An independent physical security consultant has no guards to staff, no hardware to sell, and no installation contract waiting at the end of the assessment. That absence is the entire product. It is the difference between being told what you need and being told what someone needs to sell you.
Wittner Security Consultants is independent, and this page explains exactly what that means in practice, including the part most firms would rather you did not know to ask about.
Most physical security advice in Northern California comes from one of three places, and each has a thumb on the scale:
None of this requires anyone to be dishonest. It only requires them to be human. When a recommendation pays the person writing it, the recommendation drifts. The only reliable fix is to remove the incentive entirely.
These are commitments, not adjectives:
Paul Wittner also operates Western Security Systems, a licensed California alarm and low voltage company.
We are telling you this on our own website, in our own words, before you hire us. Here is why it does not compromise your assessment, and how you can hold us to it.
Paul's licenses come from four decades on the contracting side of this trade. That is precisely what makes his advice worth having. It is also why the line between the two businesses has to be drawn in ink rather than good intentions:
You are entitled to be skeptical of any firm that markets itself on independence. So apply your skepticism usefully: ask us the three questions in the FAQ below, and ask them of everyone else you are considering. We are comfortable with our answers.
It is a fair question and it deserves a direct answer. Paul does operate Western Security Systems, a licensed alarm and low voltage company. Wittner Security Consultants is a separate practice with a rule that does not bend: it does not bid, install, or profit from any work it recommends, and it takes no commissions from anyone.
We put this on our own website, in writing, before you ask. A firm hiding a conflict does not publish a page about it.
They do, which is why the claim is worth nothing on its own. Ask three questions of anyone you are considering. Do you sell, install, or monitor any of what you might recommend? Do you receive commissions, referral fees, or incentives from any manufacturer or integrator? Will I own the specification and be free to bid it to anyone? If the answers are not no, no, and yes, the advice has a second customer.
You can, and sometimes their advice is fine. But understand what you are buying. When you ask a company that staffs officers whether you need more officers, or an integrator which cameras you need, you are asking someone to write a recommendation that pays them. That is not dishonesty, it is arithmetic. An independent assessment removes the arithmetic.
You do. The deliverable is yours to competitively bid to any installer in the market, including installers we have never met. That is the point of paying for independent design. If a consultant's specification can only be fulfilled by one vendor, you did not buy a specification. You bought a sales document.
Bring the conflict of interest question to your first call. It is the right question, and we would rather you asked it of everyone.