Security Objective Components
STEPHANIE CASBY
CJS 250
October 30th, 2011
Jenelle Velarde

Security Objective Components
Have you ever been to church and thought you had to worry about your safety? I know for myself that is one place besides my home that I have always felt safe. People in church attend with little thought given to their safety while they are there. Church is supposed to be a place of peace and serenity, not violence or death. In the last 50 years churches and other religious sites around the world has been victim’s to violent acts of crimes. There are several reasons for this type of crime in these religious places of worship; differences in religious beliefs, domestic disturbances, and racism are number one reason for these acts. In the last ten to fifteen years there has been an increase in violent crimes reported in churches, schools, and malls that seemed to be the target. In this paper I will discuss what component of the overall security objective deserves the most attention in the environments from the article. I will also discuss what components would be less pertinent for the environments during a vulnerability assessment. I will describe counter measures or possible solutions for the shootings, incidences of arson and bombing. Then I will discuss the components of the overall security objective that would be ore pertinent had the events occurred at the mall and if they would present alternative countermeasures that I will list and explain why I think that way.
Today we live in a new era that has increased due to the economy, workplace violence, hate crimes, kidnapping, theft, vandalism. Churches have largely remained unchanged. One of the challenges churches face is creating an oasis that reflects peace and love with in all the chaos that surrounds the people outside of church. To build an oasis it requires a comprehensive system of goals, design criteria, polices and follow up responses, to create a safe and inviting environment (Patrick, 2005).
The overall security objective should be a seamless integrated security design. This entails that the foundation is solid and the sides fit together. There are several security concepts that all work together and are necessary for success. There is Physical Security, personnel security and the final element is in the form of interdepartmental dependency (Clifford, 2004). Security system design is a process of objectives, the design itself, and the evaluation of the design and the refinement of the design. To begin developing a design for the church, you have to incorporate the church operations, the among of people coming in and out, the condition of the church building, then they will look at any targets such as artifacts, church records and funds. With this information the designer of the security knows the objectives. I inform what needs to be protected and who it shall be protected from. Next, is finding any deficiencies in the existing system. Once the system is designed, it needs to be physically evaluated. This shall be where the system as a whole should work together and checked to see if there are any vulnerabilities, if there are the system should be redesigned.
Churches are vulnerable to a lot of risks, anyone is welcome and there are always new people coming in. There really is no possible way to prevent any risk, except video surveillance, In my church, there are video camera’s but we also have two guys that walk the halls at each service to watch for any suspicious activity or people who may come in the church. I believe that there is only so much you can do in such a public place. Even the malls are vulnerable, because of the population coming and going. The components will be the same everywhere, increasing security, surveillance, and maybe metal detectors if need be. I don’t believe there would be any different countermeasures or solutions to either place, because they are so public and would be hard to control. When we talk about shootings, incidences of arson and even bombings I would still use the same countermeasures for them as well.
In conclusion, Churches, and Mall have a lot in common, that is the public. When people many different people come and go, it makes it hard to really predict a crime. The mall is more likely to find crime than a church, but the countermeasure would be the same in situation, increase security, surveillance and even metal detectors if necessary. Today, with the economy the way it is, there is no telling when something might happen. As long as churches are prepared and ready they might be able to reduce the risk of a threat.

References
Clifford, M. (2004). Identifying and exploring security essentials. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Patrick, B. (June 2005). Securing your Church Facilities: Physical Security Design. Retrieved from http://www.tfw.com