Violence has reached staggering proportions throughout America and each community is a potential victim. Therefore, like never before in American history, communities must provide a level of security diligence and dedicated professionalism to safeguard the health, safety and welfare of its citizens. Preeminent among all responses to violence prevention is one that artfully balances cutting edge crime prevention techniques with the mobilizing and solidifying of all community resources. This approach integrates personnel, physical and informational security with the support of the community as the launching pad to standards of excellence necessary for security awareness in safeguarding schools, workplaces and communities. To better understand the phenomenon of violence, it is essential to look at school, workplace and terrorism related issues.

School Violence

In May 2002 the United States Secret Service released “The Final Report and Findings of the Safe School Initiative: Implications for the Prevention of School Attacks in the United States”. Details on this report from their National Threat Assessment Center can be found on their website at www.secretservice.gov/ntac, but essentially the report states:

• School Violence incidents are rarely impulsive. Individuals do not “just snap” and attacks are preventable.
• Prior to most incidents, the attacker informed someone about the plan. Efforts to break the silence are critical.
• There is no accurate “school shooter profile”. Fact based plan of the student is necessary for intervention.
• Most attackers have easy gun access from home and countermeasures for unauthorized gun access is critical.
• Having been “bullied” has played a key role in attacks. Therefore, bullying prevention strategies are vital.
• Most attackers exhibited prior alarming behavior showing the need for measured intervention.

A practical response to school violence prevention is sound access control policies, emergency preparedness training, conflict management development for the entire educational community, law enforcement partnerships with assigned school resource officers, bullying prevention programs, personal safety training, youth police academies, student appreciation assemblies and sound crisis management/evacuation programs.

Workplace Violence

Reports from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Justice Programs, and the US Department of Justice cites the occurrence of two million workplace violence crimes annually. Data from various recent National Victimization Surveys indicate that simple assault is the most prevalent form of workplace violence and this trend has intensified. Each year, 1.5 million workers fall victim to it. Other workplace violence crimes include 390,000 aggravated assaults, 84,000 robberies, 51,000 rapes/sexual assaults, and 1,000 homicides per year. The report defines workplace violence as violent acts against a person at work or on duty, including physical assaults and robbery.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation recently published “Workplace Violence: Issues in Response” on March 1, 2004. The bureau's National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime, part of the Critical Incident Response Group, located at Quantico, Virginia, released the findings. The publication in its entirety can be viewed at http://www.fbi.gov/publications.htm (look for the Workplace Violence Report link under "On Violent Crime...") but enlightening insights are presented in the chapter on Preventing Violence: Planning and Strategic Issues. In forming an effective workplace violence strategy, this chapter highlights important issues, which include:

• There must be support from the top. If a company’s senior executives are not truly committed to a preventative program, it is unlikely to be effectively implemented.
• There is no one size fits all strategy.
• A plan should be proactive not reactive.
• A plan should take into account the workplace culture.
• Planning for and responding to workplace violence issues calls for expertise from a number of perspectives.
• Managers should take an active role in communicating the plan.
• Practice your plan.
• Reevaluate, rethink and revise.

The publication continues with an excellent sample written workplace policy statement, which states that the organization does not tolerate workplace violence and then a definition clarifies the issue and employee responsibility.

Terrorism

Terrorism attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were shocking reality checks indicating our increasingly violent global community. As a result, the demand for proactively securing facilities and communities for all types of emergencies is the paramount demand on all government, law enforcement and private security officials. Ultimately, comprehensive risk assessment and implementation of programs to safeguard lives, property and information require unprecedented urgency.

The Department of Homeland Security’s website is essential as a resource for terrorism awareness and preparedness and can be viewed at www.dhs.gov. Complimenting this website is the criticality of emergency planning of which the core members must include senior leadership, legal, security/law enforcement, public affairs, crisis managers and the coordinator. Advisors to the core members should include representation from operations, information technology, finance, customer service, auditing, risk managers/insurance and labor relations if applicable.

Considerations of this planning team must include:

• Centralized management structure
• Communications
• Timely forecasts of potential incidents
• Facility Shutdown procedures with a designated decision maker
• Evacuations (table top, partial scale and full scale drills)
• Supporting materials (call lists, mutual aid agreements, vital records)

The wake up call to the culture of violence during these turbulent times impels us to exercise leadership in violence awareness and to live by the saying "to be forewarned is to be forearmed".

Vincent J. Bove, CPP is a Board Certified Protection Professional, Board Certified Crime Prevention Specialist, Certified Law Enforcement Instructor and U.S. Department of Justice Certified Community Anti-Terrorism Awareness Trainer.

He is the 2007 New Jersey recipient of the prestigious FBI Director's Community Leadership Award and was hand-selected to serve as a facilitator and mentor for the 2007 National Conference on Ethics in America and speaker for the 2008 conference at the United States Military Academy at West Point.

"Vincent J. Bove is considered one of the foremost national experts on school and workplace violence prevention, specializing in facility protection, evacuations, terrorism prevention and leadership training." -- U.S. Senate

You can visit Mr. Bove's website at www.vincentbove.com or email him at vincent@vincentbove.com