House of Worship Security: 5 Tips to Keep Your Sanctuary Safe

According to the FBI's Active Shooter Incident twenty year review report there were 15 active shooter events at Houses of Worship from 1999-2019. During these 15 incidents there were a reported 80 deaths and 147 casualties. Fortunately, Houses of Worship are not targeted as often as business open to pedestrian traffic. On the other hand however, we find our Sanctuaries are not immune to violence. Taking proactive steps to safeguard your House of Worship can significantly reduce the likely hood of a major act of violence happening at your facility. Here I will offer 5 general security tips to harden your House of Worship from violence while maintaining an open and inviting atmosphere for your congregants and guests.

House of Worship Security: 5 Tips to Keep Your Sanctuary Safe

1. ESTABLISHING A PLAN FOR OVERLAPPING RINGS OF SECURITY

   Overlapping rings of security is a concept that allows for security and safety personnel to monitor your House of Worship from the furthest point away from the Sanctuary, usually the perimeter of the property, to the closet innermost post, the pulpit, where your minister will speak. These rings are designed to allow for the time to identify and prevent a bad actor from entering your facility and committing an act of violence.

   
   

   This concept involves establishing a system to monitor the entry and exit points of your facility, either with security cameras, some form of perimeter barrier such as a gate or traffic cones that can acting as a psychological deterrent to prohibited entry when they are in place, or possibly develop a method to slow vehicles as they enter the drive leading to you parking lot to prevent a speeding vehicle crashing into a gather group of people. This will be your first ring of security.

   
   

   The next ring could consist of parking lot greeters who will observe the parking area, greet congregants and visitors, see vehicles as they arrive, and report anything that is out of the ordinary to your established security and safety team.

   
   

   The third ring should be the outer perimeter of your actual House of Worship building. Securing this ring may consist of locking certain doors, funneling congregants and visitors to designated entryways, and providing the last hard ring of security before entrance to the House of Worship facility is made. This is similar to entering at schools or other public buildings.

   
   

   The last ring involves monitoring the interior of the House of Worship, specifically the Sanctuary itself during services, for any activity that may indicate a violent attack is about to occur. Other critical areas, such as childcare areas, if your House of Worship has one, should also be monitored closely.

   
   

2. INSTALLING VIDEO SURVEILLENCE EQUIPMENT

   The price of security cameras have decreased significantly since they were first introduced. It is common to see security cameras at homes, private businesses, Houses of Worship, in addition to most public government buildings. These cameras can help a House of Worship security and safety team monitor a larger area without having to have a physical presence in all sensitive areas. At a minimum, the House of Worship parking lots, outer perimeter of the building, main entrances, and the inner Sanctuary should be monitored with cameras that record events and can be accessed easily if needed.

   
   

   In addition to the proactive security nature the installed cameras can provide to secure your House of Worship, they can also be used to combat frivolous allegations against the House of Worship. False claims of personal injury or child abuse can be defended if your camera system records monitored areas and stores the footage for a predetermined period of time.

   
   

3. ESTABLISHING CONTROLLED ENTRANCES TO YOUR FACILITY

   One of the best security measures a House of Worship can put in place is a system of controlling entrance to the facility. Ideally, most outer doorways should be locked prior to the arrival of congregants and visitors. Established entrances should be identified to control how people enter your House of Worship. This measure serves a dual purpose.

   • First is allowing a House of Worship's greeters to make visual contact with all who enter the facility. If anyone seems suspicious or out of the ordinary, greeters trained in your security measures can see that and report their observations to the security and safety team.

   • Second it prevents strangers and unwanted persons from entering the House of Worship, going un-noticed, and committing an act of violence before anyone even knew a potential bad actor was in the facility.

   • Third, it gives your House of Worship greeter team the ability to new comers that are truly visiting the facility with no ill intent, to be welcomed and accommodated during their visit.
     

4. ESTABLISH VERBAL CONTACT WITH NEW VISITORS

   This tip allows for door greeters and security team members to make a verbal connection with anyone that is new to your House of Worship. This concept also has a dual purpose.

   • First it allows a greeting team to welcome all visitors to a House of Worship maintaining a much needed open and inviting environment while covertly protecting the flock from any danger.

   • Second it allows a greeting team to introduce themselves to the unknown person, welcome them to the facility, and perhaps obtain some information on the person that caught their attention. The federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) presents this concept as the "Power of Hello" in a guide for House of Worship found on their website. In the guide, people are taught to observe behavior, initiate a hello while asking a few basic questions, navigating the risk for potential danger signs, and calling for help if the situation warrants.

   • If desired, greeters or security and safety team member can request the visitor to complete a new visitors card and offer a small gift for visiting the facility and completing the card. Coffee mugs, pens, and notepads are common welcome gifts for new visitors.

     
     

5. ENLIST A SANCTIONED VOLUNTEER ARMED SAFETY TEAM

   Any volunteer armed security and safety team should be sanctioned by your House of Worship leadership team. All members should be vetted with a background check, proof of their Concealed Carry License (CCL) status, preferrable be members of your House of Worship, and receive some level of training before taking on the responsibility of serving on a security and safety team. Once onboard, team members should be given the responsibility at a minimum to perform the following tasks.

   • Arrive before any congregants to sweep the House of Worship property looking for any signs of danger. Members should be willing to stay late and conduct another sweep once all congregants have left the facility.

   • Be willing to serve as parking lot ushers and greeters to provide a first line of defense against a violent attack, but also engage with your House of Worship guests. Identifying and mitigating a potential danger outside of the facility is best practice and better than having to manage a situation where a large group of people have assembled.

   • Be willing to monitor designated entrances and main pedestrian traffic halls for problems.

   • Be willing to monitor security cameras during your House of Worship services.

   • Be able to react to any threats that enter your facility including those that may disrupt your services in you Sanctuary,

   • Be willing to commit to routine training on House of Worship security and safety.

   • If armed, be willing and able to take the appropriate action using their concealed firearm if the need arises.

   • Be willing to attend mandated training sessions to allow your team to prepare on a regular basis for threats that could be identified at you facility.

     
     

CONCLUSION

Keeping a House of Worship Sanctuary safe is a big responsibility not to be taken lightly by leadership or an armed volunteer security and safety team. In an article discussing a Police Officers Guide to the Terrorist Attack Cycle by Rick Samples, there are eight phases of the attack cycle: preliminary target selection, initial surveillance, final target selection, pre-attack surveillance, planning, rehearsal, execution, escape and exploitation. Utilizing the five tips to keep your Sanctuary safe you can identify a potential threat in many phases of these planning stages. Once identified, steps can be taken to prevent the planned act from taking place. If you have prepared properly, the potential offender will possibly know you have a security plan in place when they conduct a pre-attack surveillance trip. This alone may cause the potential attacker to choose a different House of Worship that has not taken any precautions to prevent violence on their property. Bad actors look for easy and soft targets to strike. It is imperative we stay vigilant, stay proactive, and stay trained to properly protect our Houses of Worship.

If you are in our area, contact us at selfrelianceselfdefense.com to learn more about concealed carry license training, personal range coaching, House of Worship safety training, or how to be better prepared and self-reliant in your personal protection journey.