BATTLE CREEK, Mich. — According to Tucker Kulish, security is always a top priority in the medical marijuana industry. He co-owns Great Lakes Holistics, a medical marijuana dispensary on Columbia Avenue and he said they’re always checking the cameras.
“You got to look for everything here. You got to be aware of people coming in that might be a little suspect,” he said during an interview with FOX 17. “Definitely got to keep an eye on things especially after-hours.”
So he and the other owners reached out to Safeguard Security Solutions to install a new high-tech security system. They traveled in from Detroit recently to install it, which includes a motion detector and live video monitoring.
“The monitoring station can voice down, try to scare them away tell (and) them to leave the premises,” said Safeguard co-owner Ryan Triemstra. “And if they’re not listening they can dispatch.”
Triemstra said they have an employee who works overnight and watches live video of the business. Anytime someone or something comes close, that employee tells them over a loud speaker to go away.
“We got a call one night that was like midnight and there was a gentleman walking across the parking lot,” Kulish remembered. “They can actually distinguish whether it's an animal or just a gentleman walking across the parking lot.”
Triemstra said having this type of security for these types of businesses are important because medical marijuana is “high target.” Product is small and easy to take and subsequently sell on the street for cash.
“I mean they can smash and grab,” he said. “We’ve seen where they’ve ran trucks through the building, jumped out, came in and within five minutes have cleaned out the whole shelf.”
It’s something Kulish said he doesn’t want. So he’s grateful Safeguard traveled to Battle Creek to help protect their business.
“The alerts come directly to my phone,” Kulish said. “So I mean it’s something that comes straight to me as soon as something is alerted. So it’s been huge for us”
