In the wake of the tragic shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas the usual arguments and calls for “reasonable” gun controls to be put in place have arisen. Someone even posted a graphic of the United States with red dots everywhere there had been a “mass shooting” this year. The number of mass shootings was in the neighborhood of 370. This graphic’s author defined mass shooting as one in which four or more people were shot. This figure presumably includes gang shootings and armed robberies as well as our current malcontent, Devin Kelley.
As usual, the gun-ban crowd is completely missing the point. We have always had bad guys and always will. In recent years the moral fabric of the country seems to have taken a drastic downturn. The reasons for this downturn would make an excellent topic for another article.
The point of this situation is the lack of security at the First Baptist Church. There are forces that would like nothing more than to see the dissolution of the church in America and throughout the world. These forces include the usual suspects, followers of Islam, atheists, the separation-of-church-and-state crowd to name a few. But when it comes to threats against the church, the attacker’s political standing is immaterial. Whether it is the forces of the Islamic State or the Antifa crowd, the threat is still the same.
The church is supposed to be a house of worship and, for the most part, is welcoming to all who want to join in that worship. This presents a soft target for anyone who wants to do harm. The typical bad guy who wants to generate as high a body count couldn’t ask for a better place to ply his evil trade.
Bad guys don’t want opposition. They want to be able to go into their target, do their cowardly work and leave. Besides the First Baptist shooting the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida just last year is a prime example of this.
The mere presence of active security at a church can be a definite deterrent to anyone wanting to do harm. This security, ideally has two components. The first that most facilities think of is a camera and intrusion detection system. Cameras can be monitored real-time as well as providing after-the-event forensic data for the police. Often, just having the signs warning of the presence of a surveillance system is enough to scare off the bad guys. However, for an additional layer, a security team that is providing eyes and ears to the grounds is a definite deterrent. The church I attend employs this layered approach and has had almost no incidents in the last six or seven years. We have seen several vehicles drive through our parking lots, presumably doing a pre-operation surveillance, only to leave and never come back. Just the sight of a security team member roving the grounds convinces the bad guy to find a softer target.
The training given the security team depends on the individual church. Some churches want nothing to do with armed security and depend on a more passive security team. Other churches take a more pro-active approach to security and provide extensive firearm and tactical training to selected security team members.
Whichever approach the church chooses, the addition of even the most rudimentary security measures can add up to significantly improved safety for the church and its congregants.
Falcon Personal Security is proud to offer churches the level of training that will suit their requirements.