Alright, back to the "law enforcement" portion of Defense Tech.
My bro David Woroner from Survival Consultants International is laid up in the hospital for some pretty serious stuff today, but he managed to text over this story about a shooting on the University of Delaware campus that shut down classes.
This assault obviously raises the alarming specter of the Va. Tech shootings and prompts me to post the second part of Daves recommended solution to the recent outbreak of campus shootings.
I invite you to slice and dice his analysis, but I also ask you to keep Dave in your thoughts as he undergoes some pretty serious surgery in the coming days...
Part II
Follow Up: In the Aftermath of the release of the of Gov. Timothy Kaines panel report, while not scathing, did say the alert should have been issued, and classes should have been closed.
Too often we see what can happen, and how fast The term I use: Everything can change in a Second still applies. We all know thats what it comes down to for businesses (private or public) and educational facilities. It is about the bottom line, cash and PR. The Liability vs. Cost of this Professional Security Presence can be easily offset.
If Virginia Tech had armed professionals there, they would have engaged. There may have been casualties, but not so many. Also, from a business perspective, how much are you now gonna have to pay those 30 odd families who lost young ones in litigated settlements? I can guarantee you this: cheap is not the word I would use.
If you had the professionals onsite, in a court of law, it would be easily shown that the overseeing entity provided security for the employees, students and visitors to the best of their abilities. In my opinion, that would be the courts final say. Its all about Did you do everything you could, or at least show you tried to avert some situation such as this. Follow the above or get ready to get sued out of business. When there is blood in the water, the sharks will come.
Depending on the size of a venue, Professional, Armed Security is a must.
Overview:
These Professionals should not be walking around in battle dress, but a specific dress delineates who the good guys are. Proper dress is very important in this scenario.
Active shooters, terrorists and other unforeseen plans will always be there from now on, get used to it, prepare.This security presence is not intended to be the creation of a secret police, police state mentality in the venue. The idea is to always be constitutionally bound by fairness, law and contain the ability to incorporate checks and balances within itself. It must protect the protected from becoming the target of an out of control security member or members. It should also be decisive and final in case of an event. It should come from proper team selection and overall creation of the intended group, to include all three key components of the security field.
The three components are Private Security, Prior Military, Prior Law Enforcement within the scope of the American Society of Industrial Security. This will surely bring together a force that will be able to work together from different viewpoints, both learned and lived.
Finally, an off property training location is necessary to engage in learning, training and cross training in all of these learned prior experiences - to include methodologies, communication, real-time maneuvering and live-fire exercises. This must be supported by the entity employing/engaging such professionals. The operators must work out plans in real time scenarios, to discover any internal flaws and fix them. You can only do this when youre sweating, engaging, etc. The world goes to a different level when an event takes place.
Also, in the contract, it must state that administrators, owners, CEOs, etc. may not intervene and attempt to persuade or order the security group to engage or cease. There is a lockout and protection clause from the hiring entity in the case of certain events.
Communications shall consist of:
Contact w/ each other and the security base as well as a channel for switching to interweave, which would allow security and law enforcement (local, state, federal) in the case of an event to coordinate. Complete loop communications is essential.
These Professionals will quickly delineate the property and everything on it to understand points of flow, large grouping areas. Its also important to develop operational plans for multiple scenarios on all parts of the property being secured.
The event at Va. Tech. should clearly illustrate the need for an overall, all-encompassing notification and threat level all electronic device notification system. What this means is that sending out an email is not satisfactory. The administration personnel must be taught to pass to the Security Center all threatening phone calls and any type of written or verbal intelligence. The Security Center head (at the time) [and this is a 24/7 operation] should receive all data and distribute it to professionals on the property immediately. These professionals can delineate the level of threat and respond appropriately.
This does not infer that Regular Campus Police should be removed. Rather this is an add-on specialized unit, and it should have information flowing back and forth between regular campus police, the security center and, in case of an event, all know to switch to X channel for interwoven communications.
Returning to the all electronic device notification system - this system would do the following:
Install Strobe type flashing units around the property. This strobe is only to be activated if an entire property notification has been sent. This property wide strobe would let everyone on property know (even if they were not electronically connected that something was going on) to seek out someone with an electronic device to get the following threat ladder information:
(Example Only, each security unit would devise a specific set of parameters)
Green - All Clear and safe to move about freely.
Yellow - Receipt of information that there MAY be a problem, though not overly serious at this time, monitor your electronic device for any updates. (No Strobe)
Orange - A low-level threat or incident is confirmed and all should remain calm, stay where you are or seek cover, shelter, lock doors within your current placement. Notify the Security Center if you positively can identify a threat (this will set in motion a number of false positives). Be prepared to Respond/Not Respond, and perhaps some administration can be taught to help with this situation.
This would be a situation for all law enforcement, security center to switch to interwoven channel. (Slow Strobe?)
Red - Imminent or Active extremely dangerous event taking place at this time.
Do Not Move From Where You Are. (See Part 1 of SCIs Intel Brief)
Same Steps as Orange pretty much for public, but this activates Local LE, Campus Police, Security Center interwoven communications/full interweave PRE planned specific areas for all entities LE/Security to gather if appropriate, or go directly to a plan already known and sent to all on interwoven channel. (Rapid Strobe?)This information MUST over ride, and deliver to multiple sources this information. All cell phones, pagers, computers, phone systems, etc. must receive the same / or more detailed information. All devices must receive these ladder steps.
I have specifically avoided how to setup the Security Center & Cameras/Camera Placement, as there are very good reasons for keeping them not available to potential threats.
-- David Woroner
So what do you all think?
-- Christian
