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Dive into Kaya Cast each week for candid conversations with the visionaries shaping the cannabis landscape. We sit down with industry trailblazers to uncover their hard-earned insights and incredible experiences—arming retail entrepreneurs with the know-how and motivation to build a cannabis business they'll love.
Chris Eggers: Stay calm, and keep moving.
There's good days, there's
bad days, there's good weeks,
there's bad weeks, there's great
quarters and there's bad quarters.
But this industry is full of
amazing people, we're all generally
chasing the same goal, right?
Of starting a business and
growing a business and, you know,
moving this industry forward.
So it's exciting to be part of and it's,
it's a little bit wild at the same time.
Tom Mulhern: Welcome back
to the Kaya Cast Podcast.
I am your host, Tom Mulhern, and
today I have a fantastic interview
with Chris Eggers from Cannabis
Compliant Security Solutions.
Their company is creating some of
the most state-of-the-art security
solutions for cannabis businesses.
And it was amazing to be able
to dive into this complex
world of cannabis and security.
And I really hope that you enjoy this
conversation between Chris and I.
We discuss some of the things that
dispensary owners need to be aware
of when it comes to security and
compliance within their dispensary.
So we talk about that.
We talk about cutting edge technology.
We talk about his history in law
enforcement and how law enforcement can
partner with cannabis businesses to help,
drop that stigma to help communities.
And so let's jump right into this
interview between me and Chris Eggers.
Chris Eggers is a nationally recognized
figure in the field of cannabis
security and cannabis risk management.
Prior to founding CCSS, Eggers
served 12 years as a law enforcement
officer with both the San Francisco
and Oakland police departments.
His law enforcement experience
includes working undercover in Oakland,
involvement in a broad range of
burglary and robbery investigations.
These experiences were central
to why he founded CCSS.
And the origin of CCSS mission and vision.
Chris, welcome to the Kaya Cast Podcast.
It's amazing to have you here.
Chris Eggers: Thanks for having me
and pleasure to meet you in person.
Finally.
Tom Mulhern: So Chris, tell me a bit
about your background and how did you
get started in the cannabis industry?
Chris Eggers: I started my law enforcement
career with the Oakland Police Department.
I was there for a little over six years,
and then I lateraled to San Francisco Pd.
I was there about seven years before
I quit to found CC Security Solutions.
Cannabis security does lay into some
of my strengths and some of the unique
education that I got as a, as a cop
specifically working undercover for
the Oakland Police Department really
helped me to understand what criminals
look for, what makes 'em tick.
Law enforcement has a way of sort of
training you that it's the devil's
lettuce and it's, it's all bad.
That was not my experience prior
to entering law enforcement.
I never, you know, accepted that
mentality and excited to use my
skillsets here in the cannabis industry.
Tom Mulhern: When it comes specifically
to security, what are some of the unique
challenges that your clients are facing?
Chris Eggers: We see an increase
in frequency of targeted attacks
against cannabis businesses, but we
also see an increase in violence.
The offenders are coming, you
know, not one or two to, with a
crowbar to the back door anymore.
You know, now it's 20 deep with
rifles, you know, and that's real.
Unfortunately, that's the
reality that we're facing.
I don't think it's gonna get any better.
And so one of the biggest challenges
I think, that all licensed cannabis
operators, face is setting realistic
expectations around security
because it is an expensive, line
item within somebody's budget.
And it's important to set those realistic
expectations and understand, you know,
where does the risk exist if any,
and, and where are the liabilities?
Tom Mulhern: Now looking at
budget, where should a cannabis
business kind of prioritize that
budget when it comes to security?
Like is it cameras, is it alarm systems?
Or like what should the priority be
when they're setting up that security?
Chris Eggers: Understanding how to
utilize technology to to increase
surveillance, limit liability, and
decrease cost, is how CCSS has grown.
Utilizing technology such as
proactive video monitoring.
And we're also at the forefront
of utilizing drones as a
security solution as well.
Proactive video monitoring is
a, is a cost effective solution.
When done right, can save, you
know, thousands of dollars a month.
We saved one client in East Oakland,
a very large property, $250,000
directionally, annually from guard
services utilizing proactive video
monitoring at their, at their site.
Tom Mulhern: You guys are
utilizing drone technology.
What are you using that for?
I mean, like you said, this is kind
of breaking and it's brand new.
Like what sort of uses could you you have
for a drone in the cannabis industry?
Chris Eggers: Sure.
So we've utilized drones
as a security solution.
We've completed now three FAA
compliant patrols in East Oakland on
cannabis facilities, utilizing our
own facility management technicians
who we've invested into into them,
and they're now drone pilots.
So we completed the first drone as a
security solution within the cannabis
industry, that was less than a mile
and a half from Oakland International
Airport in a no-fly zone space.
So we were able to achieve FAA waivers
to fly completely compliantly around
this facility to increase coverage.
And we would have some internal data
that we're gonna start to release soon.
That shows how cost effective that is, you
know, and how much more money we can save.
So when we implement that solution
at another property in East Oakland,
we're gonna save that client about
$25,000 annually on guard services
Tom Mulhern: What are some of
the misconceptions that you keep
on running into with security?
Are there certain misconceptions and how
do you address those in the industry?
Chris Eggers: Sure.
The biggest one is the
disruption to the status quo.
Status quo of cannabis security today, I
would argue, is a disconnected patchwork
of various services, service providers and
service offerings with limited allocation
of risk, one-sided contracts limited
insurance and bad actors generally.
Clients often have to navigate 4,
5, 6, 7 different types of security
vendors to piece together their
solution, and that's the status quo.
That's what people are dealing with today.
We are changing the paradigm
of cannabis security, and we're
strong on our belief in that.
The status quo hasn't changed up
until now, and and we're happy
to be at the forefront of that.
Tom Mulhern: How do you protect staff and
then how do you protect the people that
are coming in to buy cannabis in stores?
Chris Eggers: It's really a, a matter
understanding from the operator how you,
how do you intend to use your business?
How do you intend to use your space?
How do you really intend
to move around this space?
How do your employees
intend to move and operate?
You know, those are things that we
wanna put on the table so that we can
then create processes and procedures.
And so it's really a matter of
understanding, you know, in an honest
conversation with the client how they
intend to use their, their facility.
Right.
And then on top of that, you know,
having a, a knowledge specifically
around cannabis is important with,
with respect to protecting customers.
So if we're talking about a
retail facility, obviously
that's where the customers are.
You know, having that knowledge about the
industry intimately is hugely important.
Too many people I've seen,
look at cannabis as just
another industry to get into.
And it's a unique industry
for a lot of reasons.
And it's just not that simple.
So, you know, understanding
the specific risk profiles of
each business is, is paramount.
Tom Mulhern: Do you have any
horror stories, has there been
anything that you've seen that
you're like, that is the dumbest
thing that I've seen a business do?
You know, can you share maybe
something to, enlighten the audience?
Chris Eggers: One of the biggest sort of
blunders that we continue to see clients
make before they engage with us is that
do-it-yourself sort of piecemealing things
together to try to save a couple bucks.
That always leads to more
expensive solutions later on.
But again, you know, we don't, we
all don't know what we don't know.
But, you know, non-security folks
making security decisions is, is the
biggest sort of mistake that we see
consistently and is counterproductive
to the goal in mind of the people
doing it, which is to save some money.
The price point initially I think is
really important, but then peeling back
those onion layers and, and we have a
document that we send out, you know,
constantly about how to vet vendors,
you know, what questions to ask.
we're talking about guard
services, are you licensed by the
state that you're operating in?
Do you hold the proper insurances?
What are your SOPs?
We have clients that pick the cheapest
option and that leads to issues.
I don't know of anything
that you would buy that's the
cheapest and the best, right?
But we often get that, Hey, I want
the cheapest and best solution.
What's the goal here?
Is it to be cheap or is
it to be, you know, best?
But security's something that a
lot of people are not well versed
in, which is why we believe in,
you know, almost over-communication
and being as transparent as we
possibly can to help educate clients.
Tom Mulhern: Do you work with
local, like state law enforcement or
municipalities to kind of help train
them or, and provide education there?
Chris Eggers: No law enforcement
agencies are not yet reaching out,
you know, banging down our door,
asking for training, and they should.
I personally had to seek out
all of the training that I
got, you know, with respect to
cannabis within law enforcement.
And again, the underlying theme is that
cannabis is bad and that's just not true.
I tell this story often, but a
dispensary opened up when I was
a foot beat officer on Market
Street in downtown San Francisco.
A a new dispensary had opened up
and I was the foot beat officer with
the hat on and you know, everything.
And I walked by one day and
manager and I made eye contact.
He kind of waved me in, introduced myself.
I gave him my business card, Hey,
if, if you need anything, this is
kind of where I normally hang out.
And, and this is who I am.
Great.
It was a great interaction.
And I leave and my sergeant's parked in,
you know, in the middle of Market Street.
He waves me over and he says,
stay outta those places.
And I said, no.
Like, absolutely not.
This is a retail facility.
I'm a foot beat officer.
My job is to, you know, essentially
shake hands, kiss babies.
And let people know that I'm here,
be present, and absolutely not, I'm
not gonna stay outta those places.
And on top of that, if you feel
that way, put that in writing.
Send me an email, something that
I can hold up and said, you know,
you don't want me in these places.
So that, that negative connotation still
very much exists within law enforcement.
Tom Mulhern: How do you think
that shapes the public's opinion
of cannabis dispensaries or
operations cultivation facilities?
Like, do you think that the media
and those stigmas really play
a part in, the public's view?
Chris Eggers: I think it can.
Security within cannabis
facilities is vast.
The rules around them are vast.
So, you know, The GAP
doesn't have a camera account
coverage requirements, right?
The GAP doesn't have rules around
limited access areas that, you know,
they can get fined or dinged if they
don't abide by cannabis facilities do.
And oftentimes here's.
You know, sort of the, the secret, right?
Law enforcement knows that you have
to have certain, for example, camera
coverage on the exterior of your building.
And so if there's a, a hit and
run accident outside or some other
investigation that occurred unrelated
to the building, law enforcement
oftentimes seeks out the cannabis
businesses because they know that
they can provide evidentiary value.
Right in the form of video surveillance.
And I would always tell when I was
a cop, cannabis facilities, when
we would go ask and pull video,
Hey, keep a log of this, right?
So the next community meeting you
can speak to the fact that, you know,
Officer Eggers came by to collect
video for a hit and run, you know,
or whatever the investigation may be.
But there's a lot of value
that is provided by cannabis
facilities being in communities.
I would I've said this before,
I would absolutely raise my
family around a, a cannabis
facility right when done properly.
But again, there is a lot of corner
cutting in the security space as well.
So we, we often see that as well.
Tom Mulhern: One last question.
As a entrepreneur, a business
owner, what's one tip for a c@nn@bis
business to grow their business?
Chris Eggers: Stay calm and keep moving.
You know, this, this
entrepreneurial world is new to me.
And it's okay to say that.
It's okay to say you don't
have all the answers.
You know, we all have very extensive
networks, so if we don't know the
answer, we can find the answer.
But hurdles, road bumps, obstacles
come at any entrepreneur.
So my hat's off to specifically
cannabis folks that are starting
plant touching businesses, right?
There's a lot of hurdles that they have to
go through and experience that a pick and
shovel company like mine doesn't have to.
But having said that, you know, stay calm.
And keep moving.
There's good days, there's
bad days, there's good weeks,
there's bad weeks, there's great
quarters and there's bad quarters.
But this industry is full of
amazing people, We're all generally
chasing the same goal, right?
Of starting a business and
growing a business and, you know,
moving this industry forward.
So it's exciting to be part of and it's,
it's a little bit wild at the same time.
Tom Mulhern: Chris, how do people connect
with you and CCSS if they want, you know,
your, your security solutions that are,
you know, challenging the status quo?
How do people connect with You?
Chris Eggers: We are
serving clients nationwide.
We have a heavy footprint in California
obviously because of where we're
from and, and our experience there.
But we have clients in Florida, Texas,
New Jersey, New York, Colorado, Michigan.
We have the ability to serve
clients nationwide, so we're
not limited geographically.
You know, you can find us
ccsecuritysolutions.com,
chris@ccsecuritysolutions.com.
We're on Instagram.
It shouldn't be too hard to
find, and if we are, let me know
so I can get on our SEO folks.
Tom Mulhern: Well, Chris, thank
you so much for taking this
time to be on the podcast.
And we'll have all of the links
in the bio so that people can
connect with you and find out more
about what you guys are doing.
So thanks for this time.
Chris Eggers: No, let me Thank you.
This has been a great experience.
Thanks for making it so easy.
Great to finally meet you in
person, and glad to be part of it.
So thank you for your time.
Tom Mulhern: Everyone who is working
in cannabis comes from a different
field because it's such a new industry.
And Chris's experience as a law
enforcement officer, as an undercover
cop in San Francisco, which sounds
like a movie, really prepared him
for the role that he's doing now,
the company that he's built now.
And it's so cool to see people
utilizing their backgrounds to create.
You know, a whole new
business, a whole new, creative
solution within this industry.
So I applaud Chris and others who have
come from something completely different
and now are working in cannabis.
And make sure you go check out
all of the links in the bio.
For Chris and Cannabis Compliance Security
Solutions, they are there to help you
if you are a cannabis business, looking
for a solution to your security risks.
I also want to thank everyone who
nominated Kaya Cast for Podcast
of the Year at the upcoming MJ
awards happening at MjBizCon.
I am beyond thrilled and
honored and humbled by even
being nominated for this award.
So if you enjoy this podcast, if you get
some sort of value out of the podcast,
I want to encourage you to go and vote.
We'll have a link to vote in the bio.
Stay tuned for more amazing interviews
and we will catch up with you next
week on the Kayak Cast podcast.