Our 2021 annual school guard training cycle opened on a beautiful August day. With the usual anticipation that accompanies the start of a school year, we review our policies and share best practices. This year we watched a video (link: https://www.cisa.gov/pathway-violence-video)* and discussed how situational awareness and reporting can interrupt the “Pathway to Violence”. We discussed how people who engage in acts of violence do not wake up, eat breakfast, and then randomly decide to commit a violent act (against themselves or others). There is a known progression, or pathway, to violence then starts with a grievance, continues to a preplanning stage (when the violent acts are contemplated), an execution stage (where steps are taken to commit the act (e.g., purchasing a weapon)) and then the act itself. Studies show that security officers who know their posts can recognize that something or someone is different from “normal” and either take an action that interrupts the pathway or make a report that allows someone at the client to “put the dots together” and do the same. The video reminds us how Wisdom Protective keeps our communities safe.
Fact sheet:* https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/dhs-pathway-to-violence-09-15-16-508.pdf
