With the threats of active shooters plaguing our nation’s sanctuaries, security teams are becoming a popular means by which faith-based organizations are addressing this issue and helping their members feel safer. After having considered its legal obligations, faith-based organizations can create an effective security team by identifying its risk potentials and finding members in the organization who are best qualified in confronting those risks.
But before risks are indentified and addressed, those who will comprise of the team need to be selected. Usually deriving from professions to include law enforcement, security, armed forces, fire emergency services, emergency medical services, and professional medical services, the professionals are the best resources available to identify and address the risks that face today’s faith based organizations.
As Jeffrey Hawkins of the Church Security Network has noted, the security team is “truly the heart of any security and emergency planning operations.” Therefore, the security team should be comprised of individuals who have experience and training in security, law enforcement, emergency medical services, professional medical services, and the military.
By identifying such individuals in the organization and leaning on their expertise from their experiences, the faith-based organization stands to create a diverse security team that will be better prepared to address any emergency matter that may surface.
Law Enforcement, Security, and Military Professions
Members from these professions bring a great deal of training and experience to the table. Law enforcement officers prove to be an extremely reliable source for providing armed security personnel as they are annually trained and required to pass a qualifications course with their duty weapon. Also, with their vast amount of experience in defusing heated situations by using good communication skills, police officers are often capable of resolving situations without using any force.
Security officers and members of the armed forces (current or former) can be as efficient as their law enforcement counterparts. Unfortunately, not all security officers or military soldiers have access or permission to carry their weapons except for in the normal course of their duties with their primary employer. Nonetheless, they to possess a significant level of training in hand to hand combat, self defense techniques and disarming tactics that match, if not surpass, the training received by police officers.
Fire Emergency Services, EMS, and Professional Medical Personnel
Emergency fire and medical services (EMS) as well as the professional medical institutions (i.e. nurses, doctors, etc.) also have the potential to contribute a great deal the security team’s mission. While most administrators’ fears surround the remote possibility of an “active shooter” scenario unfolding in their facilities, statistically speaking, a faith-based organization is more likely to experience a medical emergency than any other emergency.
The University of Maryland’s world renowned R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma has always been a proponent of the “golden hour” rule. This rule has proven that patients who receive professional level of medical intervention within an hour after sustaining a life threatening injury stand a significant chance of surviving their injury than those who do not receive the same intervention within the first hour.
Because most faith-based organizations have a sizeable amount of senior citizens in attendance at their events, it stands to reason that complications from existing health conditions pose to be the most likely problem that security teams will encounter. Having professional medical personnel on hand and prepared to respond to a medical emergency increase the chances of the patient’s survival.
Risk Assessment
One of the biggest risks that should be immediately addressed concerns the security team itself. “Before you implement security and emergency measures, speak with your insurance agent first. Doing so will avoid the unpleasant surprise of finding out that the insurance company will not cover a claim because they did not approve of the implemented security measure” says Jeffrey Hawkins, author of An Introduction to Security & Emergency Planning for Faith-Based Organizations.
However, risks assessments are not just confined within the organization’s insurance guidelines. Faith-based organizations are using their police, fire, and medical professionals to evaluate the likelihood of certain events unfolding on their campuses.
For example, a church on the east coast may not be as susceptible to a tornado as would a church located in the Midwestern states. Therefore, security team members for organizations located in the Midwest should identify the need for an emergency plan that would enable attendees to be sheltered in a safe place until the threat of a tornado has passed. More in depth preparations under this scenario would include having food rations and other emergency provisions on hand.
The faith-based organization needs to evaluate and identify the risks that threaten them through a host of assessments by the security team. Some items of consideration should include but are not limited to: criminal acts (i.e. burglary, robbery, and embezzlement), medical emergencies (i.e. heart attacks, strokes, etc.), and natural disasters (i.e. hurricanes, earthquakes, and tornados). By identifying the greatest risk factors to an organization, security teams can then concentrate on the development of an action plan that conforms to the insurance policy guidelines and provides the safest benefits to its members.
Organizations without Professional Members
While organizing a security team and identifying the greatest risks seems like a rather simple task, not every organization has the luxury of having professional emergency service members within their ranks. In these instances, such organizations are reaching out to their local police, fire, and medical communities and asking those professions to identify the risks for them. Consequently, members of the organization’s security team are developing working relationships with these local emergency services and helping to make their houses of worship and outreach ministries a safer place for all who come.
