ACTIVE SHOOTER WORKPLACE VIOLENCE PREPAREDNESS FOR ORGANIZATIONAL MANAGEMENT

By CPP James Cameron

James's personal experiences and lessons learned are from being involved as a first responder during multiple real-world mass casualty events. His books gives a unique perspective which cannot be replicated by those without the same experiences. 

"While others without any real experience give seminars on what 'the book answer' says to

• Language: English
• Publisher: Security Concepts Group
• Release date: Jan 19, 2021
• ISBN: 9781792355455

CPP James Cameron

James Cameron is a board-certified ASIS International Protection Professional (CPP), and has over 15 years' international experience in both the security industry and the corporate sector. Mr. Cameron is a United States combat veteran with multiple deployments and having earned a Bronze Star for his actions as a sniper during combat operations. Mr. Cameron has also earned his Bachelor's Degree in Business Information Systems from DeVry University. Mr. Cameron worked with the U.S. State Department as a member of the Diplomatic Security Services from 2005-2011. There he served in multiple positions, including that of a security detail leader for the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq and Afghanistan. He ultimately finished as an instructor and subject matter expert for the High Threat, Dignitary Protection Division of the U.S. Department of State Diplomatic Security Services. His experiences as a civilian span the globe and range from providing protection under hostile fire in non-permissive, high threat environments to providing first responder medical care during multiple mass casualty situations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Chad. Additionally, Mr. Cameron has traveled around the world teaching non-governmental organizations (NGOs) techniques on how to avoid harm to personnel assigned to permissive, semi-permissive and non-permissive environments. He has assisted with writing and revising multiple ASIS International, ANSI (American National Standards Institute)-approved recommendations for guidelines and standards, the most recent of which is Workplace Violence and Active Assailant - Prevention, Intervention, and Response Standard. He has been a member of the ASIS Executive Protection Council and is the Certifications Chair for ASIS International, Las Vegas. Mr. Cameron established Security Concepts Group in 2009 to raise the standards of protection, including implementing multiple value-added benefits that others now try to imitate. Under his leadership, experience, and vision, Security Concepts Group has grown from initially providing only close personal protection, to now offering a wide range of security solution services that include organizational risk management, and his unique preparedness techniques to address active assailant and workplace violence.

Book preview

About the Author

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James Cameron is a board-certified ASIS International Protection Professional (CPP), and has over 15 years’ international experience in both the security industry and the corporate sector. Mr. Cameron is a United States combat veteran with multiple deployments and having earned a Bronze Star for his actions as a sniper during combat operations. Mr. Cameron has also earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Business Information Systems from DeVry University.

Mr. Cameron worked with the U.S. State Department as a member of the Diplomatic Security Services from 2005-2011. There he served in multiple positions, including that of a security detail leader for the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq and Afghanistan. He ultimately finished as an instructor and subject matter expert for the High Threat, Dignitary Protection Division of the U.S. Department of State Diplomatic Security Services. His experiences as a civilian span the globe and range from providing protection under hostile fire in non-permissive, high threat environments to providing first responder medical care during multiple mass casualty situations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Chad. Additionally, Mr. Cameron has traveled around the world teaching non-governmental organizations (NGOs) techniques on how to avoid harm to personnel assigned to permissive, semi-permissive and non-permissive environments.

He has assisted with writing and revising multiple ASIS International, ANSI (American National Standards Institute)-approved recommendations for guidelines and standards, the most recent of which is Workplace Violence and Active Assailant – Prevention, Intervention, and Response Standard. He has been a member of the ASIS Executive Protection Council and is the Certifications Chair for ASIS International, Las Vegas.

Mr. Cameron established Security Concepts Group in 2009 to raise the standards of protection, including implementing multiple value-added benefits that others now try to imitate. Under his leadership, experience, and vision, Security Concepts Group has grown from initially providing only close personal protection, to now offering a wide range of security solution services that include organizational risk management, and his unique preparedness techniques to address active assailant and workplace violence.

Preface

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Thank you for taking the time to read this very important book on Workplace Violence and Active Shooter Preparedness for Organizations. With the increase in workplace violence, it is crucial that organizations take the proper steps to protect their employees and the organization itself. You are taking the first proactive step in acknowledging the need for preparedness.

After the success of my unique training book P.A.C.E. (Prepare, Act, Care, Evacuate) Active Shooter, Workplace Violence Preparedness which was written after presenting the topic to multiple organizations at conferences that included Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and ASIS International, I decided to write a book specifically catering to organizational management.

This book serves as a reference guide for reviewing current polices and creating new ones. Our approach comes from two separate, important points of view.

First is the concern for the safety and well-being of employees, customers, vendors, and anyone who interacts with the organization. This is what I consider the emotional aspect of preparing for an event. Clearly, no organization wants people hurt—or worse—at the workplace.

Second is understanding the organizational liability if an event was to occur. This is what I refer to as the logical aspect of preparing for an event. Taking the emotion out of the topic is important. Organizations need to understand that one single event could cost millions and potentially harm their businesses beyond recovery.

I offer you examples of real-life situations. You will find answers to questions you didn’t know you had. I will also pose questions that only each organization can answer since every organization is unique. This book is based on real life and real lessons, and not just based on attending a few seminars and online training. We will explore what questions organizations need to answer and how to prepare for an incident. The overall goal is to be prepared, and by being prepared that might mitigate the possibility of an event from occurring. The threat is forever evolving, and so are the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) used to deal with them. By following some simple recommendations, you can take the important steps to better prepare your organization.

How to use this book

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This book is based on my complete management training program so initially it should be read in chapter order. After that, use it as reference material by highlighting certain text, verses, and chapters to ensure that you remember key points. This management training has been used as a base for organizational policy and procedures, so keep that in mind when reading this book. Think of the book as a manual or Workplace Violence, Active Assailant Prevention and Preparedness for Dummies.

As a specialist in this field, I highly recommended you use this book in tandem with my P.A.C.E. (Prepare, Act, Care Evacuate) Active Shooter Workplace Violence Preparedness book. That book goes into detail on individual responsibility, what actions to take to prepare for, respond to, and survive an incident. Several sections of this book will reference topics covered in that book.

chapter 1

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The Basics

In this chapter, we will discuss basic information definitions, reporting, and statistics. Although the information and how things are defined, reported and calculated is almost infinite, I want to keep it simple. With that said, the numbers, statistics, and monetary cost will have increased by the time you read this book. When it comes to reporting and statistics, I always like to preface the topic with the understanding that results can mean whatever the surveyor wants them to be. Variables can include how the data is collected, organized, how questions are asked, what definitions are being used, and many other factors.

For example, an agency might categorize an active shooter event to be a workplace violence event. The number of injured or deceased in that event would not count towards what their annual numbers reported on active shooter situations, and vice versa. A real-life example of this categorization difference would be the 2015 San Bernardino, California shooting event. The attack was considered to be a terrorist attack, and consisted of a mass shooting where 14 civilians died and 22 were injured. The attack also involved an attempted bombing. The perpetrators, a married couple, focused on a training event and Christmas party at the local Department of Public Health where 80 employees celebrated the holiday in a banquet room. The perpetrators fled the scene, and were captured four hours later by police who killed them both. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not consider the event to be an active shooter event, but instead they reported it as a workplace violence situation. To me and to most logical people they would say it’s both, workplace violence and an active shooter event. Unfortunately, this is how the government reports such events. The only reason I can conclude why is so they don’t double report a single incident. To me it skew’s the data which goes into their reported numbers and statistics. Another challenge lies in the fact that data collection on workplace violence is only as good as what is being reported. The magnitude of workplace violence is difficult to quantify, since it relies heavily on individuals involved to self-report.

In an article written by Carol Fredrickson¹ she outlines 7 Reasons Employees Don’t Report Workplace Violence.

1. Fear or Retaliation

a. Employees are dealing with a bully in the workplace or a very angry co-worker and while they don’t like it, many are afraid to turn the person in or report the situation for fear of retaliation to themselves, their families or their co-workers. Most likely, the person in question has acted in a violent way before, and his/her co-workers do not want to be the brunt of their further frustration. Employers need to make it clear to all employees who report workplace violence that they will support and protect the employees from harassment, retaliation, and intimidation.

2. Becoming the Office Snitch

a Since we were kids, parents, coaches, and teachers have told us not to snitch on each other. In the workplace, many employees’ initial reactions are that they should report a potentially violent person,