of security guards with him at all times. He was
licensed to carry a firearm.
His office had a CCTV camera at the reception,
another was located in the adjoining room where his secretary sat. He
was separated from her by a steel sliding door which only he could open
from the inside.
A secret exit door through the back was known only
to him and a car was parked near the exit at all times, in addition to
his official car at the front of the building.
Changed cars
He frequently changed cars and drivers. At no time
did his office know which driver or car he would use. He kept his diary
secret, not even his secretary was sure of what he did while inside his
office.
His home was a fortress. In addition to three
gates, lined up in the long drive (all manned by guards with dogs) the
entire compound was covered with more guards, dogs and CCTV cameras in
addition to strong lights at night. Like his office, his house was well
fortified.
Towards the time of his referral to us not even
his wife could enter his bedroom as he could not be sure what she might
do to him while he slept.
He had other odd habits. For some years his
acquaintances, he had no real friends, had observed his odd ways. When
he went for lunch, for example, he would not order food from the menu —
he always ate from the buffet
.
.
He would not pick any item from the buffet tray
until somebody else had not only picked a similar item, but would watch
to see that the person had actually eaten some of the food.
He had always gone to the bar to pick his drink;
no waiter would serve him. If the barman chose a particular bottle from
which to pour him whiskey, he would allow the barman to do so but would
then reject the drink asking for a drink from another — usually new —
bottle of his choice.
He would sometimes travel in two or three different cars, mostly parked at different exits.
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