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**Church Watch: A Way to Harden Soft Targets**
 August 2018 | Volume 11 | Issue 8

*Deputy Chief McCosker joined the Ocoee  Florida Police Department in 1992 and is a graduate of the prestigious FBI  National Academy Session 271.  He is  currently a high liability and advance course instructor at Osceola County’s  Police Academy.*

If you have been around law enforcement officers long enough, you  will eventually pick up on the fact that they tend to be  “hyper-vigilant.”  When they go to a restaurant and ask for a good seat,  the officers are usually not talking about the table with the best  atmosphere.  They are talking about the seat that puts their backs to the  wall and provides them with a clear view of the entryways and cash register.  If two officers are going to lunch at the same time, they debate about who gets  the prized seat.  As Deputy Chief of the Ocoee Florida Police Department,  locating the “best seat” doesn’t stop at the restaurant.  When I am at  church, for example, I am in the back row, right up against the wall and next  to the main entrance, with a full view of the pulpit and two side  entrances.

There was a time when one might have said that so much focus on  seating arrangements is a paranoid practice, but now that multiple church  shootings have occurred in a relatively short period of time, it seems like a  wise practice.  It is an unfortunate sign of the times that the term “soft  target” has a mainstream understanding.  The fact of the matter is that almost  every aspect of day-to-day life is conducted in a soft target  environment.  This simply means that we are conducting our activities in  areas and places that are relatively unprotected or vulnerable to  attacks.  Our places of worship tend to be among the biggest areas at  risk. 

Since many churches do not perceive themselves at risk of  crime, security measures are frequently minimal and inadequate.  Church  buildings are rarely designed with security as an important feature.  In  an effort to allow members of the congregations to come and go freely, access  management is often not considered and the buildings may be unlocked and  unoccupied for several hours.  Key control management may not be as  closely monitored as it should.   Churches, by nature, may have the  mission of ministering to parts of the population that have had a troubled past  and may still be struggling with those issues.  Unfortunately, some in our  communities may pose concerns to the well-being of the church.

While the debates about gun control, mental health  issues, drug addiction, domestic violence and terrorism run  their course, we can start to take actions to “harden” our houses of worship to  make them less desirable targets.  We can all agree that it is close to  impossible to decrease a criminal’s desire to commit a crime, but we do have  the opportunity to decrease a criminal’s opportunity to victimize our  churches.  Larger centers of worship have the ability to hire private  security and/or off-duty law enforcement.  However, smaller congregations  may not be able to shoulder the financial burden.  It may be time to  examine the role that current volunteers play at the church and start  recruiting new volunteers to step up and be part of a “Church Watch Program.”

Church leaders are often highly educated in their field, but  they may not have much experience in the area of grounds security.  As law  enforcement officers, it is important to reach out and partner with our local  houses of worship and provide them with resources and ideas on how to start a “Church  Watch,” or to improve the safety of their attending congregation and  facilities.  One of the first steps a church leader can take in  establishing a Church Watch is to define participants’ roles.  By simply  assigning a volunteer to the parking area, you not only have a point of early  alert to potential security issues, but you also have decreased the opportunity  for a criminal to burglarize vehicles while church services are being  conducted.  Ushers, who frequently are assigned to entrance ways, can be  trained on how to approach a suspicious person, alert others, and/or  notify law enforcement of a potential need for assistance.  Additionally,  the same ushers can be trained on how to secure the building from a potential  threat, or evacuate the building if necessary.  These are just a few  simple ideas that increase the safety of those attending church services.

Deputy Chief Stephen  McCosker  “A Law Enforcement Journey”

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