Attendees at 乐竞体育赛事直播鈥檚 2019 Global Summit in San Francisco will recall Casper, co-founder and CEO of Safe Passage Consulting in Columbus, OH. With 鈥渆vent鈥� numbers rising since he made his presentation there, we circled back with him for an update on the issue and鈥搈ore importantly鈥搘hat property managers can do to keep building occupants safe in the rare event they鈥檙e confronted with an active shooter on their property.
乐竞体育赛事直播: Tony, are active shooter incidents really on the rise or are they just being reported more sensationally?
CASPER: I want to start by saying that people should not live in a state of paranoia. The likelihood of being engaged in an event like this is unlikely, to be honest. That said, everyone should be situationally aware. From 2020 to 2021, there was an increase of 52 percent, when we went from 40 mass casualty events to 61. But consider this: in 2018, we had 30 attacks, in 2017, there were 31. So, it鈥檚 doubled.听
乐竞体育赛事直播: How do we relate these incidents to the threat to commercial and multifamily assets?
CASPER: There are layers of things we can do to protect buildings, schools, places of worship, offices, and apartments. When you talk about layers of protection that should be in place, there are certain things you should be doing. First, tenants need a level of understanding about that building鈥檚 plans.听
That starts with developing a robust emergency response plan and training to that plan. When you create that culture of safety rather than just throwing some technology up or locking a door without providing in-depth explanations of why, it鈥檚 easy to inadvertently defeat it, like propping a door open to have a smoke and leaving it propped open.听
The next layer is technology. With artificial intelligence and machine learning, there are systems available now that can identify a firearm as soon as someone gets out of their car. It can then automatically call 911, alert everyone in the building and even lock doors.听
乐竞体育赛事直播: So, what would be three protocols that a property owner or manager can start with to keep their building occupants safe?听
CASPER: This is a tough question because every site is different. But there are some basics. Number one is access control. That includes something as simple as not holding a door for someone else coming into the building, at least without them checking in with security. This might seem unfriendly, but it鈥檚 a social responsibility we have to one another.
We talked about technology, but you should also know that there are systems that automatically badge people in as they enter.
Number two would be dual levels of security for elevator access, which means I have to scan to get into an elevator and scan again for the floor I want to go to. This way, I can鈥檛 access the elevator if I'm not a tenant, and I can鈥檛 access a floor if I don鈥檛 live or work there. Could I take someone else鈥檚 access card? Yes, but there are layers of protection here too. We now have ID cards with thumb recognition to verify biometrically that it鈥檚 you.听
Third would be a well-trained security staff. There鈥檚 just no substitute for a trained, uniformed security guard, sometimes called courtesy patrol or a courtesy officer, in your lobby, someone to engage every entrant: 鈥淕ood morning, Alice, did you see the game last night?鈥� or a simple 鈥榃ho are you here to see?鈥� Engagement is a lost art since the pandemic, but it鈥檚 a great protective device.听
乐竞体育赛事直播: Should they be armed?听
CASPER: The perfect answer is to have a law enforcement official, but they aren鈥檛 always affordable, and a lot of agencies don鈥檛 have the personnel to support that. Is having an armed security guard good? Yes, but again I want to know their level of training. If trained well, they can be not just an evaluator, but a responder. But you have to do your due diligence. Don鈥檛 take just anyone.听
乐竞体育赛事直播: Wrap this up for us, Tony. What鈥檚 the message here?听
CASPER: There was a major food company back in 2010 that was found negligent in a shooting incident. They had an unarmed security guard, and he had no means of broadcasting the threat. It cost the company $46 million in civil suits. The 2017 Las Vegas shootings cost MGM $800 million. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that one death can cost a company $4.7 million when the loss of production, the resultant turnover of staff, and rebranding and marketing are all factored in.听
Those, at least, are the numbers. But there鈥檚 something greater at work here. As I said before, we all need to be situationally aware. We need to be prepared.听