This is the first video from our Proving Ground series about protecting your house of worship. The training event was last year. If you’re interested, I can post additional videos from that series.
Please feel free to share this with your friends, family, and house of worship. You never know if this will get someone’s eyes to open and keep them safer.
Working on certifications to become a consultant/trainer to churches wanting to start safety teams.
There is a lot of great information out there on this topic. I’m excited to see what questions come up.
I have not watched the video yet. I hate how work gets in the way of what i want to do. But, I am looking forward to it and seeing the remaining videos, and sharing them with my churches security team, pastors and staff.
Hey @Dawn this originally came out several months ago didn’t it? Good info and intel.
One thing our church did was get a consultant the pastor knew from being a police chaplain and review our layout, make recommendations and then offered a class to any church members who were CCWs and were interested (about 5 of us showed up). Half day classroom, half day range with qualifying at the end.
One thing I really liked about it was the actual qualifying and how it showed you what your capabilities looked like under the clock at different distances so that a member would know within the sanctuary (instructor set up distances like pulpit to back doors, mid sanctuary to aisle etc). what was a likely shot and what was not (to limit friendlies from getting hit).
Was able to watch this. Ron Aguiar attends our church at times and has done some run/hide/fight training with out volunteers. I like what he has to say and we utilize similar or modified methods at our church including some he suggested with respect to positioning
He has also done some cameos with meetings Louisville Metro Police have had with leaders from houses of worship basically saying the same thing. One thing that really stood out at one time was when he referred to AR-15s and .223/5.56 ammunition with respect to weapons of war.
I agree with Ron on using police officers if you can, but his generalization with respect to them being covered criminally and civilly if they have to act is dependent upon the jurisdiction. For instance, an LMPD officer will receive protection within Jefferson County if approved for off duty work but that could be jeopardized if he volunteers off the books as to whether the city will protect him. If they act on their own in response to an emergency while not a volunteer, they may have greater protection than as a volunteer. My officers are there in an official off duty capacity or are there on their own (but carrying our radio) should we need assistance or there is an emergency. I can only speak to Kentucky law but I am pretty certain that not all states allow police to work off duty and cannot say one way or the other what authority and protections they have should an off duty incident occur.
Also, their jurisdiction, thus their immunity, only applies within the county (with some exceptions - State Police, Fish & Wildlife LE and with departments with inter-local mutual aid agreements). If an officer from Oldham County, KY or from Indiana takes action in Jefferson County, they are just like any other civilian. Unfortunately, many do not realize this.
Our church also has a law enforcement/armed security rider on its liability insurance policy. Additionally, I also advise to look for additional self defense protection for all of the time. I have generally told them about USCCA, NRA CarryGuard and USLawShield and tell them they need to look at what their needs are. Everyone has asked me what I have and I let them know that having reviewed all of the benefits and contracts involved, from a legal perspective USCCA is the best, and, by the way, I am a part of the USCCA Attorney Network. I also tell the same thing to every officer I know with respect to if they do any travel out of their own jurisdiction.
I am looking forward to catching the remaining portions of the House of Worship training when I have a chance.
I’m a security team member for my church and I would like to see ALL of the church security videos that you have.
I also would love to see the rest of the series. I live in a rural area and attend a small church. I’m not the most experienced out there by will likely be the best candidate start heading up a security team. I’ve watched John Lovell’s church security videos but the more quality advice/training the better.
This is a fantastic place to start if you’re starting a new team.