Planning for Emergencies and Crises at Your Church Requires Vision #churchsafetyministry @DoctorDarryl

Planning for Emergencies and Crises at Your Church 

In our last column, we discussed the phases necessary to develop your church security plan.

• Develop a planning team.
• Facilitate a discussion and risk assessment using the Collaborative Informed Consent model.
• Draft your goals and objectives.

To write and use your plan, use the six specific steps explained below.

Consult with Community Partners

 “Without prophetic vision, the people shall perish …” Proverbs 29:18

All planning begins with a vision. Your team should develop the vision and understand it well enough to easily explain it to any congregant.

A “shared vision” is critical to achieving desired results.

One church’s vision was: “When you come to church here, you will feel safe; our ‘sheepdogs’ are protecting our flock.”

Engage local emergency management, first responders, and law enforcement partners. Explain what you want to accomplish, and ask them to join your planning group.

Seek out “fence-line” neighbors who may share a property line with the church.  Ask them to help you “keep an eye out” on unusual activity and immediately report it to authorities and the church contact. Encourage them that if they “see something, say something.”

The active shooter in Texas parked his vehicle, walked 50 plus yards dressed in battle gear and carrying a rifle before spraying rounds of fire into two sides of the building. Then he entered the church.  The church’s parking lot is the first and one of the most important locations to have “eyes and ears”.

Risk Assessment Considerations

The planning committee must consider threats and prioritize them. For example, tornadoes are  likely to happen in the spring or summer. Consider what damage could occur, how much time is available to warn the congregants, and how long the threat could last.

Consider the “after-shocks” and follow-on effects of the threat. Robberies, assaults, and active shooters could turn your church into a crime scene, which means it could be cordoned off for days, maybe weeks, and the media demands will be incessant.

Setting Goals and Desired Outcomes

Prioritize each threat from high to low. Set goals (general statements about the desired outcome) for your highest priorities.

An objective is a step to take to achieve the goal. If your goal is to prevent fires, objectives could be providing fire prevention training to cooks, ensuring the church has available fire extinguishers and that congregants know how to use them as well as an evacuation plan, if necessary.

Developing and using table-top scenarios

Specific plan scenarios should be outlined based on priority.  What do you do in the event of an active shooter, tornado or medical emergency? The responses and responders will be different for each.

Consider length of response time (particularly in rural areas), who in the church will make the decisions, and what the courses of action are.

Use facilitated table-top exercises with your committee to develop specific action steps. Look under “Resources”  at www.ldarrylarmstrong.com for an example. If your church membership has first-aid responders who attend regularly, involve them and explain how they can help.

Plan Preparation, Review and Approval

Determine courses of action for each high priority threat (include active shooter scenarios). Compare the costs and benefits. Present the draft of the written plan to the organization’s leadership for approval or changes.

Plan Implementation and Maintenance

Share the plan before finalizing with a review group of your community partners, emergency responders, and law enforcement. Get their feedback and include all genders and ages as third-party insights are extremely valuable.

Communications Internally and Externally

Disseminate understandable, concise information to the internal and external audiences. Use the church website or social media to push out the information.  Inform your local media. If the church has a website for members, this information can be shared there.

 Training Responders

Choose volunteers who meet your criteria and who agree to train. Use table-top exercises to hold practice drills. Review and update the plan at least every two-years or if there are changes to buildings, policies or personnel.

Finally, arrange for crisis communications and media relations training for at least three members of the team, In the event of an active shooter, your pastor, deacons, and critical leadership will need it.

Further information

These columns share the expertise and ideas gleaned from our experience and those involved in church security. We challenge you and your leadership to explore what has become a vitally important role in today’s houses of worship — safety and security for those who come to worship.

Interested persons can find additional information including a video introduction on church security, podcasts, and materials designed to inform and educate at www.churchsafetyministry.com. A series of webinars are under development, and those interested in attending these online seminars can register at the website to receive announcements on dates.

END

(L. Darryl Armstrong Ph.D. is the principal at L. Darryl ARMSTRONG and Associates LLC. His firm provides crisis communications and prevention consulting services and training to clients nation-wide. He has more than 40-years of experience in helping clients prepare for emergencies and crisis. A graduate of Murray State University in communications and behavioral psychology and the Executive Security Institute with an emphasis in security planning, he holds a doctoral degree in neuro-linguistics. He is available for limited speaking engagements and consulting. 1.888.340.2006, ldarrylarmstrong@gmail.com and www.ldarrylarmstrong.com.)

 

 

 

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Churches, irrespective of size, must plan to ensure the safety of their congregants #churchsafetyministry

Churches, like any other businesses in today’s environment, must take steps to ensure the safety of their congregations.

Because emergencies happen to all businesses, a thoughtful and resilient emergency plan of action is prudent.

As of December 19, 108 people were killed in churches in 2017.

When an active shooter on November 5, 2017, killed 26 people and wounded 20 at a rural Baptist church in Sutherland Springs, Texas,  media, public, and political concerns reached a new high.

This church attack was the deadliest active shooting by an individual in Texas history and the fifth-deadliest in the United States.  It is the most devastating active shooting in an American place of worship in our history.

Such events disappear quickly from the front pages of  mainstream media, and many people, including pastors and congregants, resort to thinking, “it can’t happen to us.” Hopefully, it won’t.

Although the chances that your congregants will be involved in such an attack are slim, church leadership must accept the possibility and plan for this and all other possible emergencies.

Having worked in the field of crisis communications, prevention, and management for 40-years, I believe in and practice with my clients “ praying for the best while preparing for the worse.”

Organizations that do so will survive and recover; those that don’t suffer severe and often irreparable consequences.

This series of columns will provide insight into the questions that church leaders and pastors must consider as they plan for the safety of their congregants.

Planning for the necessary personnel to respond, the communication of the event, training church personnel, and the event follow-up should cover issues such as:

• Why houses of worship need an emergency response plan and the types of emergencies to include.
• The importance of a facilitated dialogue with leadership and congregants about developing an action plan that includes law enforcement, emergency response, legal and insurance personnel a process we call “Collaborative Informed Consent.”
• Considerations of hiring professional security personnel or using volunteers, including a “talent inventory” from your congregants.
• Conducting a risk analysis and evaluation of your church facility, parking lot, and personnel.
• Why your institution is a “soft target” and how to “harden” it by quickly achieving “soft” and “hard” lockdowns.
• Having trained “screeners” and the options for action they must take when an incident develops.
• Understanding your internal and external communication needs and venues before, during, and after a crisis.
• Considering non-lethal and lethal options.
• How to gather intelligence and ensure confidentiality.
• How to protect children and seniors who are the most vulnerable members of your congregation.
• Understanding what an active shooter is and how they think.
• The times of day and the days of the week your church is most vulnerable.
• The role of active or retired military, law enforcement, and concealed carry permit holders on your security team.
• What you must communicate to your congregation about your plan and what they must do in the event of an emergency, including an active shooter.
• Whether you should post signage, and, if so, what should it say?
• Establishing proactive establishment of post-event counseling and recovery assistance.
• Teaching self-awareness and using the “see something, say something” strategy.
• Pros and cons of “Run, hide and fight.”
• The need for “Stop the Bleed” first-aid kits and training.

Further information

These columns share the expertise gleaned from our four decades of experience in crisis planning and management and those involved in church security nationwide. We challenge you to explore what has become a vitally important role in today’s houses of worship – safety and security and not just to conclude that carrying a weapon in a house of prayer is all you have to do to protect your congregants.

Interested persons can find additional information including an introductory video on church security, podcasts, and downloadable materials at www.churchsafetyministry.com. A pilot webinar is under development, and those interested in participating in this pilot can register at our website to receive announcements of future presentation dates.

Mark Twain would be Proud of Paul Wolff

Tybee Island residents and its city government lost a good man this week when Paul Wolff, a multi-term city councilman lost his re-election by less than a handful of votes.

Finding public servants of the caliber of Paul is difficult in our society. Paul was one of the rare breed that understood the importance of opening and maintaining dialogue on all issues whether they were controversial or not, the importance of ‘informed consent,’ and the art of consensus-building, if not compromise.

We have had the privilege of knowing Paul for most of two decades, and even though politically we are often worlds apart, I have great respect and admiration for this Vanderbilt-educated renaissance of a fellow.

There are those who would say Paul is progressive and liberal; just as there are those who would say I am conservative and a libertarian. I have never much cared for labels rather I prefer Paul’s approach to being a public servant. He is a gentleman who is willing to have an open, honest and spirited conversation about any subject and that my friends can lead to better decision-making on a diversity of issues.

Being a public figure especially one that is in an elected office in any community is not an enviable position. I know that personally because I was a public servant at the executive federal level for almost 20-years. As Paul, and others find out you no longer have much of a private life once you engage in public service; if you have the pathological need to be liked by everyone you also have no business being in public service.

Much like Paul, I set about trying to help government and its elected and employed officials better understand different constituent viewpoints. I sought and developed processes to gather as much data and information as possible so that we could make better decisions especially on those issues that directly affected the people that we served.

I understood and yet became very frustrated with the many different internal and external political agendas and that eventually wore me down and I voluntarily left for the private sector where I have been now almost 22-years.

However, then and now as a practicing informed-consent professional I went about as did Paul the often arduous task of opening and sustaining dialogue, building coalitions and seeking to understand all sides of an issue before presenting alternative solutions and certainly before making a decision.

I found however even after such well-meaning efforts that many decisions were not made in the best interest of the community rather decisions were made as to what was in the best interest of the agency, or the ranking politicos at the time.

Paul brought to the Tybee city council an even-tempered, diplomatic and inquiring approach to consideration of issues when at times others simply tested the limits of patience. There is nothing new or even unique about follies in locally elected bodies, it is what it is and it always shall be. All politics are local, Tip O’Neil reminded us and so that is the way life is whether at Tybee Island or the heart of New York City.

What was refreshing about Paul was to see more reasoned, deliberate, ethical and thoughtful approaches to the workings of a local government and for that all taxpayers on Tybee Island can be thankful.

I believe Paul has much to be proud of in the service he provided during his tenure and the model of reasoned approach that he chose to follow is one that the current city council would be wise to adopt.

I have come to believe in my maturity that it is people like Paul that help us all see different visions and paths to solutions to the often controversial and thorny problems we face. I came to understand that even when Paul’s opinions varied greatly from my own, that he actively listened and integrated divergent viewpoints into his thinking and that is rare in the partisan world in which we live.

Whatever Paul does next he will do it with energy, compassion, and passion and he will continue to be a contributor to the wacky little island.

Like many of us who have been in the arena many times before, it is best that we tried to advance thinking and action rather than to sit idly on the sidelines. So, I advise my “brother of another mother” to not take the political winds of fortune personally.

Sometimes, as my partner has said, it seems the society in which we live and work is conspiring against good-willed people and their well-intentioned ways and that even those who work on our behalf sometimes don’t seem to do us the favor they intend.

Perhaps, more so than anyone Mark Twain sums up Paul Wolff when he wrote, “An honest man in politics shines more there than he would elsewhere.”

Semper fi brother, DrD