Have you ever paused to look at your front doors and wondered why they stay unlocked and unsupervised all day? Are you uneasy about the lack of a visitor policy, where anyone can enter your building without so much as a question? Or perhaps you’ve listened to heartbreaking news of active intruder incidents and asked yourself if lives could have been saved with better security measures—like doors that lock from the inside or entryways made of reinforced materials.
You’re not alone. These are critical questions every organization should consider.
Taking the First Step: Understanding Your Vulnerabilities
The first step to addressing these concerns is a Security Vulnerability Assessment (SVA) conducted by professionals. An SVA identifies weaknesses in your physical security, technology, and procedures, providing a clear roadmap for improvements. Whether it’s your home, school, or workplace, understanding vulnerabilities is essential to creating a safer environment for everyone.
Feeling overwhelmed by the findings of an SVA is natural, but inaction isn’t the solution. At Defend Systems, we provide a detailed report from our assessment, prioritizing recommendations based on the likelihood of a threat exploiting a vulnerability and the potential impact it could have. Gradual, thoughtful changes can significantly enhance safety over time.
Practical Changes
One highly effective recommendation from our team at Defend Systems is equipping classrooms, offices, and meeting spaces with push-button locks that can be engaged from the inside. Under stress, fine motor skills deteriorate, and a complicated locking mechanism can become a barrier to safety. Push-button locks offer simplicity and speed—allowing people to secure a space in seconds. A tragic yet powerful example of their effectiveness comes from the Covenant School shooting in March of 2023. Teachers in classrooms targeted by the shooter used push-button locks to secure their doors instantly, buying critical time to move children to safety.
Some security enhancements require no financial investment at all. Implementing a clear and consistent visitor policy—such as designating a single entry point and conducting bag checks—can immediately elevate your security. Though it may feel inconvenient, these simple measures are invaluable for deterring threats.
Our Approach to Security Vulnerability Assessments
At Defend Systems, we have a process to ensure every SVA provides actionable insights tailored to your needs:
Assess: We begin with an on-site walkthrough and facility evaluation, identifying strengths and weaknesses in areas such as physical security, access control, building materials, perimeter barriers, video surveillance, and overall preparedness.
Customize: We compile our findings into a highly detailed report, summarizing vulnerabilities with supporting evidence and practical recommendations.
Present: Our team presents the report in a clear, easy-to-understand format, prioritizing actions to help you address risks step by step.
From homes to schools, businesses to music industry professionals, our clients span every type of environment. No matter the setting, in a dangerously developing world, knowing your vulnerabilities is the first step toward peace of mind.
In less than a week, our country experienced four separate active shooter attacks that left eight people dead, including two of the gunmen, and seven others injured. In a current news cycle that is dominated by politics, pandemics, and protests, these were but small blips on the radar of sensationalism that tends to be dominating our society.
On Tuesday, June 23rd, inside an Applebee’s restaurant located in St. Louis, a lone gunman opened fire on customers dining inside, striking three women, killing one. The suspect had been in the restaurant for up to forty minutes prior to the attack, pacing around and acting strangely, according to reports. He left the restaurant momentarily, then came back inside and began his rampage on the unsuspecting victims dining inside. He fled the scene but was taken into custody the next day. Currently, there is no known motive or connection between the shooter and the victims.
The second attack occurred on Friday, June 26th, at a Bunn-O-Matic warehouse facility in Springfield, Illinois. The suspect, an employee of the facility, shot and killed three co-workers in a matter of minutes. One of the victims was shot in the parking lot area while two others were shot and killed inside the facility. The suspect fled the scene prior to the arrival of law enforcement but was later found dead in his truck from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The third attack occurred on Saturday, June 27th, at a Walmart Distribution Center in Red Bluff, California. The suspect, a former employee who had been terminated in February, crashed his SUV into the facility, which then caught fire, and began his rampage utilizing an AR-type rifle. During his assault, one person was killed, and four others were injured. Responding officers arrived at the facility nearly ten minutes after the assault began and engaged the suspect in a gunfight and the suspect was mortally wounded during this exchange of gunfire. Due to the fire inside the facility, law enforcement’s ability to clear the remainder of the building was severely delayed until fire personnel could respond and extinguish the blaze.
The fourth attack also occurred on Saturday, June 27th, at a peaceful protest being conducted at Jefferson Square Park in Louisville, Kentucky. A lone gunman, seen here on video, took the firearm away from another protestor and began randomly firing at the crowd in the park. One person was struck and killed before other bystanders returned fire and struck the shooter in the leg which stopped the attack. The shooter was taken into custody a short time later with non-life-threatening injuries.
At this point, the motive of all four attackers remains unknown. At the end of the day, does that really matter? If we had known their motive prior to their attacks, would it have changed anything or stopped the attack from occurring? The answer is NO.
Mass casualty and active shooter attacks have become an unfortunate but consistent manifestation of evil in American society. While every organization should continue to focus on education of pre-attack indicators, it is incumbent on every organization, corporation, school, house of worship, and INDIVIDUAL, to get and remain prepared to respond to such an event. The only way to respond decisively under critical stress is through prior training. If your organization has not implemented such training and protocols, demand it. Many risk managers and security personnel unfortunately still have the “Oh yeah, we need to do that” or, even worse, the “it won’t happen here” approach. History has proven that these attacks can happen at any time and at ANY place.
Whether you are at work, the mall, a cookout, church, or simply out for a walk, being empowered with the knowledge and skills to survive any type of violent attack is an absolute life skill. Make it your responsibility to obtain these skills.
For more information about how we can help your organization, visit us at www.defendsystems.com or call us at 615-236-6484.
“1 October” will forever be synonymous with the most horrific and deadly mass shooting in American history. Almost two weeks have passed since that incredibly evil attack suddenly changed every Americans’ sense of safety and security and many questions still go unanswered. The motive remains completely undetermined, the timeline is foggy at best, and the puzzle pieces of “how” are just beginning to fall in place. Liability and responsibility are being bounced around from MGM Resorts to the Las Vegas Police Department, to the gun lobby in America like a pinball.
As humans, it is in our nature to feel the need to hold something or someone accountable for such a tragic event. I believe we would all agree that the shooter made the choice to devalue human life to such a degree that he decided to execute 58 innocent people. As for the other potential liability, the courts will make that decision in due time.
When we hear the term “active shooter” most of us associate it with such events as the Las Vegas Massacre, Columbine High School, Pulse Nightclub, or Sandy Hook Elementary, and rightfully so as these tragic events ripped at the heart of every American. A study conducted by the FBI on 160 different active shooter incidents revealed that over 50% of active shooter incidents occur in a commerce setting and that 55% of the time there is some connection between the shooter and the targeted victims.
The same study also found that 23 of those 160 events occurred at locations that were closed to pedestrian traffic, meaning there was some type of access control or security in place. Of those 23 incidents that occurred in a “secure” building or facility, 22 were either current or former employees. What this means is that the vast majority of active shooter events that occur in the workplace are being carried out from within the organization.
Any business or corporation can and should do everything they can to physically secure their facility from an intruder but it is often the case that the “intruder” is one of their own. Whether they are disgruntled about their employment situation or involved in some crazy office love triangle, it is most common for these attacks to come from within.
While doing a speaking engagement at a recent safety and risk seminar, one participant asked us what to be looking for as it relates to this very issue of targeted violence from within. There is no easy answer here as everyone has a different trigger that sets them off and sometimes they hide it well. Other times, however, the volatility of a particular situation or employee is readily identifiable. In those instances, the “see something, say something” model is absolutely critical. If management is not made aware of a particular problem or situation then they cannot take action.
In a previous article, I discussed the fact that most active shooters seek maximum carnage and minimum resistance. By having a good solid plan and conducting training, you are sending a message throughout your organization to all employees that you are preparing and there WILL BE RESISTANCE. You are also identifying your corporation and facility as a hard target and we all know soft targets are preferred by active shooters. Whether you come up with your own plan or hire a professional to complete a security evaluation and conduct training, get it done. Your life may depend on it.
To learn more about obtaining a security evaluation, training for a critical incident, or strengthening the security of your business or organization, please visit our website or give us a call at 615-236-6484. We are passionate about helping people and organizations achieve real security.
Protocols, training and persistence saved the lives of countless children at Rancho Tehama Elementary School in Corning, California. Another lunatic gunman began selecting seemingly random targets to kill in an apparent psychotic rage. He eventually set his sights on entering the elementary school at the Rancho Tehama Reserve but that attempt was thwarted by the simple yet effective decision to place the school on lockdown.
In the active shooter incident at Columbine High School, not a single locked door was penetrated by the shooters. Further proof that something so simple can be so effective during an active shooter incident. These gunmen typically come prepared to create the maximum amount of carnage with a large amount of ammunition and weaponry. However, they typically do not come prepared, physically or mentally, to breach locked or fortified doors. I often reiterate that these active shooters seek maximum carnage AND MINIMUM RESISTANCE. The gunman in this case met immediate resistance at the school and immediately chose another path for his rampage.
Faculty members reported hearing gunfire approximately a quarter mile away from the school and immediately took action. Their training and protocols instantly took over and allowed their brains to process the noise as gunfire instead of fireworks as is so often the case.
Many times our brains immediately try and process certain stimuli from our environment as something familiar and safe instead of processing it as something more sinister and unsafe. What allows our brains to process these things correctly is training and planning in advance. It is very difficult, if not almost impossible, for our brains to recall anything complicated during a critical incident. Simply put, our stress response won’t allow it. However, previous planning and training allows us to overcome several of our bodies’ stress responses during a traumatic event. This is exactly how police officers and soldiers are able to operate successfully in the most critical and traumatic situations. Many times they do not have time to think, they must simply respond to whatever they are faced with instantaneously with no time to process what they are seeing, hearing or feeling.
I cannot reiterate this enough: ALL schools, churches, and businesses need to have a plan to deal with critical incidents and potential intruders. Having a plan is a phenomenal start, however you must also PRACTICE that plan. The goal is to practice it enough that your brain and your body will both respond to an event instead of simply reacting. A response is typically pre-planned where a reaction is simply a moment in time reflection of what your brain is processing at that moment.
In today’s world of lunatic psychopaths gunning down multiple random victims, it is time to shift our focus. Instead of trying to predict the where and when of the next attack, we must focus on hardening potential targets as well as a implementing a planned response. We would all love to have a solution to stop the next mass casualty incident but we all know that is not the reality. These attacks will undoubtedly continue and we all have a responsibility to focus more on the safety and security of our schools, churches, homes and businesses.
To learn more about obtaining a security evaluation, training for a critical incident, or strengthening the security of your school, church, or business, please visit our website at www.defendsystems.com or give us a call at 615-236-6484. We are passionate about helping all organizations achieve real security.
One historical fact about 2017 is that it was a grim reminder that active shooter and mass casualty incidents are on the rise in America. The staggering number of casualties, the vast amount of locations, and the varied motivations of the attackers are all reasons that our mindset as a society should be changing. It is still unthinkable to believe that enough evil exists inside some people to commit these heinous acts, but the seemingly endless news cycle of violence remains a stark reminder that there are truly evil people among us.
In the aftermath of every active shooter and mass casualty attack, most people immediately search for a motive and become hyper-focused on determining the “why”. The truth is this, active shooters and terrorists all have varied motivations and triggers and attempting to determine what these are for each incident will not prevent the next tragedy. Beyond the increasing number of attacks and the vast number of victims during the last year, what is even more alarming is the number of different locations where these incidents occurred.
HERE ARE SEVEN CRITICAL REMINDERS ABOUT WHY 2017 SHOULD MOTIVATE US TO ACTION:
Eugene Simpson Stadium Park, Alexandria, VA– A lone gunman opened fire on lawmakers and aids who were participating in a baseball practice in preparation for an upcoming charity game. Capitol police officers assigned to a security detail for Representative Steve Scalise returned fire and engaged the gunman. Two Alexandria Police officers also arrived and continued to engage the suspect in a gunfight that lasted roughly ten minutes. The suspect was shot by police and later died at the hospital. A total of four victims were shot by the gunman, all of them survived.
Aztec High School, Aztec, NM – A 21-year-old former student gained access to the school by disguising himself as a student during normal student arrival. He wore a backpack which contained a 9mm handgun and made his way to the bathroom to prepare for his rampage. After classes began he exited the bathroom and shot and killed two students. The school went on immediate lockdown and his access to other students was thwarted. The shooter then took his own life.
Bronx-Lebanon Hospital, New York, NY– A former doctor and ex-employee of the hospital, armed with an assault rifle, opened fire on the 16th and 17th floor of the facility. The gunman killed a doctor, wounded six other people, and attempted to set himself on fire before turning the gun on himself and taking his own life.
UPS Facility, San Francisco, CA – A disgruntled employee armed with two pistols began shooting his coworkers during a morning meeting at the facility. The gunman killed four people and wounded two others before being confronted by police at which time he took his own life.
First Baptist Church, Sutherland Springs, TX– A single lunatic gunman opened fire on churchgoers who were attending Sunday morning services. The gunman was eventually confronted and shot twice by a neighbor to the church as he was fleeing. The suspect fled in his vehicle and eventually crashed at which time he shot himself in the head. The suspect killed 26 people, ranging in age from 18 months to 77 years, and wounded 20 others in his rampage. A total of fifteen empty magazines were located inside the church, each of which had a 30 round capacity.
Fiamma Awning Company, Orlando, FL – A former disgruntled employee entered the business through a back door armed with a handgun and a large hunting knife. He began shooting several former co-workers with most of them being shot in the head and some, multiple times. Police arrived within two minutes and prepared to enter the building at which time the suspect shot himself. A total of five people were shot and killed during the attack.
Route 91 Harvest Festival, Las Vegas, NV – A lone gunman hell-bent on executing as many innocent people as possible, opened fire from his 32nd-floor hotel room that overlooked the Route 91 Harvest Festival. Utilizing several rifles and magazines, he shot indiscriminately into the crowd of concertgoers killing 58 people and injuring 546. The shooter fired over 1,100 rounds during the attack and ultimately committed suicide as police officers closed in on his location.
These seven incidents are fundamental examples of why EVERY organization should be training to deal with an active shooter or mass casualty incident. These cowardly attacks have no bias or consistent methodology as to the location or targeted victims. Every shooter has a different motive or perceived reason as to why they rationalize their actions and they typically PLAN TO DIE. The truth is this, it can happen ANYWHERE, ANYTIME and to ANYONE. What’s your plan?
To learn more about improving your physical security, training for a critical incident, or obtaining an evaluation for your school, church, business, or home, please visit our website at contact us or give us a call at 615-236-6484. We are passionate about helping all organizations achieve real security.
Fearing attacks, firms install sensors to track, help neutralize active shooters; systems’ true purpose often masked for fear of sparking a panic.
A gunshot detector in the lobby of 55 Water Street in New York City. PHOTO: CHIP CUTTER/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
By Chip Cutter Feb. 19, 2019 6:30 a.m. ET
Corporate executives worried about workplace shootings are quietly installing gunfire-detection systems in U.S. offices and factories. Most don’t tell employees what the sensors are, for fear of alarming them.
Shootings are “so frequent now, people are starting to accept it,” said Brink Fidler, who spent close to two decades in law enforcement in Nashville, Tenn., and now runs his own active-shooter training company, Defend Systems. “The more often these happen…the more people you have going, ‘We have to do something.’ ”
At Rackspace, a cloud computing company in San Antonio, management deployed 150 gunshot-detection sensors around its cavernous office in a converted shopping mall. “You can’t install metal detectors at the doors and have guards patting people down,” said Mark Terry, Rackspace’s director of global enterprise security. “So what’s the next best thing?”
The sensors blend in to walls and the ceiling, and look similar to fire-safety equipment. “I’ve told people they’re air-quality sensors before and they don’t even second guess it,” Mr. Terry said.
Originally developed for the battlefield, many sensors use a combination of acoustic and infrared technology to “see” the flash of a gunshot while also hearing it. The systems can be wired to alert police and instantly send texts, calls and desktop notifications to employees, flashing messages to tell workers how to respond in an emergency.
Once the sensors detect a gunshot on a floor, the devices can track a gunman—integrating with camera systems—as he moves through a building, in theory allowing police to zero in faster and neutralize the threat. One reason many companies don’t explain to employees what the devices do is that they fear somebody will try to test them out by bringing a gun to work, security experts said.
Gunshot detectors now exist in employee cafeterias, meeting rooms and distribution centers, among other locations. Toyota Motor Corp. installed them at an auto plant in Kentucky. Pharmaceutical giant Allergan PLC and Corona beer maker Constellation Brands Inc. have put gunshot-detection systems at some offices and facilities.
An Allergan spokesperson said employee safety is a priority and the detection system is “one part of our multilayered security platform that helps us respond to situations quickly.” Constellation Brands declined to comment. At Saks Fifth Avenue’s flagship store in New York, the devices are perched over beauty and jewelry counters.
In 55 Water Street, one of the largest office buildings in Manhattan and home to S&P Global Inc. and Hugo Boss, about a dozen sensors are scattered through the lobby and beside an escalator, said Scott Bridgwood, vice president of operations for New Water Street Corp., which manages the building. The cost, so far, has been less than $100,000, and Mr. Bridgwood said he hopes to have the devices on every floor at some point. He sees tremendous benefits to having the technology widely deployed and linked to local authorities to hasten response times.
“In an active-shooter situation, who’s calling 911?” Mr. Bridgwood asks. “I expect them to get out.”
The Charleston, S.C., airport put gunshot sensors near ticketing and baggage-claim areas. “I’d rather be prepared and not use it than need it and not have it,” said Paul Campbell Jr., chief executive of the Charleston County Aviation Authority.
The sensors cost around $1,200 each, and big employers can spend anywhere from $10,000 to hundreds of thousands of dollars on the systems. Many more major corporations have purchased the devices recently, The Wall Street Journal found.
Some security advisers question whether money spent on gunshot detectors could be better used on more robust active-shooter training, assessments to determine gaps in building security, or physical barriers, such as door locks and ballistic glass, to deter a shooter.
“I would tell companies to take a breath,” said Jesus M. Villahermosa Jr., who spent three decades in law enforcement in the Tacoma, Wash., area, including on the SWAT team, and now runs security consulting firm Crisis Reality Training Inc. Mr. Villahermosa said he sees the value in the detectors, but cautioned: “Don’t just believe that a system is going to solve your problem.”
While building codes mandate lifesaving equipment such as fire alarms, no such regulation exists for gunshot detectors. Indoor systems are still new enough that many law-enforcement experts remain unfamiliar with them, and research on their effectiveness is limited, says Ronal Serpas, a professor at Loyola University in New Orleans, and the city’s former police superintendent.
Shooter Detection Systems LLC is among the biggest sellers of the systems and has more than 18,000 devices deployed. Chief Executive Christian Connors says the company has never had a false positive, thanks to years of refining the product, which is based on technology developed in the 1990s by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, also known as Darpa.
The sensors can distinguish between a gunshot and a car backfiring, firecracker exploding or balloon popping because they listen for the specific signature sound of a muzzle blast, he said.
Those who have purchased the technology say it could save lives in an emergency when seconds matter. Some privacy experts wonder just how much monitoring the sensors are doing since they essentially mike the workplace 24/7. Mr. Connors says his gunshot detectors have “zero ability to transmit any audio whatsoever out of the sensor. It’s impossible.”
Sales at Shooter Detection Systems are up 400% in the past year, with Fortune 500 companies now representing the firm’s biggest base of clients, Mr. Connors said. He declined to name the firm’s customers.
Public records show that the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta spent more than $200,000 in 2018 to put 95 sensors from Shooter Detection Systems across its campus, including the cost of installation, cabling and software.
More schools have been eyeing the technology, but some feel if they install them in one building, they must install them in all, security experts say, a stipulation that may prove cost-prohibitive. Mr. Connors said his company will soon introduce a package of sensors priced below $10,000 for schools.
At 55 Water Street, one of the largest office buildings in Manhattan, the gunfire-detection sensors are scattered through the lobby and beside an escalator.PHOTO: CHIP CUTTER/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Tennessee church shooting leaves one dead, several wounded, officials say. That was the headline on Sunday, September 24, 2017. According to police the masked gunman shot and killed one female in the parking lot and then entered the sanctuary where he began shooting people indiscriminately. One Church member, a 22 year old usher, was able to respond by physically confronting the gunman, during which, the gunman received a self-inflicted gunshot to his chest. That member then went to his car in the parking lot, retrieved his own weapon, and headed back into the church where he held the suspect at gunpoint until police arrived. Clearly things could and would have been much worse if not for the heroic and selfless action of that young man.
At this point we don’t know what motivated the gunman to carry out this heinous attack. However, does the “why” really matter? The answer is no. We could spend days and days trying to figure out why these happen and trying to predict when and where another one may occur, only to come up short. We all have to go beyond asking ourselves why and adjust to the reality that these types of mass casualty incidents are on the rise and we have to accept the fact that we must do something to prepare for them.
HERE ARE FIVE THINGS THAT EVERY CHURCH SHOULD DO TO IMPROVE THEIR SECURITY.
1) Form a security team. Hopefully your church already has some sort of security team but if not, now is the time more than ever. More than likely these crazed gunmen are not going to target the large mega church that has three uniformed police officers sitting outside. They likely select their targets based on their ability to carry out as much carnage as possible. Having an obvious and visible security presence is critical.
2) Get a threat assessment and security evaluation done for your particular facility. Every church building and property is different and will have different strengths and weaknesses when it comes to achieving physical security. Hiring a professional to evaluate your facility can make all the difference when it comes to critical incidents.
3) Develop plans and protocols. Your team needs specific plans and protocols in place to be truly effective. Every man for himself is not a plan. What are the preventative measures and protocols going to be and who is responsible for them? What are the teams’ specific roles should an intruder enter the building? These are all things that need to be nailed down in advance.
4) Conduct training. Training and repetition is what makes soldiers and police officers so effective at their respective jobs. They face situations daily where they must take decisive action immediately upon encountering a threat when there is no time to stop and think. They do this by relying on their training so that when the time comes they don’t simply react, they respond.
5) Be vigilant and consistent. Do not take for granted that another member of your team has already checked the south parking lot, or has secured a particular door, etc. Do not get complacent about your plans and protocols. Consistency can save lives, complacency kills.
If you want to learn more about strengthening the security presence at your church or business, go to our website or give us a call at 615-236-6484. We are passionate about helping organizations achieve real security in this dangerously developing world.
