I have asked the title question to many attendees of safety and security programs over the years. The overwhelming response is PREVENT. It makes sense that you would rather prevent an active shooter, terror perpetrator, suicide, school bully, or other types of violence and crimes than have to respond and deal with the undesirable outcomes. I am sure the reader of this article would agree.
Response is an indispensable element in all security planning, but should never be confused with prevention. The optimum approach considers both.
With the presupposition in place that we all agree on PREVENTION vs RESPONSE then why are most schools, businesses, and communities spending the lion’s share of their budget on response, and at the same time neglecting the most powerful source of observation, intelligence, and warning which is PEOPLE? Let’s analyze the first issue.
Do we truly understand what PREVENTION means?
Over my 45 years in the safety and security sector, I have observed what scholars refer to as semantical connotation. Words take on secondary meanings and often lose definition. Today in our society we are experiencing the abolition of antithesis. The obliteration of opposites. We are seeing a propensity to reduce all opposites to a homogenous low temperature mediocrity of sameness and thus lose the force of words and definitions. This is a deadly destructive game in the world of safety and security because it affects our ability to think and reason. Opposites are pre-requisite for logical thinking (Euclid’s Proposition 20). Therefore, we must be able to understand the contrast between RESPONSE and PREVENTION, then make rational choices that apply to both.
RESPONSE DOES NOT EQUATE WITH PREVENTION. Here, the semantic connotational flaw suggests that ANYTHING we do BEFORE we feel the pain from a violent act is PREVENTIVE. This is not factual. Let’s look at the information below that prove that what we often perceive as PREVENTION is actually RESPONSE.
Violence incidents at Fort Hood, Virginia Tech, San Bernadino, and University of Alabama, to mention only a few, had cameras, locks, security systems, mass notification, access control, and security guards. All these expensive reactive measures could not PREVENT the tragic results that occurred. If you asked the average person if these measures were PREVENTIVE, they would answer yes. However, they are not PREVENTIVE, only REACTIVE in the final result.
As you see above in this short sample of premeditated malice aforethought, cameras, access controls, guards, policies, and other conventional controls were in place but could not PREVENT the disasters because they do not constitute PREVENTION.
WHAT IS PREVENTION
· Prevention is comprised of data that shows pre-indications of predictable outcome
· Requires data resources that have optimum opportunity and ability to observe data
· Utilizes multiple resources and provides anonymous conduit for data statements
· Organizes centralized data flow and multidisciplinary teams to analyze data
· Requires intervention, interruption, or dialog before the occurrence of violence.
THE MOST NEGLECTED RESOURCE-PEOPLE
People or “human assets” as we say in the counterintelligence community are the best data resource we have. When we can concentrate, synergize, and compound data from multiple collectors the power to make determinations becomes exponential. Our web-based platform bridges the disconnects and creates a potent efficacious tool for PREVENTION.
OUR PLATFORM IS PREVENTIVE
The platform we are offering hurdles the above obstacles and delivers true PREVENTION and RESPONSE measures to answer the safety and security challenges we are facing in the world today. A friend of mine shared with me how a 12 year-old boy had come home from school and shot himself in Upstate South Carolina. He was being “bullied” in school and could see no way out other than taking his own life. There were indicators that preceded this terrible event. I have wondered many times after hearing about that young man, “What if he had a way to tell someone about his situation anonymously (trusted adult is an oxymoron with many young people), what if a team of professionals could have evaluated the data and intervened?” If you are a human resources manager, school official, business CFO, or community official and want to stop the misery, save lives and resources you need this web-based platform. Call us now at Integrated Dynamics, LLP 912-659-1421 for more information on how we can help you develop a comprehensive safety and security system that is effective in PREVENTION and RESPONSE.
