July 2012 – Risk and Security LLC

July 2012

After Aurora – Where Do We Go From Here?

Posted on July 28, 2012 11:37 am by Caroline Ramsey-Hamilton Comment

Having written several articles on gun violence and remembering exactly where I was after Columbine, I know that very few security professionals are interested in restricting access to firearms.

But clearly this is terrorism. This is murder. All the outcry about abortion, and protecting fetuses, and there’s not even a peep when 12 young people are gunned down, having done nothing to deserve such a vicious fate.

So what we are talking about is HOW TO PROTECT THE PUBLIC from acts of terrorism and murder.

Anyway this could have been prevented?

1. Now we know he was under a psychiatrist’s care, he should have flunked the assault rifle purchase test.

2. If the theatre had true locking back doors, and alerts when they were propped open, he could not have
come back inside with his arsenal.

3. If the back door had cameras and was monitored, he could have been caught, or at least, the public address system could have warned the patrons in the theatre.

Since none of these things were done, a terrible tragedy took place.

I think we are safer with cameras everywhere and active, real-time monitoring of those cameras. I’m all for controls like panic alarms (which should be as common as fire alarms), and for annual security assessments.

Maybe we can learn something.

Categories:
accountability
Facilities Security
Gun Violence
Uncategorized
www.caroline-hamilton.com

A Terrible Day in Colorado – Terrorism by Twenty-Something

Posted on July 20, 2012 2:46 pm by Caroline Ramsey-Hamilton Comment

Just saw that now 71 people were shot at the Aurora, Colorado theatre, and 12 have died, including children.

This is exactly the kind of incident that I used to think would wake everyone up to the dangers of NOT doing annual security reviews, and NOT allowing everyone on the planet to stock their attic with automatic assault rifles, and instead, we are at an intersection in the national dialogue where talking about assault rifles, OR security controls, is something people would rather ignore.

Whether it’s the hospital security administrator who thinks posting a simple “NO WEAPONS” sign is too much security, to the facilities who deny the security officers any weapons bigger than a purse-size pepper spray, they are actually ENABLING security incidents of this type.

I heard these officials in CNN saying, “It’s not terrorism”! It certainly IS terrorism. It’s just domestic terrorism, but it shows you how easy it would be for a terrorist to walk into the US, buy some AK-47s and walk into a regional mall, a batting cage, a mega-church, a hospital, a sports arena, and proceed to kill dozens of innocent people in just a few minutes.

With 71 shot, and 12 dead, it is more deadly than your typical IED in Afghanistan! It’s more deadly because their is human ‘intelligence’ (and I use the word loosely) behind the attack. Instead of a simple detenation event, the shooter can choose victims, look them in the eyes and then kill them.

This is an intentional event by someone so lost that he didn’t even put up any resistance to police. Why should he, he’s already made his statement and now has his 15 minutes of fame. That is 5.5 people killed or injured for each 1 minute of fame.

If you are reading this today, you should do a quick risk assessment of your organization and make sure your staff are developing situational awareness, watching and evaluating what is going on around them. It may make the difference between life and death someday.