Tips for identifying your greatest threats

In Jason Russell’s Member Expo breakout session Prepare for the unexpected: Identify your greatest threat, Jason provided real life examples that are especially relevant to municipalities.

Get five tips that help to identify threats at your municipality.

1. People don’t prioritize security.
   Why? Because you think it’s never going to happen to you. But it can, and you need policies and procedures in place when and if it does.
2. Good safety is made by the culture of your organization.
   Leaders need to “walk the walk” when it comes to safety and security, and they need to follow through with policies that make safety a priority.
3. Processes need to back up physical security.
   For example, if you have security cameras, but don’t have someone monitoring them – they don’t work. You want to be able to have someone respond to the crime in process, not just watch it happen on a camera after the fact.
4. Training needs to happen regularly and be customized to your entity.
   Training needs to include many different hazards. Include all your staff. Be sure it happens regularly and is customized to your organization.
5. Police & security are not the same thing.
   Police respond, security is having something in place when an emergency occurs. Don’t count on only law enforcement as your only response. Create procedures so staff know what to do in an emergency.