On nearly a weekly basis, one can open a news story about another occurrence of some form of violence in the workplace. Whether from a tragic shooting incident, to a disgruntled employee, to a domestic violence situation that has found its way to an office, the potential for danger to a business and its employees and customers seems to be more prevalent now than ever. With so much happening, though, what is the best method to protect your company and those who work there?
When deciding whether an armed or unarmed officer is more suited for their location, potential clients often begin thinking about cost rather than ability. Most believe that by utilizing armed officers, the amount that must be budgeted for their security services will be prohibitively high, rather than considering the true ability of protection. Security officers are generally the initial person that one encounters when entering a business, whether that business is a downtown highrise, a construction site, or a warehouse. Obviously, security should not appear intimidating or aggressive, however, as a potential customer or employee of said business, wouldn't you feel more protected against possible acts of violence is you initially saw a professional, neatly-uniformed (or suited) officer than knowing that the individual "guarding" the location was little more than a door greeter?
Unfortunately, many security providers in the industry do little to train their staff, whether in regards to a firearm, or for something as simple (but no less crucial) as evacuation and emergency procedures or verbal de-escalation of situations (also known as "verbal judo"). They believe that they are best serving their clientele by ensure that the business is always staffed, and that their employees are polite. This is, however, the mere tip of the security service iceberg. Those staff members must have be properly and continually prepared to handle the numerous forms of potential incidents that can arise on a near-daily basis.
While we at Denver Metro Protective Services do not believe that every client truly needs an armed security officer for their protection, we do firmly believe that each staff member who is assigned to any client must not only be trained on the basic customer service and general duties, but also on a large variety of other topics, including basic first aid skills, proper report writing and scene preservation procedures, arrest control tactics, and (of course) continual firearms training and certification.
Only when we prepare, train, and continue to prepare can we actually find our skills finely tuned enough to instinctively act when those skills come into play. Mark Twain once said "There is nothing that training cannot do. Nothing is above its reach. It can turn bad morals to good. It can destroy bad principles recreate good ones. It can lift men to performing excellence." We strongly believe in these principles, and do everything we are able to show each and every client the difference it makes when we do our duties - armed or unarmed.
