​Tamper Evident Closures

These days security systems are in place in just about every business and are becoming the norm in homes as well.  In fact, the security market is expected to exceed one hundred billion dollars globally within the next few years. If you are securing your business and home, wouldn’t it make sense to do as much as you could to secure your valuables also?  By choosing high quality tamper-evident security bags you are giving yourself peace of mind. Tamper-Evident bags are used in many different capacities, such as for cash deposit bags, casino bags, crime scene evidence bags and inmate processing bags. It is imperative that the contents of such bags remain not only secure, but able to provide proof that no tampering with the items in the bag have occurred.Below are some important sealing technologies and closures that you should look for when choosing a tamper-evident bag.

The Adhesive Closure

First and foremost, the adhesive closure on your tamper-evident bag is extremely important.  The closure should have built in security features where there are hidden “void” graphics that show up if the tape on the seal is tampered with.  This graphic should present itself whether the seal is attempted to be opened by simply tearing the adhesive apart or attempting to freeze the adhesive and pry it apart.  If heat is applied to the seal to try and open the seal and/or reseal it, a visible black line should show up on either side of the closure.  As an extra added security feature, some tamper evident bags have a different colored liner from the colored seal.  For example, our Secur-Pak XT bags have a yellow tape liner and the seal is blue. Therefore, when the bag is unsealed, the area where the seal is, appears green, since the yellow and blue are layered together.  Once the bag is firmly sealed shut, the seal appears blue.  This can be very instrumental in investigating an incident, if you can go back through videotapes and visually make sure that the bag was sealed properly by confirming that the color of the seal changed from green to blue.

Side and Top Seals

It is not only important for the adhesive closure on your bag to alert you to possible tampering, all areas of the bag should have similar features.  There are different types of ways that bags can be sealed along their edges.  For the greatest security your tamper-evident bag should have what is referred to as a twin seal, pouch seal or flat seal. In this type of seal, the edges of the pouch are fused together forming a small flat border along the edges of the sides, meaning the opening of the bag does not extend all the way to the edge of the bag.  This stops the capability to create a small slit in the side of the bag and reach the contents.  Another method used to highlight tampering attempts on the side edges of a high-quality, tamper-evident security bag are tamper evidence indicators that are printed along the sides of bag itself.  Often these are small lines that clearly distort if any tampering has taken place.  The addition of a sealed top edge on your bag increases its strength and security.  Many bags use the adhesive seal as the top of the bag, however, in a top sealed edge bag, the heavier weighted tear resistant polyethylene film that the entire bag is constructed out of forms the edge on all sides.  This is a particularly great feature if you have heavier items in your bag, like coins.

Whether you are securing money, jewels, casino chips, crime scene evidence or anything else of value in your industry, a high-quality tamper-evident security bag is your first line of defense.  There are many different types of security bags available today, so make sure you do your homework and look for the features highlighted above to ensure the livelihood of your business.