Security Planning and Professionalism

The media has made sure that the words "Active Shooter" strike maximum fear and sell maximum advertising for them. Fear sells advertising and drives the needs for services and demands on government. WE professionals need to turn it around and provide legitimate products and services to reduce fear and instill confidence.  I have worked in Public Safety and Planning/ Security most of my life. I am not a person that believes there is a “one cure” for everything. People argue that “gun control” is the answer, alarm systems are the answer, fences are the answer and so on. The world is not simple, the problem will always exist, bad people will never go away, murder has occurred since time began. The one cold hard fact is this – No Matter what you do, Acts of Violence against mass gatherings (whether a school, business or sporting event) WILL happen. There is no stopping these incidents. BUT we can prepare to address them IF they ever happen to us.

               Fact; there are just bad people in the world that thrive on violence. Fact; we can never stop violence, BUT we can mitigate and prepare to reduce loss of life and increase survivability. Most people that are put on the news are there for agendas, ie- Gun Control, Spark controversy for their candidate that promises to fix everything, well you get the gist. So now that I have your attention – What CAN we do? WE, professionals have a responsibility to represent those that are career executives, business owners, school officials and others to deliver them the CORRECT products, the CORRECT choices and not make promises that we CAN NEVER keep. There is NO one fix for everything, it is impossible.

               Is there legitimate monitoring of the access ways by camera, intrusion detection on the fencing (motion alerts), accessible and ready pre-plans and mapping systems available to responders and more. A multi-layer security program is a MUST when you are worried about LIFE Safety. Throwing up a fence and controlling access by people that will comply is much different than prevention of intrusion. We, as a society are afraid to see bad things, afraid to practice for reality. Public Safety does not and will never conduct a true simulation of disaster, it costs too much, and the public/ news media would murder the elected officials. One of the drills I was part of coordinating was an Airplane crash into a river, adjacent to our Port. In short, at the end of the day everyone in the ICS Ops and Command did the congratulating on a job well done, while the responders all knew that if it had been real life, it would have had a different outcome. What are the realities and the expectations? We need to stop believing that things will be OK. We, that are professionals know and should expect the worst. We should plan for the worst, be on our “A” game with planning and mitigation plans. Every Drill has benefit, please don’t think I am critical of that “drill” or “practice”, it provided many positives.

               Back to Active Shooters – All of the above amounts to the reality that WE need to encourage our building managers, public officials, business owners and others responsible for life safety to spend just a little time and listen to multiple experts, not just one. With today’s technology, they have the opportunity to make it tough as hell for bad guys to commit offenses and kill. If it is my facility, I will make it as hard as possible, try to affect my employees as minimally as possible and make the bad guy go somewhere else. I will also ensure that any responder to my facility would have as much information as possible readily available. We have lost the “information” component of planning and now are focused on physical security. Real Security has many components, Education of Staff, Information for Responders, Physical Security, Electronic Security and more.

               I never wanted to be involved in selling a single product for Security. I am asked constantly by clients when I outline their options and what I recommend if a certain product is better or worse. I never did recommend anything as a sole product. That has now changed for me. I became involved with BE SAFE Technologies and “we” have a FANTASTIC PRODUCT! The company has been around for a long time and they provide the ability for ANY and EVERY responder to have IMMEDIATE information, maps, contacts and other critical information for units and resources responding to an emergency at YOUR facility. Instant maps of everything there, doors, windows, storage, offices/rooms, hallways, fire alarm centers and MORE. I wish I would have had this capability as a responder in my “younger” days. If you are a building owner or a business owner responsible for employee lives, look at the options available and invest a small amount to Be Safe.