Church Security Planning

[btg3]

Our proactive part is knowing about custody case with in the church and our active profiling of things and people who are out of place.

This is excellent for at least 2 reasons:

1. Regarding security, the lessons learned from decades of prior church/school shootings include the fact that the bad guy just didn't snap. There is always a progression up to the "final act". Awareness and profiling are key to identify the multiple opportunities along the progression where the progressive behavior can be disrupted. The pitfall is just observing progressive behavior and allowing it to continue, rather than taking action.

2. Regarding the work of the church, many opportunities to minister are missed for lack of awareness. Your level of awareness is well above most and seems to be discretely/confidentially handled. Good stuff.

 

[Deltaboy1984]

Thanks we did a Detailed study of the Wedgewood Church Shooting since they were close and our LEO'S had some specialized training through the State on it. We also in our new children building got magnetic remote locking doors so we can lock someone in an area till the Police arrive. The doors are wood with a metal core with metal door frames. We did this to slow down any who might try and shoot their way out of lock up. And we have electronic roll down metal doors. So we can even close off individual hallways. We found these are also great when we rent out the place for outside events like weddings and BIRTHDAY parties we can keep them in area they rented and nowhere else.

 

[FM90Master]

I wish we could do that with my church however, we do have couple things bulletproofed and a fair amount of our guys do carry.

 

[SSN Vet]

There are several facets to this topic, and it's very efficient to address them all under the auspices of a safety commitee, with formal structure and leadership, and specialty teams.

-EMT type stuff. You want people to know what to do when someone keels over in the middle of a service.

-First aide type stuff. Someone with training who can adminsiter epi-pens, band-aides on boo-boos, and even a defibulator.

-Fire protection. Regular walkthroughs to identify and eliminate fire hazzards, and even a fire drill during a service.

-Property security. How the offering is secured. How deposits are made. Theft of church assets (usually AV equipment)

-Non-custodial parents showing up at Sunday school wanting to take their kid away.

-Child abduction.

-Removal of unruley and disruptive people.

-Wacked out ex-hubbies/boyfriends coming to where they know they can find and hurt their love interest.

-Profiled hate type violence targeted against the congregation as a whole or high profile leaders in specific.

It is a big, all encompasing issue and I'm surprised that a church of 2,000 doesn't already have their ducks in a line.

AS WITH INDIVIDUAL SELF DEFENSE, PREPERATION AND TRAINING ARE YOUR MOST IMPORTANT TOOLS.

Things that can be very helpful....

1. Managing access and egress (which can mean locking certain doors, or posting "ushers" at them.
2. Communications.... the little siver haired saint that runs the nursery down in the lover level needs to be able to call for and recieve help very quickly. We use walkie talkies and pagers.
3. People assigned to watch certain areas (or people), and a team leader to rove around.
4. Make full use of active members with LEO backgrounds.... but don't just pawn it off on them and say "were covered because Joe's a cop"
5. Meet with your Sherrif or Chief of Police to go over your plans and share your concerns. It is very helpful to have them visit your facility and to become familiar with it.
6. Security cameras are expensive, but nothing else will make a greater difference (say if a child is abducted) than if you have a license plate on camera. It can also be a vital tool in prooving that you're people acted appropriately.

The need to address these threats are very real. I attend a congregation smaller than yours and two of our pastors have had death threats... with one of the threats extended to "burn" his children. A neigboring church down the road thwarted (by dumb luck) an attempted abduction of a young boy. If your church takes a Biblical stand on any of the hot button issues of our day, you can be assured you are in somebodies cross hairs.

 

[Deltaboy1984]

There are several facets to this topic, and it's very efficient to address them all under the auspices of a safety commitee, with formal structure and leadership, and specialty teams.

-EMT type stuff. You want people to know what to do when someone keels over in the middle of a service.

-First aide type stuff. Someone with training who can adminsiter epi-pens, band-aides on boo-boos, and even a defibulator.

-Fire protection. Regular walkthroughs to identify and eliminate fire hazzards, and even a fire drill during a service.

-Property security. How the offering is secured. How deposits are made. Theft of church assets (usually AV equipment)

-Non-custodial parents showing up at Sunday school wanting to take their kid away.

-Child abduction.

-Removal of unruley and disruptive people.

-Wacked out ex-hubbies/boyfriends coming to where they know they can find and hurt their love interest.

-Profiled hate type violence targeted against the congregation as a whole or high profile leaders in specific.

It is a big, all encompasing issue and I'm surprised that a church of 2,000 doesn't already have their ducks in a line.

AS WITH INDIVIDUAL SELF DEFENSE, PREPERATION AND TRAINING ARE YOUR MOST IMPORTANT TOOLS.

Things that can be very helpful....

1. Managing access and egress (which can mean locking certain doors, or posting "ushers" at them.
2. Communications.... the little siver haired saint that runs the nursery down in the lover level needs to be able to call for and recieve help very quickly. We use walkie talkies and pagers.
3. People assigned to watch certain areas (or people), and a team leader to rove around.
4. Make full use of active members with LEO backgrounds.... but don't just pawn it off on them and say "were covered because Joe's a cop"
5. Meet with your Sherrif or Chief of Police to go over your plans and share your concerns. It is very helpful to have them visit your facility and to become familiar with it.
6. Security cameras are expensive, but nothing else will make a greater difference (say if a child is abducted) than if you have a license plate on camera. It can also be a vital tool in prooving that you're people acted appropriately.

The need to address these threats are very real. I attend a congregation smaller than yours and two of our pastors have had death threats... with one of the threats extended to "burn" his children. A neigboring church down the road thwarted (by dumb luck) an attempted abduction of a young boy. If your church takes a Biblical stand on any of the hot button issues of our day, you can be assured you are in somebodies cross hairs.

Well said we spent 2 years on our plan and we have an annual review and we have a local security expert to test and check it out .

 

[Deltaboy1984]

Update

Here folks a new site for Church Security from the SBC.

www.GuideStone.org/Secure

 

[Ryanxia]

I just carry my EDC as usual on Sundays and encourage the few other people that have CCW's to do so as well. We are a very small Church though compared to where most of you go.

 

[beatledog7]

About ten days ago my church suffered a late evening parking lot multiple break-in.

A dozen or so of us were there rehearsing. When we were done, we went outside to post banners for an upcoming event. A handful of members had carried things (instruments, purses, etc.) to their cars as they went outside. While we were getting the banners mounted, we could not see the parking lot. Several of our cars were burgled; windows were broken out, items were stolen, etc. Nobody saw who did it.

It seems to me the church was being cased; otherwise, the burglars couldn't very likely have timed their action for the 15 or so minutes it took to hang the banners. They were also cowards--they could have easily entered the church and robbed everyone while we were rehearsing, but they didn't.

Being armed would not have stopped this, but a thorough, multi-layer security protocol very well might have.

On another occasion, again during a rehearsal late in the evening, a person unknown to any of us entered the building and made a plea for a few dollars to make an emergency car repair. He left in a huff after being food but not cash. The point many of us made after that was that the doors of the church were unlocked while we were inside, an armed bad guy could walk in from the street and, pretty much unopposed, carry out whatever intentions he might have.

Now, some discussion about standard securities protocols in underway. There are two sides of the issue, and members are beginning to align: 1) We need to take active, visible security steps to keep our membership and premises safe. 2) We need to remain open and unguarded because active, visible security steps will discourage those to whom we want to minister from entering. No doubt many churches face that conundrum.

I don't know how this will turn out, but at least we are talking about it.

 

[Deltaboy1984]

We also have roving security in the parking lot.

 

[mgkdrgn]

Post a few of these around instead of the "normal" No Weapons Permitted signs.

I doubt you'll have any trouble.

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[RetiredUSNChief]

Being a carry-friendly church would go a long way towards your goal.

In SC, I cannot carry in churches unless I have permission to do so from those in charge of the church. A police officer once advised me that this permission would best be in writing, just to cover my own keister, because verbal permission can either be revoked or denied at some later point with no proof I ever had permission in the first place.

 

[btg3]

A handful of members had carried things (instruments, purses, etc.) to their cars as they went outside. While we were getting the banners mounted, we could not see the parking lot. Several of our cars were burgled; windows were broken out, items were stolen, etc.

Were the items (instruments, purses, ipads, etc) visible in the car?
Were any of the cars left unlocked?

"Crimes of opportunity" are preventable, but many folks want to think it won't happen to them... until it does. This is an ongoing issue in my neighborhood and in the church parking lot.

Best wishes for fast implementation of an effective safetyu/security program at your church.