Securing busy hospital garages and lots in urban centers: how four hospitals and a medical school are meeting today's and tomorrow's challenges.

Parking lots and garages, besides being by definition targets for auto theft and break-ins, like emergency rooms record a proportionately higher number of incidents of a serious nature compared to other hospital areas. These include burglaries, robberies, and assaults. Whether the parking facilities are located in high-traffic urban centers or are providing services that attract victims of serious crimes, the need to maintain and upgrade parking security is a high priority for the hospital security executives interviewed for this report. Here, they give details on the steps they are currently taking or plan to take to provide round-the-clock protection for a wide range of parking patrons--patients and visitors as well as doctors, nurses, other employees, and students.