I was wondering if the USCCA Monitors would considering making this a Category on its own, or at least “Countering the Mass Shooter” threat its own category?
Church security has become a priority for my community, especially after hearing about a thwarted effort at Park Valley Church in Virginia. I attended the “church security” training at the expo and found it helpful, but could use advice on getting things implemented.
My Church is in a state of transition: We are currently meeting in a school while our physical church is under construction. The new building is expected to open next year.
I am reading USCCA’s books, “Keeping Your Church Safe” and “Countering the Mass Shooter Threat.” I would really appreciate anyone that can offer real world experience and advice on what you are doing in your house of worship.
Being in a school we have multiple vulnerabilities: We are limited to what we can carry (basically small portable fire extinguishers and IFAKs), and the school has many empty/unoccupied spaces. We are small, but new faces come in from time to time.
Our country police offer “Worship Watch”, and some of us are looking into attending this training.
Does anyone here have a relationship with local law enforcement to patrol or sit in the parking lot during services? Have you run into obstacles with administration about taking certain steps (locking doors)? Do you think it is a good idea to wear a name tag or badge identifying ushers or church security individuals? Any other advice for one setting (school) or another (church - private property)?
I can give no advice about church security. However I think name tagging or IDing security as security is putting a target on their backs. But you see it all the time so I don’t know. As the saying goes; concealed means concealed.
@TB09
How are you and God bless you. I am the Safety/Security team coordinator at the church I attend. It is a volunteer position. Thank God we have never encountered any type of mass shooting attempt and I have attended this church and have been a member for over a decade. We have encountered disorderly persons during services that had to be removed but other than that nothing serious. The USCCA has great training on their website and I use it to improve the way we do things at our church. We have an LEO assigned to our church during services and the church pays him/her for their services. We also conduct quarterly training and set up scenarios at the church.
I can’t speak to what moderators might due, but simply speaking as a forum user, I don’t see enough traffic for this as its own section to benefit. I’d actually worry it would get less attention because a lot of people may not poke their heads into the relatively dead sub forum. Just…can’t have too many sections for forums with relatively low participation levels (everything is going to apps and big huge companies now with everybody under one room, IG, FB, Snap, etc etc…these old school forums across the board are shrinking)
I am the safety coordinator for my church. We use several volunteers every service. They are armed and carry radios. We also have a paid LEO for services as part of our team. We train periodically. Our team also has medical responders.
We participated in course for first responders put on by the department of homeland security. They advised you should not wear any marking denoting that you are part of the team. We try to be as inconspicuous as possible. They only one that is badged is the paid LEO. We do wear safety name tags on bright red lanyards under our shirts that can be pulled out to identify ourselves to law enforcement in the event they are called.
we got our security team going with many thanks to Angie at USCCA guiding us on what books to order.
at the time I stepped down we had 8 CC, 2 leo’s , 10 second tier and 3 over watch on a 30 camera monitor system [its 1 of the old Shop co stores]
add on;;; the church caters to college age students from all over the world
that are studying engineering in all different fields
therefore a lot of different religions mix there.
example; Easter Sunday we had 3 services [sunrise.9:30 and 11:00]
total count was about 750
our team did an excellent job keeping grey ,not sticking out
I Concur with many here, No Security I.D./Visible badges/vests.
maybe each team member has a tucked lanyard/I.D. badge as said already
being security is hard enough, being a target sucks. (sorry Brother)
It is what it is.
My one helpful suggestion may be OUTSIDE/Perimeter/Over watch Hi-Viz visibility (2 people)
to watch each others backs in the advent of a shoot, Level4 Body Armor/radios, IfAX etc.
911/Paramedics on speed dial and Local Police clued in on your operation.
An In your face heavily armed deterrent. that way any attempt may be thwarted just seeing what
they are dealing with before they even breach the doors. The He/she/it in the religious School schooling this year said IT was looking @ (2) possible sites but (1) had security of some sort, the place IT hit had none, Zero. ANY deterrent is better than none. You are on the right path! Stick with it and you will be fine. Secure all entrances/exits NOT being used , in a school that has way too many doors to cover you don’t want to be an armed camp! you just need to be cautious and @ peace.
USCCA and these Gunner’s have it going on. Today you have to take precautions you don’t want people coming to worship getting hinky but You do want everyone to go home ALIVE. THAT is the ultimate Goal.
God speed.
I head up our church’s Safety and Preparedness Team. We do not have any identifying badges or hats to identify us. Our team is made up of one church member with no experience, one with a military background, one with the FBI, one former county police lieutenant and then became county sheriff and one with LEO and military background. Four have CCW. We have written safety and security plan that was approved by the church. We are planning on drills to take place. Our facility has had security assessments done by both the county sheriff’s department and the county police department. We have implemented some of their recommendations and are working on others.
Just want to thank everyone for the feedback. We are anxious to get something in place, but as yo can imagine it is a delicate process. This information was very helpful, God bless you all!
