There are some people in the world that do horrible things.  Sometimes the horrible things affect people that were targeted or at the wrong place at the wrong time.

There are people that try to harm reputations or another person’s business.  Sometimes the harm is felt.

The Boston bombings were meant to terrorize and strike fear into the general public; but did it?  In the seconds after the explosions there were people running into the danger zone to aid the injured.  Stories of individuals courageously assisting people whether physically or emotionally began to pour out in the days after the bombings.  Public support was uplifting to say the least.  The support was mainly domestic, but was also coming from around the world.  Other scheduled marathons from the UK to Canada included mentions of support for Boston on banners, T-shirts, shoes and social media.

The atrocious acts in Boston affected many lives, but brought an international community together.

An unknown author wrote about a controversial topic and the book plodded along in sales; that was until a critic slammed the book’s storyline.  The critic had a large audience and gained media attention for the opinions against the author.  The critic wanted the book pulled from shelves and campaigned for the public to not buy or read it.  The curious came out in droves whether they were for or against the critic’s opinion.

The book sales soared and made a name for the author who went on to write more books.

I arrived at the AFIMAC head office one day, years ago and there were picketers outside our security gate.  Given that this is AFIMAC’s expertise – to continue normal business operations during picket activity – we were well prepared with contingency plans.

Neighbouring businesses in our area of course saw the demonstration and were also affected by it in some cases because the picketers were even being rude to cars that were driving past our building.  I witnessed this, so I went around to all of the corporations (ones that were clients already and others that weren’t) in our area to describe what was happening, what AFIMAC does and to offer an apology that their staff had to hear some of the unwarranted taunts from picketers.

“No apology needed” was the overwhelming response.  Our corporate neighbours recognized how professionally the situation was handled. After I described that we handle labour dispute management, investigations, cargo security and other professional services, I was asked to send further information because they would like to begin working together.

The pickets inadvertently increased AFIMAC’s client base.

When someone sets out to cause harm, they may in fact do so immediately, but the long running effects may backfire.

I couldn’t help notice how inviting the ski hill near my home looked as I drove past it on the highway the other day.  It was an incredibly beautiful day, with the sun beaming down.  It reminded me of a time I was skiing in Quebec with a T-shirt and lounging at the bottom of the mountain having lunch while soaking up sun rays.  Something was odd – there was nobody on it.  It was closed.

Due to warmer temperatures the last few years, ski resorts have been reporting how badly it’s affecting their business.  They aren’t able to even make snow that would survive the warm weather.  Not much they can do if the weather doesn’t co-operate.

But what about when the weather does co-operate?  I can’t believe the horrible business planning this hill had.  I guess they hadn’t expected that cooler temperatures would remain this long, so they followed through on their season closing date.  Really?  There was obviously no contingency plan to take advantage of unseasonable weather.

This has gone on for three weekends now.  There is snow on the hill, but zero revenue. Unfortunately, everyone loses out.

Businesses need to plan not only for the bad, but the good as well.

The Web Marketing Association Recognizes AFIMAC’s Active Shooter Course With Best Online Educational Video Award

Miami-based AFIMAC Global, a leader in crisis planning and response, is pleased to announce that it has received a 2013 Internet Advertising Competition (IAC) award for Best Online Educational Video from the Web Marketing Association.

AFIMAC’s dynamic and user-friendly online training website was officially launched in 2011, and provides education on everything from workplace violence to travel security to work stoppages.  The course recognized for this competition was the Active Shooter Response online course.

The IAC award is a significant honor bestowed on a select few companies from around the world. More than 2000 entries from 45 countries compete in 96 industry categories each year. AFIMAC’s video captured the coveted prize based on its excellence on the judging criteria of creativity, innovation, impact, design, and use of medium.

“Our organization believes strongly in social responsibility so I was very proud of our team when they created this online education video at no cost for public safety, and I believe this award validates that initiative”, says Peter Martin, AFIMAC president. “we advocate the use of preventive measures and advance contingency planning for any type of workplace, so I hope everyone gets an opportunity to view this video.”

The video and course can be found at the following link www.afimacglobal.com/activeshooter

About AFIMAC
AFIMAC Global is a leader in the provision of comprehensive corporate security and contingency planning services through North and South America and also offers global services. Its diverse capabilities include executive protection, labor dispute planning & response, cargo security & escorts, disaster & emergency response, corporate investigations, workplace violence assessment & response. With a distinguished management team and highly skilled personnel, AFIMAC Global is well known for its high quality service delivery and immediate responsiveness. www.afimacglobal.com

For media inquiries, please contact Kathy Hungerford, AFIMAC, 1-800-554-4622

The Ohio school shooter that killed three students last year has now been sentenced to life in prison.  I’m not going to name him, but it is readily available in the media.  I will respectively name his innocent victims Daniel Parmertor, 16, who died in the shooting, Demetrius Hewlin, also 16, died a day later from his wounds, and Russell King Jr., 17, who was initially declared brain dead, passed away soon after.

The innocent victims didn’t have a choice to have their names printed in the media.  The shooter on the other hand, is gloating in the attention.  So why are we giving it to him?  Could the notoriety be part of the fuel for his and other violent acts?  There are several examples of shooters sending packages to the media in advance of their shooting sprees. So I’m not sure it can be argued that publicity and notoriety aren’t potential fuels.

The shooter in Norway (who I also will not name) and this Ohio shooter both exhibited despicable court room actions with media present in the court room.  Why give the Ohio shooter an opportunity to wear a shirt that says ‘KILLER’ on it during sentencing, and when given the opportunity to speak, ‘flips-off’ the families of the victims and rants obscenities at them.  Would this 18 year old Ohio shooter consider these actions if there were no cameras present?  Maybe, maybe not.

If publicity is a fuel for some of these shooters, they may try to outdo previous shooters for greater notoriety.

I vote to take away the stage and ban their names from ever being printed or their picture displayed.

Do you think it would make a difference?

Beginning April 24, 2013, the TSA is going to allow certain knives on flights in carry-on-luggage.  Knives that qualify are pictured below:

Knives that don’t qualify, are pictured here:

Knives aside, bats are also allowed if they meet the qualifications.  If a bat is longer than 24” then it is prohibited.  Seems backwards to me.  Have you ever tried swinging a long heavy bat in a hallway or tight space?  Personal Protection training courses address grabbing a bat for residential security if you hear a noise downstairs in the middle of the night – it may look intimidating, but good luck trying to swing in hallways or staircases.

With that in mind, how would you swing it in the cabin of an airplane accurately.  The shorter bat…club, would be a more efficient weapon one would think.  Are ‘combat canes’ allowed to be walked on to flight?

With all of the above in mind, will passengers arm themselves with permitted knifes and bats to be prepared if there is someone on their flight with ill intentions?

That’s right, according to a poll by SecurityMagazine.com, training is the best defense against active shooter incidents.  Training scooped up 41% of the votes followed by armed guards with 27%, and lockdown procedures next with 13%.  I don’t know the details for the demographic of the poll, except to safely assume they were security professionals.

Agree or disagree.  How would you vote?  Comment on this blog with one of these choices:

• Ongoing Training
• Lockdown Procedures
• Mass Notification Tools
• Armed Guards
• Continual Risk Assessment
• Media Response Plan
• Working With Law Enforcement
• Other (specify)

Of course, a combination of several of the above would be the best defense, but only select which you feel is the top one.

If you are interested in active shooter training, there is a free online course here.

Sure, it’s a bit of family contingency planning should an unfortunate event take place at my own home, but it’s also indirect planning for all of my neighbours.  In situations where seconds can make a difference, the 5 minutes I took to shovel space around the fire hydrant outside my home could become extremely valuable should the fire department need to access it in an emergency.

Take 5 minutes.  Support your local emergency services, look out for your neighbours and yourself.

Of course, it’s hoped that the fire department never has to use it and it is only enjoyed by neighbourhood dogs that are passing by!

Because it was stolen.  Haha

There is a lot of buzz about a $65,000 chicken wing heist, but why?  If something isn’t ‘nailed down’ as the saying goes, then it could be stolen.  So was the case with pallets of chicken wings.  The buzz that I’ve seen is that people are shocked, surprised or think that it’s a ridiculous heist.  Ask Desmond Taljaard about product and cargo theft and he’ll tell you that if it can be sold in a store, it can be sold on the street.  There is a market for everything.

Diapers, cigarettes, electronics…and wings can all pull in revenue on the black market.  Wings might even pull a better price right before Super Bowl weekend with the demand being higher.

This particular heist was an inside job and the thieves were caught because they were seen by managers as it happened at the warehouse.  If there weren’t eyes on them, then security cameras would have been a good deterrent and if the product was already on the road, a cargo escort or GPS tracking would have assisted in keeping the product secure.

A few days ago I was outside in front of my home in the evening and it was fully dark.  I caught a huge raccoon, the size of a medium sized dog at my garbage bin contemplating the best way to gain access.  I made some incredibly loud and ferocious sounds as I ran towards it. Luckily it ran as well.  The raccoon dashed straight between my house and the neighbour’s.  My thought was that if I came across scary enough, it would remember me for at least the rest of the evening and leave my garbage alone overnight. No different than any other preventative security measure. I was simply making my garbage less attractive or at least hoping to, so it wouldn’t be targeted, especially after the skunk episode.

It was a very dark night with no moonlight, so the space between the homes had close to zero visibility. As I got closer to where I had last seen the raccoon dash off; I started to think differently of my plan and stopped.  Not only can I not see anything, the backyard was completely rabbit proofed to protect our vegetable garden, so it wouldn’t be able to slip underneath.  Given its size, I questioned whether it would be able to scale the gate or fence.  It could be trapped.  I decided to back off.

I’ve sat through enough educational sessions with Rob Shuster to know that going into an area without proper knowledge of what you’re going into can be risky.  For example, Rob will be hosting a session on February 19^th titled ‘Expatriating Employees to Latin America – The Challenges’.  Rob will address current crime trends, medical concerns in the area, selection of safe shopping areas, and other topics related to planning and ensuring staff have a smooth transition.  Knowing what you’re getting into before you get into it to properly plan.

I didn’t know what I was getting into if I pursued the raccoon.  Sure enough, the beast came waddling out after a while and headed down the street towards the forest.  So I avoided a confrontation, and I guess I owe Rob Shuster a lunch.

AFIMAC has created a video of a simulated active shooter incident for our experts to utilize for a training course.  The short video was created to offer general survival tips to the general public via social media.  Although the short version has some great tips, the full online course will be released in February which has Rob Shuster and Tom Dickel go into greater detail and explanation.

Anyone with a valid company email that pre-registers for the full online course for a time will receive the course FREE courtesy of AFIMAC.

The short video can be watched at this link or below:

Have a plan.  Stay safe.