Mass shootings in the U.S. have increased despite widespread closures of schools, businesses, and many public places due to the coronavirus pandemic. There were 615 mass shootings in 2020 resulting in 521 deaths and 2,541 injuries. Compared to the previous year, there were 181 more incidents. The stress of the COVID-19 pandemic, job loses, unemployment, and the economic crisis is a potential for a disaster which could lead to an increase of violence at the workplace. The recent spike in gun incidences and stolen weapons across the United States is alarming. Businesses need to take heed and increase security measures to protect their employees and staff.
Some 200 individuals have been charged with federal offenses connected to the siege at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Among them are at least 15 examples of family affiliated extremism. These instances include: five sets of husbands and wives; two cases of fathers and sons, mothers and sons, brothers, and cousins; and an instance of father/daughter and brother/sister participation. Although of a different strain and less serious offenses—none specifically terrorism nor involving murder —such kin-connected radicalism is neither a new phenomenon nor one unique to the United States or elsewhere.
In the latest twist in the bidding war to purchase guarding company G4S, GardaWorld declined to raise its bid for the company, moving Allied Universal into what appears to be the winning position.
International SOS recently released its Risk Outlook report, unveiling the top security risks for the international workforce in 2021. Here, we talk to Jeremy Prout, Director of Security at International SOS, to discuss how to protect the workforce against the top risks found within the report.
The Transportation Security Administration will hire more than 6,000 Transportation Security Officer (TSO) positions by summer 2021 to deal with anticipated seasonal travel trends at approximately 430 airports nationwide.
Jon Litt, Senior Manager, Government Solutions (US) at Christie shares his five key considerations to ensuring an impactful, efficient professional video collaboration solution.
Having a secure and efficient video collaboration system has evolved from a ‘useful to have’ technology to an indispensable capability in 2020, allowing teams to feel more connected to remote locations and distributed team members. With travel restrictions and social distancing limiting in-person meetings, remote face-to-face video communication is more imperative than ever in security environments. Systems integrators around the globe have been upgrading technologies to support the mission of operators. Before you work with an integrator to either upgrade an existing video collaboration system or invest in a new one, there are a host of considerations. Below are the key ones that will help you with your conversations with the systems integrator.
One of the challenges of becoming a resilient organization is understanding exactly what that means. Resilience is interpreted and implemented in many different ways and today’s global business environment likely won’t change that anytime soon. Understanding the differences in how resilience is understood and implemented in companies across all sectors and geographies is helpful for your team's own journey to resiliency.
One of the biggest threats to wireless security devices is radio jamming, which occurs when a malicious actor illegally purchases a radio frequency jammer tool and uses it to block alarm devices’ connections to their affiliated security company. If alarms can’t properly communicate through their network—which is typically cellular—then they cannot notify security providers when there’s a crisis.
An example of how businesses are benefitting from integrated cloud-based systems would be in the retail industry. Retail end users have integrated their security camera network, heat-mapping and video analytics technology with a cloud-based system so they can remotely monitor who is in their store. The heat-mapping and analytics technology also showcases where customers are spending the most time in their store, providing retailers with insight as to where they can place specific item displays or promotional items. This information can also be used to inform on if a specific location in a store needs additional signage to encourage social distancing, or even if it needs increased camera coverage within a store. The practical applications of integrated cloud-based systems and other security technology are nearly endless.
Multiple Interactive Learning Objectives (MILO) — recently implemented by Michigan Medicine Security — provides realistic, life-sized scenario training. The learner is surrounded by screens upon which scenarios are projected. The scenario library includes a disruptive visitor at the nurse’s station, a breakroom argument that escalates to an unsafe level, a person experiencing a mental health crisis and many others.