Safety in Your House of Worship (Part Two)

Do you feel safe where you worship?

Two years ago, I helped put together a health and safety team for our church in suburban Chicago. We had several minor incidents, mostly involving panhandlers, prior to the team’s creation. We have been blessedly trouble free since the team has been in service.

If your place of worship has experienced car break-ins, panhandlers bothering your leaders, or even threats to members of the congregation, statistics complied by the National Organization for Church Safety and Security Management (NOCSSM) indicate you’re not alone. Sadly, violence is no stranger to places of worship.

If you’re considering ways to keep your congregation safe, here is some of the takeaway from our experiences over the past two years:

Have a plan. As with most human endeavors involving more than two people, it’s wise to create guidelines. In our case, church elders wanted paperwork in hand before they would allow us to proceed. A policy statement also helped the church’s insurance carrier when we requested an additional liability rider. One rule we wrote immediately was that team members who are not law-enforcement officers would not carry weapons. Another that took a little longer to realize was inclusion of our health professionals and a name change from safety to health and safety.

Choose members wisely. We look for regular attendees who have law-enforcement, safety or medical backgrounds and those who may serve in a similar, or volunteer, capacity at their place of employment (divisional safety monitors, building fire marshals). Students are often eager to step forward. The goal is to attract prayerful, serious, but friendly individuals who easily interact with the rest of the congregation. What we don’t want is “church cops.” Good observational and people skills are excellent qualifiers. So is medical training.

Decide appropriate staffing based on your neighborhood risk assessment, the size of your facility and the number of attendees. We’re fortunate that a number of our ushers are also safety team members and that allows flexibility in scheduling. Our goal is to be unobtrusive but always available.

What equipment is required? While we don’t arm our personnel (some larger places of worship do and the conversation is worth having), we ask that everyone carry a cell phone and a durable flashlight. We also assign each member a two-way radio. The radios, along with their “secret service style” ear buds and microphones may seem unnecessary in a small facility but we decided to use them because they free us from fumbling with phones when moments count. Radios allow us to stay in immediate touch with one another. We can also alert the office and Sunday School classrooms with the push of a button in the event of an emergency. The ear buds make it easy for members to participate in the service, if they wish, and still hear and communicate with the team. The radios serve a more subtle function, too. Along with our ID badges, they identify us both to the congregation and to any outsiders with a non-spiritual agenda.

Establish a routine and stick with it, no matter how unnecessary it may seem. Assume anything could happen. It probably won’t but, if it does, you’ll have a plan in place to deal with it. We check all doors and all rooms, especially rest rooms, constantly. We monitor exterior doors nearest the children’s church. Team members stroll the parking lot to assist arriving and departing worshippers, especially the seniors, and to make sure we intercept strangers with ill intent. Members are on duty in the foyer as long as the church’s doors are open. We have procedures in place for fire, weather and intruder emergencies and to protect our pastors.

Cooperate with public safety officials. We met with local police shortly after we formed the team. We shared the names and phone numbers of pastors, elders and safety leaders as well as facilities information critical for first responders. We also provided blueprints of the building. We work with the fire department on maintaining our alarm systems and conducting emergency evacuation drills.

Meet regularly and train together as a team. Our members are CPR and AED certified and have attended workshops on a variety of topics relevant to our mission with instructors that include police officers and former federal agents. Our health volunteers include a doctor, nurses, eldercare specialists, a physical therapist and a combat medic. A health professional is seated in an easy to reach pew in the sanctuary each Sunday. A well-stocked first aid kit is available in the office with smaller kits in each classroom.

Flexibility is crucial to any health and safety operation. To cover all the bases, think like an outsider, imagine everything that could go wrong on any given Sunday and how you’ll respond if it does, keep smiling and stay in touch with the Lord!

Safety at Your House of Worship (Part One)

I started a safety ministry at my church.

I worship in a Chicago suburb. Unlike the village of Wisaka that I created for my Harry Cork crime novels, it’s a relatively quiet community. Our church is surrounded on three sides by trees and behind them are upscale homes on wooded lots. In summer particularly, it feels like we’re in a forest. Standing in the parking lot, in fact, it’s hard for me to believe we’re only a couple of blocks from a major thoroughfare and not much farther from the busy Illinois Tollway.

Our location is one reason I started thinking about protecting our property and our people. You never know who might stop by to prey.

An encounter with a wannabe-burglar helped me decide to move forward with the idea.

I was ushering one Sunday when our church administrator told us the police had notified her of some vehicle break-ins at nearby churches. Sure enough, I was standing outside the front door during the service when an unmarked white van entered the parking lot, drove slowly up and down the rows of cars, and finally stopped at the curb near me.

The individual who got out was so obviously intending to do wrong he could have had a cartoon arrow pointing at him from above with the caption: “Not here for the sermon.”

I intercepted him with a smile. He grinned back, checking me out like a vacuum cleaner salesman, and started his spiel. That digressed into a brief argument, followed by him shoving me, then him landing on the ground. We negotiated his quiet departure.

We later learned he had been banned from every other church in the village.

Other less volatile visitors appeared over the next few months: a marijuana-addled driver, a panhandler (and her “daughter”) and a crew attempting to distribute leaflets on cars. After consulting with the associate pastor, I asked a police officer member of the congregation to work with me and we formed a small group of concerned church colleagues into a safety committee. Subsequently, we added most of the congregation’s medical folks and changed our name to the Health and Safety Team.

It’s “safety” and not “security” because our mission is as much to prevent slip and falls in an icy parking lot and make sure all the kids walk, not run, through the halls as it is to keep bad people from crossing our threshold. We expect to deal more with bloody noses and diabetics needing a cup of juice than gun wielding thugs. At least, we pray we do. Thankfully, so far that’s all it’s been.

In tomorrow’s blog, I’ll give you an idea of what we’ve accomplished . . . and some ideas to consider for your own place of worship.

Terror on the Street: What Do YOU Do?

Street terror happens.  Whether targeted killings, as occurred in Paris, “wildings” as seen in Chicago and elsewhere last year, or street gang-related drive-bys that happen in every major city, they touch the lives of great numbers of people. Innocent bystanders are hurt or killed. Even if you consider it absurd that you or a loved one could be victimized by random mass violence, why not keep an open mind for as long as it takes to review these tips about what to do if the unthinkable does happen?

• Don’t block your intuitive sensors by covering them with headphones or distracting them with text messages. Stay alert to your surroundings, especially on the street, in shopping malls, sporting events . . . anywhere a crowd gathers.
• Watch people.  Does something catch your eye about specific individuals? Clothing? Manner? What are they carrying? What are they doing? Watch their hands and movements.
• Pay attention to the noise level. Ambient noise will change dramatically if there’s danger. You may not hear shots but you may hear screams.  The shriek of a child is one thing. Consider sustained screaming at escalating volume as a warning.
• Keep track of the nearest exits and how to reach them. Note places to take cover along the way. In an emergency, knowing the exits and moving swiftly toward them may save your life.
• Consider shopping at non-peak hours. At concerts or theaters  arrive as late as possible and leave before the show ends. Attackers tend to target venues when the largest numbers of potential victims are present.
• Be aware that an initial attack may be followed by others as first responders race to the scene. Get out as fast as you can.
• Don’t get caught in a stampede. At the first sign of trouble, move to a wall and stay there until the crowd passes or you spot a closer exit. If there is gunfire, or you can’t reach a wall in time, find a fixed barricade or object that's anchored to the floor and get behind it.
• Always choose a gathering place outside the venue for the people in your group. 
• As hard as it might be to do, make a conscious effort to stay calm. Breathe in for ten seconds. Hold it briefly. Breathe out for ten seconds. The higher your pulse rate the more difficult to make fast, rational decisions.  
• For more on staying safe, check out my website and new book Escaping the O-Zone

How to Practice Your Awareness Skills

I just heard the victim of a mugging say of her attacker, “He appeared out of nowhere!”

Have the predators started using wizarding spells now?

Probably not. More likely, the victim wasn’t paying attention.

I’m not playing the blame game. Unquestionably, the bad guy was at fault, as they always are in street crimes. But staying aware of your surroundings, what we call situational awareness, may offer better self-defense than any weapon. After all, the best fight is the one you avoid.

Situational awareness is part intuition, part observation. Like all skills, it needs to be practiced regularly. Here are some drills.

When you enter a building, identify all the exits and imagine the routes you would use to reach them in an emergency.

Count the number of people around you while seated in a restaurant, coffee shop, bus or train car.

Walking through a crowd, keep your head up and pretend you’re there to meet someone. Look at the people around you and try to figure out what they do for a living, their mood, and what they’re getting ready to do. Are they shopping? Headed for a restaurant? Unwillingly tagging along with a spouse?

If you’re out walking, count how many of the parked cars you pass are occupied. Are any vehicles double-parked? Who’s in them and why do you suppose they’re there?

Here’s the big one. Don’t unnecessarily distract yourself. Wearing headphones while walking, jogging or biking takes one of your senses out of action and eliminates any possibility of hearing danger approach. Texting while walking is as dangerous as texting and driving.

You may not always be able to avoid trouble but seeing it approach gives you the chance to cast a self-defense spell or two of your own.


Want to shape up your safety lifestyle in 2015? My book, Escaping the O-Zone will give you some great tips. Find it here on Amazon or wherever eBooks are sold.

http://www.amazon.com/Escaping-Zone-Intuition-Situational-Awareness-ebook/dp/B00P4D560W/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1416508204&sr=1-1&keywords=doug+cummings

How to Stay Safe In a Hostage Situation

The chances you will become a hostage are remote.

On the other hand, if a café in Sydney can become the site of a hostage crisis that’s watched by the world so could a coffee shop in Topeka, Kansas or a library in Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin.

Zealots of all stripes and what law-enforcement officers call “lone wolf terrorists” may decide to seek attention for their causes anywhere, at any time. Bank robbers and other criminals confronted by police may think they can bargain their way to freedom if they hold the innocents around them at gunpoint. Emotional disorders may lead others to commit similar acts. As CNN Security Analyst Juliette Kayyem put it this morning, “There’s no shortage of sociopaths and no shortage of soft targets.”

Here are some thoughts on how to react if you are taken hostage.

• Stay calm. That’s tough to do in any crisis but absolutely essential if you become the target of someone with a gun and a grudge. The first ten to thirty minutes of a hostage taking are often the most panicked. “Remember to breathe,” says a friend at the CIA. “Inhale to a slow count of ten. Pause. Exhale to a count of ten. Repeat as long as it takes to slow your heart rate and bring back your ability to focus.” Calm is contagious. If those around you see you keeping cool, it will help them maintain their composure.
• Fast moves may get you killed. But if you see a clear chance to escape during the first moments, take it. You’ll give yourself more opportunities if you routinely practice awareness of your surroundings. Any time you enter a public space make it a priority to find the exits and decide how you’ll reach them if there is an emergency.
• Even as the threat develops, stay alert. Continue to focus on your surroundings. What’s the physical layout of the room you’re in? Is there just one bad guy or more? What do they look like? How do they behave? How are they dressed? Are they wearing body armor? How are they armed (pistols or long guns like rifles or shotguns)?
•   Keep in mind the hostage-taker may be just as scared as you are.  Move slowly. If you are told to produce identification or valuables comply but act with deliberation. Speak only when spoken to and then speak softly and do not make aggressive statements. Tough talkers are often the first to be killed because hostage-takers view them as threatening and unpredictable.
• Don’t try to be a hero. Considering escape is one thing. Trying to rush or overpower an armed individual, unless you have been specifically trained to do so (police, military, covert operations) seldom turns out as well as it does on TV. As former FBI hostage negotiator Clint Van Zandt puts it, “It’s better to be a live hostage than a dead victim.”      
• If you have a health condition or require medication, state your needs politely but firmly at the first opportunity. If you have a safe opportunity to engage the hostage taker in conversation, be respectful. Listen carefully to what he says, and the tone. Don’t discuss politics or religion. Talk about your life or family.
•  If you think you are about to be killed, act decisively. Use the escape plan you’ve been considering or use any weapon you can find and do so with as much noise and violence as you can muster. Fight without stopping until the threat is neutralized.
• If rescue begins, hit the floor and stay there. Standing up suddenly as police or other tactical responders come through the door may get you shot.

Staying alert is the key to staying safe. Learn more ways to protect yourself by reading my new book, Escaping the O-Zone: Intuition, Situational Awareness and Staying Safe.  It’s available on Kindle and wherever eBooks are sold:  http://ow.ly/FVB8S

Be Careful How You Lock Your Car . . . and One Other Thing

Deputy Chief Harry Cork of the Wisaka Police Department (and protagonist of the novel EASY EVIL) has graciously agreed to stop by the blog occasionally to discuss personal safety and crime prevention. Our topic for this session is vehicle security.

DOUG: Given all the electronic countermeasures car manufacturers have devised, do we even have to worry about keeping our vehicles secure anymore? Once we lock the doors, that is…

HARRY: “Actually Doug, thieves have come up with counter-countermeasures to what car manufacturers have invented. For example, how do you lock your car when you’re going into a store?”

I generally just hit the “lock” button on my key.

“Exactly. That sends a radio signal over the air to the car’s electronic locking system. Very convenient, right? Problem is, those radio signals aren’t secure. Anyone who’s nearby with a device capable of capturing that code can then retransmit it to your car once you’ve walked away. The bad guys know you’ll be gone for at least a few minutes, and that gives them time to open the doors and steal your stuff.”

So what should I do instead?

“Use the lock button that’s inside your car instead of the one on your key. That doesn’t require a radio signal so it can’t be read remotely.”

Then I’m safe, right?

“In most cases, yes. If you have a luxury car, you could face a different problem. Some police departments in our area have reported luxury cars stolen by thieves using cloned keys.”

They copy them the same way?

“No, actually cloning the key to be able to start the car requires higher-end software usually only available to car dealers. What we’ve discovered is that thieves are either obtaining the software illegally or by working with colleagues at car dealerships outside the area where the cars have been stolen. It’s a significant problem and, as of yet, I’m not aware of any solution by the manufacturers.”

So if I own a luxury car, I’m screwed?

“Talk to your dealership. But, remember The Club? It’s a solid steel bar that can be locked in place across your steering wheel. It won’t stop thieves with the capability to tow your car but it may slow down the others, even those with cloned keys. One more thing. Park your car inside a secure garage at night. That’s always a good idea, no matter what make or model of vehicle you own.”

You can find more safety tips on my website, www.dougmcummingsauthor.com or in my new book, Escaping the Ozone: Intuition, Situational Awareness and Staying Safe available from Amazon or any eBook retailer.

Ride along with Harry Cork in Easy Evil, in paperback or eBook (http://ow.ly/Fhxfo)