Smallbiz/mike1st/mark2nd
By DAVID BRINDLEY
Contributing Reporter
Sometimes even an old dog learns new tricks. Take 82-year-old Richard Behr, for example, who has been introducing new technologies in the security surveillance industry for nearly 50 years.
Behr started PIC Security Systems in 1952 after he developed the first “pan-zoom-tilt” camera for use on Los Angeles Police Department helicopters. The innovation allowed camera operators to maneuver around and zoom in to take pictures of distant objects, such as license plates.
Today Behr’s company, which installs and maintains closed-circuit television (CCTV) monitoring systems, is still on the cutting edge with its remote security monitoring systems that allow clients to keep an eye on their businesses via the Internet.
As for retirement, Behr asserts, “This is my retirement! It’s fun and the new technology is stimulating; it keeps me from growing old.”
PIC, which stands for Primary Internal Control, has also introduced a security camera that resembles a common smoke detector, so it can be installed and go relatively undetected in supermarkets and other high-traffic places.
Behr’s technological agility has allowed him to build his company not once but twice, and keeps his business thriving today.
Trained as a mechanical engineer at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, Behr moved to Los Angeles in 1945 after designing tanks and jeeps during World War II. He was intrigued by the developing broadcast industry of the late 1940s and with news cameras in particular.
Sensing he could improve on the bulky cameras, which weighed around 200 pounds, Behr developed a new streamlined camera. After realizing the camera could be used for security purposes, Behr started PIC, which installed CCTV systems and alarms, and grew it into one of the largest suppliers of security systems in Southern California.
But in 1982, at the age of 67, Behr was diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus. Told he had only a 10 percent chance of survival, he decided to sell his business. The New York-based company that bought Behr out was only interested in the alarm portion of PIC, so Behr retained the CCTV part and, after three years battling the cancer, in 1985 he picked up where he left off.
“I fooled everybody, including myself,” Behr says of his recovery.
Since then, PIC has grown to $5 million in annual revenues with 20 employees servicing more than 2,500 customers. Much of that growth has occurred in the past three years, as PIC captured several large local and national clients, such as Ralphs supermarkets and McDonald’s restaurants.
The cost of installing security systems with four cameras, two monitors and a VCR starts at $2,800. More complex systems, such as those designed for Ralphs, cost up to $200,000. But compared with the cost of a full-time security guard, a CCTV system can be a bargain.
In addition to monitoring customer activity in retail stores and restaurants, cameras serve as a tool for managers to keep an eye on employees to combat internal theft, for example and also to monitor the physical premises.
Images of workplace conditions have been used by companies to defend against wrongful workers’ compensation claims.
Among those impressed by PIC is Bob Sissung, director of security for the hundreds of corporate-owned McDonald’s restaurants in the Western United States.
One advantage of PIC, Sissung said, is that it can “tailor-make a lot of different equipment” for specific functions and locations, allowing for customized systems that address the different needs of each McDonald’s location.
And Behr’s clients don’t only include fast-food chains and supermarkets. Because of its high profile on Wilshire Boulevard and the celebrities among its congregation, Sinai Temple in Westwood installed a PIC security system for the sprawling facility about 20 years ago, said David Silverstein, Sinai Temple’s executive director.
The cameras “have come in very handy in terms of theft and damage to the building, and in protecting the congregation and the children,” said Silverstein.
Even at 82, Behr has no plans to slow down. Though he has mainly focused on installing systems in businesses throughout Southern California, Behr wants to expand into other markets a strategy that could increase sales by as much as 20 percent this year.
In addition, PIC stands to get additional business from using computers to store digital images on hard drives instead of using videocassettes for surveillance. Such advances allow PIC to offer upgrades and retrofits to existing equipment for its customers.
PIC Security Systems
Year Founded: 1952
Core Business: Installing and servicing closed-circuit television monitoring systems.
Revenues in 1993: Less than $1 million
Revenues in 1997: $5 million
Employees in 1993: 5
Employees in 1998: 20
Goal: To protect clients’ assets and enhance management control for operating businesses.
