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Written by Brian E. Reilly, CPP, PSP
CL360 Founder & Managing Director
For the last several years, I have been involved in consulting work where I have engaged a multitude of stakeholders across a wide spectrum of institutions and organizations — including schools, universities, federal law enforcement, fire departments, the corporate sector and private individuals. Recently, and in light of current events, I have received a number of inquiries regarding the area of security from individuals representing Houses of Worship (HOW) of varying faiths. The general theme in these conversations is “best practices” for securing HOW’s and faith-based organizations, namely the prevention and mitigation of violent acts (sadly).
Well… today, more than ever, it is clear that no HOW is immune from criminal activity — whether perpetrated by an insider or stranger. The leadership and members of these institutions must consider potential threats and be ready to respond in a quick and effective manner. Worship and security are not mutually exclusive — they can be integrated in an unobtrusive manner that can balance the safety and welfare of the congregation, with the sanctity of the HOW and services taking place therein.
According to a Religious Congregations & Memberships Study (Grammich, et al.), the United States has approximately 345,000 religious congregations consisting of about 150 million members. Admittedly, there is certainly no “cookie cutter” approach to improving the security posture of HOW’s; varying characteristics, demographics, politics (gun rights) and security budgets generally dictate the extent and specificity of measures considered for implementation. Nonetheless, crime prevention approaches are very similar whether adherents follow the Koran, the Talmud or the Bible — and there are a number of overarching principles that are continually emphasized and reemphasized in both scholarly work and from practitioners in the field (experts) — chief among them are:
- The development and implementation of a Security Plan
- Conducting a Security Threat Assessment
- Security needs to be included in the HOW Budget (and as an agenda item in business meetings)
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Security Plans
In this piece, I want to stress the critical importance of a Security Plan.
- Does your congregation have one?
- If so, are you knowledgeable in the areas of the plan that you are privy to? (Some aspects naturally will deal with internal office issues that are on a need to know basis.)
- If not, are plans underway to establish one?
The Plan, generally includes an Emergency Action Plan or Emergency Operations Plan that applies an “all-hazards”, holistic approach to emergency management. (For instance, the implementation of a lockdown protocol at a church [or school] would consist of virtually the same activities, whether the danger is presented by shots fired a few blocks from the facility or an escaped criminal; the crisis is occurring outside of the building, and an evacuation would be dangerous. Either way: “Locks, Lights, Out of Sight” — a Lockdown is a Lockdown!!) Predetermined roles and responsibilities are assigned in these plans, which will cut down on the inevitable chaos that ensues in a very serious, large-scale emergency. All congregants should be familiar with their building response protocols (Lockdown, Shelter-in-Place, Evacuation) including notification procedures, the primary evacuation area (secondary?) and reunification procedures. Further, congregants should be familiar with the location of emergency medical equipment (e.g., AED, trauma supplies) and the identity of individuals with medical training.
The Security Plan is generally the work product of collaborative teams; many churches have a Security Committee consisting of religious leaders, congregants, law enforcement and security & medical professionals. This committee might work with an Emergency Management team to formulate the plan and educate the congregation on pertinent aspects of it, especially emergency situations; ideally there should be a modicum of training and parts of it should be tested by conducting drills to see if any additions and/or revisions to the plan are in order. The Plan should be created after a thorough Security Risk Assessment (or Security Threat Assessment), taking into account the risks associated with that particular worship center. In the absence of formal committees and teams, leadership should enlist the help of qualified members to fill relevant roles.
A well formulated Plan — and security in general — should be applied to ALL activities related to the organization including regular prayer services, educational programs, special events and outings. Hopefully, the leadership in your congregation takes security very seriously; if not, it is incumbent on you the members to emphasize your desire to worship in a safe and secure venue, and that the lack of a budget allocated for security is no excuse, as many of the measures (best practices) are procedural in nature, and often cost-free. Regardless of size, location and individual characteristics, religious organizations need to make security a top priority in all of their affairs. As DHS puts it, Homeland Security Begins with Hometown Security.
Finally, there are a number of good resources out there to learn more about improving the security of HOW’s —
Three such publications are:
3) Crime Prevention for Houses of Worship, 2nd edition, by Paula Ratliff
Remember: YOU are the help — until help arrives!