America’s Mass Shooter Crisis Demands Visionary Leadership
Unfortunately, the American flags continually flying half-staff to honor victims of mass shootings are a stark reminder of our culture of violence. It is a disturbing commentary on American life, when flags at half-staff seem to be the norm, rather than the exception.
America must never give up - we must ignite compassion in
our hearts.
Each person who has perished in these senseless tragedies
deserves America's remembrance, and we must resolve to end the scourge of
violence.
Mass Casualty
Culture: Changing the Paradigm
The Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense
and Security has addressed our mass casualty crisis in a sobering report.
The report titled How
Violent Attacks are Changing the Demands of Mass Casualty Incidents: A Review
of the Challenges Associated with Intentional Mass Casualty Incidents
dramatically emphasizes the impact these tragedies have on communities.
FBI Active Shooter Definition / Reference Guide
Before we continue, it is important to have a working
definition of active shooter.
The FBI Active Shooter Quick Reference Guide defines an
active shooter as “an individual actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill
people in a confined and populated area, typically through the use of
firearms.”
The guide also highlights these points:
- Victims are selected at random
- Event is unpredictable and evolves quickly
- Knowing what to do can save lives
The guide also accentuates that when an active shooter is in
your vicinity, you must be prepared both mentally and physically to deal with
the situation with three options of run, hide, or fight.
It is imperative that those responsible for security continually initiate assessments, training, and counter-measures that cultivates these three options.
Security Countermeasures:
Practical Tips
A robust security program must be comprehensive, proactive,
and continually updated. Security must never be piecemeal, negligent, or have
its importance minimized.
Securing workplaces, schools, campuses, houses of worship,
communities must include the following:
Security
Vulnerability Assessments: These must be conducted by board-certified,
reputable, and experienced public safety professionals to identify and evaluate
areas of risk.
Background Checks /
Investigations: This is an essential due diligence countermeasure to prevent
hiring individual’s not deserving employment or access. These checks must be
made by qualified, licensed professionals who honor background checks laws.
Background checks include criminal history, drug testing, motor vehicle driving
records, credit checks, liens, judgments, sexual offender registry’s,
employment and professional credential verifications.
Investigations may include surveillance, interviewing, and
information sources by experienced and ethical professionals and are critical
to protecting enterprises.
Training:
Security demands ongoing training including personal safety, substance abuse
awareness, domestic violence, diversity, conflict resolution, ethics,
situational awareness, Internet security, workplace violence, fire prevention,
crisis management, emergency preparedness, loss prevention, economic crime,
crime prevention, drills, evacuations, terrorism, and warning signs.
Warning Signs: Warning
Signs Are Critical to Violence Prevention.
We must recognize warning signs and provide the necessary intervention,
training, health care, and security measures to prevent tragedies.
Physical Security: This includes countermeasures preventing unauthorized access - fencing, barrier arms, bollards, card access systems, ID cards, lighting, crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED), defense in depth, locks, alarms, fire extinguishers, Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs), mass communication systems, and metal detectors.
Personnel Security:
Certified, well-trained, and licensed security officer programs with reputable
contract or in-house professionals, either armed or unarmed personnel.
Procedural Security:
Panning and evaluation with table-top exercises with partial and full scale
drills based on numerous possible scenarios. Drills must involve law enforcement,
first-responders, and private security professionals. Essential to drills is the Active Shooter
tips on the FBI website titled RUN, HIDE, FIGHT.
Informational /
Cybersecurity: In this age of instantaneous global data at the fingertips
of individuals, some with nefarious intentions, protecting information is vital.
Informational security must be effective and continually updated with ongoing training for personnel that empowers them with preventive techniques. This protects companies from breaches of information through the Internet, dumpster diving, and social engineering and can prevent unnecessary turmoil to companies and employees.
The Second Amendment:
Enshrined Not Violated
One of my professional responsibilities over the last 30
years has included being a private security professional, coordinating armed
security services.
America needs qualified armed security services,
complementing law enforcement dedication, to safeguard society from individuals
with nefarious criminal intentions.
Law-abiding citizens must also have their enshrined Second
Amendment rights honored and never violated.
But there are individuals who should be unequivocally denied
gun access as exemplified by the following tragedies:
Indianapolis FedEx – In Apr. 2021, this tragedy was the 45 mass shooting in America in just the past month. The 19-year-old who killed eight people at a FedEx facility purchased the two assault rifles used in the attack legally months after being investigated by the FBI due to his potential for violence, according to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.
Virginia Tech –
Thirty-two people are shot dead, including 27 students and five faculty
members, and another 17 were wounded the deadliest shooting by a single gunman
in U.S. history. The gunman should have never been able to purchase a gun
because a court order had previously declared him a danger to himself.
Lafayette Movie
Theater – Two people were killed and nine wounded by a shooter who was
denied a state-issued concealed weapons permit because he was accused of
domestic violence and soliciting arson. The killer was also ordered by a judge
to a psychiatric hospital but purchased a weapon legally despite fears from his
family members that he was violent and mentally ill.
Emanuel A.M.E. Church
– Nine people were killed by an individual who should have been denied
purchasing a .45-caliber Glock pistol because he was charged with a misdemeanor
and had admitted to possessing drugs. There was a breakdown in the federal gun
background check system with former FBI Director James B. Comey stating, “We wish we could turn back time.
From this vantage point, everything seems obvious.”
Marysville High
School, Washington – A 15-year-old used his father’s pistol to kill four
students. The father should have been denied the gun purchase since he was the
subject of a permanent domestic violence order that was never entered into the
federal criminal background database.
Washington Navy Yard
– Although he sought treatment for psychiatric issues and told police detailed
psychotic experiences, the killer was able to buy a shotgun in Virginia used to
kill 12 people. He had been denied an assault rifle purchase.
Newtown, Connecticut
– 26 people, mostly children, were killed by a 20-year-old known to have
psychiatric and anxiety issues as well as an obsessive-compulsive disorder. He
had access to his mother’s guns, which he also used to kill her.
Aurora, Colorado
Theater – Although seeing a psychiatrist, and even if for serious mental
health issues, weapons were legally purchased by a man who used them to kill 12
people and wound 70 others.
Tucson, Arizona – Although arrested for drug paraphernalia and a year later failing Army enlistment drug testing, the killer legally brought a handgun to kill six people. He also shot U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords, leaving her with a severe brain injury.
Police-Community Unity:
Culture of Trauma Antidote
The violence has no end in sight and every community,
citizen, and police officer is a potential victim.
The antidote to this culture of trauma is police-community
unity, indispensable to the security of our society.
Citizens and police must unite to turn the tide of this
culture of trauma. America’s healing will only be possible with ethical
leadership, unwavering collaboration, and moral courage. We must vigilantly
work together for the common good.
When our communities and police are infused by an ethical compass, a unity of effort that builds bridges rather than walls, and a passion to do what is right for America, we will be on the path to reawakening the nation.
Enhancing Private Security Professionals
Private security must honestly evaluate its services in
light of unprecedented violence unleashed throughout America, to prevent future
tragedies.
Also, the implementation of critical response private
security personnel demands serious consideration to harden high-profile soft
targets. This is the new reality of private security – certified and licensed
armed security personnel. These
professionals are in highly visible tactical gear, serving as a deterrent and
have the experience to respond to a crisis. These individuals should have
either law enforcement or military experience, with specialty units such as
SWAT, or emergency services.
There are ready, willing, and able professionals, ready to
harden soft targets with critical response programs. America must be vigilant,
and respond courageously to the war drums of violence.
We must be proactive and harden our soft targets.
Private security must be on the cutting edge, continually
enhancing countermeasures, protocols, and initiatives.
Final Reflections: Preventing Violence, Essential Questions
During my violence prevention presentations, I often ask attendees the following questions:
- Is there a violence prevention policy in place and is it continually updated and followed?
- Do you have an active threat assessment team that includes a law enforcement liaison?
- Have you conducted violence response training including table-top, partial scale, and full scale scenarios?
- Has your facility had a recent board certified security vulnerability assessment?
- Are your security personnel trained and certified according to state requirements with additional initiatives that exceed the status quo?
- What type of training have your implemented for those entrusted to your care on issues including domestic violence, warning signs, security protocols, school and workplace violence, emergency preparedness, sexual harassment, bullying, diversity and the active shooter?
About the Author
Vincent J. Bove, CPP, is a national speaker and author on issues critical to America with over 300 published works. Bove is recipient of the FBI Director's Community Leadership Award and former confident of the New York Yankees. He is co-founder of Global Security Resolutions and served as spokesperson for a coalition of Virginia Tech tragedy families of victims. His most recent books are Reawakening America and Listen To Their Cries.
For more information
see www.vincentbove.com or twitter@vincentjbove
References:
Center for Homeland Defense & Security Report: https://www.hsaj.org/articles/16880
FBI Active Shooter Event Quick Reference Guide: https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/active-shooter-event-quick-reference-guide_2015.pdf/view
Published: The Chief of Police, Spring 2021 - Distributed hard copy to police chiefs and law enforcement executives nationwide.
Photos:
- Virginia Tech Remembrance, Apr. 17, 2007. (Creative Commons Attribution, Public Domain, Photo by Ben Townsend).
- Boulder Police Officer Eric Talley, killed heroically responding to Mar. 22, 2021 mass shooting. (Courtesy Boulder PD)
- NYPD officers, NYC synagogue. (Credit NYPD Counterterrorism)
- Las Vegas Memorial. (Noah Wulf, Public Domain)
- Joint Terrorism Task Force. (Courtesy FBI)
- NYPD, Radio City Music Hall, NYC, Apr. 27, 2013. (Vincent J. Bove)
Labels: Campus Security, Gun Crime Prevention, Law Enforcement, Leadership, School Violence, Workplace Violence
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