Shortly before penning this piece, gunmen kidnapped
two Catholic Priests
in Delta State, South-South, Nigeria. Vanguard Newspaper chronicled the story
of Gabriel Ogunsawe, member of a notorious kidnapping syndicate that specializes
in kidnapping
little children from churches. To this end, churches, mosques in the United
States are boosting security in their premises due to intermittent mass
shootings, terrorism and violent extremism. ‘’Preliminary 2015 statistics
gathered by the Council on American-Islamic Relations found 71 reported cases
of vandalism, harassment and threats, with 29 of those incidents occurring
aftermath of the November 13, 2015 terrorist attack in France’’. As
we know, insecurity, nay terrorism, basks on element of surprise, unpredictability,
instilling fear on the populace, effecting mass casualty and this explains why
proponents of such dastardly acts opt for soft targets, public places.
Litany of Incidents, Attacks on Places
of Worship
It beggars belief how some folks
justify killing in the name of their ‘god’. Can a mortal fight for an immortal?
This tells how complex, perverted the human mind can be. The ensuing random
incidents in places of worship buttresses the increasing rate at which such
places are been targeted. In 2007, a bloke went on a shooting
spree killing two people at an evangelical ministry and two more at New Life
Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States. In 2012, a white
supremacist killed six people at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. In 2014,
a white supremacist killed three people at a Jewish Community Center and
retirement home in suburban Kansas City. In August 2015, Islamic State militants raided a
Syrian church and abducted scores of Christians after capturing the strategic
town of Qaryatain. The UK-based
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reckons
more than 230 people were kidnapped in that attack. In October, 2015, a gunman attacked and killed nine
members of Turning Point Adventist Community Church in Roseburg, Ore,
United States. In what the police called a ‘hate crime’, a lone gunman opened fire
inside a historic black
church in Charleston, South Carolina, United States sometime in June 2015
killing at least nine people. In
July 2015, a suicide bomber attacked and killed five worshippers of
the Redeemed Christian Church of God Church (RCCG) on the outskirts of Potiskum
in Yobe state, Nigeria. October 2015, at least 30
people were killed and dozens injured in a twin suicide bomb attack on a
mosque in the Mulai area of Nigeria's northeastern Borno State. Just
recently, November, 2015, two suspected Boko Haram
members strapped with IEDs blew themselves up near a mosque in Cameroon’s
Far North province. Don’t forget the December 2011 Christmas Day bombing of St.
Theresa Catholic church in Madalla, outskirt of Abuja, Nigeria’s federal
capital that claimed the lives of 25 people.
Incidents,
attacks on places of worship, dispiriting
A
security, safety lapse or incident in a place of worship invariably impacts on
the congregation’s faith in God; devotees will certainly thin out. There is no
doubt Prophet T.B Joshua must have lost some followers’ aftermath of the
collapse of Synagogue Church of All Nations’ (SCOAN) six-storey guest house
which reportedly claimed the lives of about 116 folks, mostly South Africans on
September 12, 2014. Disparaging remarks were flying around; some people were
asking how come the acclaimed prophet did not foretell and probably stop that
incident from happening. A neighbor of mine, an aficionado of SCOAN tactically
chickened out after that incident. Such is life…
Watch and Pray!
Apart
from deliberate criminals acts and those occasioned by natural disasters, some
of the security and safety challenges confronting humanity are not necessarily caused
by the devil but are products of negligence though we apportion the blame to
the devil, phantom enemies or ‘’spiritual attack’’. There is no gainsaying the
fact that many places of worship (churches, mosques) etc. shy away from basic physical
security, safety best practices, more often than not due to the impression that
only God can protect. It is undisputable that God protects. Ever wonder why the
Scripture admonishes us to WATCH and PRAY? Notice that ‘’watch’’ precedes ‘’pray’’
and not the other way around. Let’s leave that to theologians. A couple of
admonitions in the Good Book go thus: ‘’my
people perish for lack of wisdom’’ while another one says, ‘’heaven helps those
who help themselves’’.
21
Security, Safety Tip For Churches, Mosques and other places of worship
A
trite wise saying suffices that prevention is better than cure. Proactiveness
should be the watchword of every place of worship, nay organizations. A
professional, visible, courteous, responsive security team will certainly make worshippers,
visitors feel safe and welcome. Listed below are recommendations that will help
strengthen the security, safety of lives, properties in places of worship.
1. Establishing
a full-fledged Security ‘Ministry’ or Department/Committee must be a priority
for all places of worship. The Security ‘Ministry or whatever name it is
called, must be peopled with members of the congregation that have extensive
security background (ideally, serving and retired military or law enforcement
personnel coupled with carefully selected laymen/laywomen, ushers, volunteers
who must be trained to recognize, report and respond to security/safety
incidents). Basic first responder training and knowledge of basic first aid
will help. A security consultant can be retained and private security
operatives hired if need be.
2. A
detailed security policy is important. A security policy is a continuously
updated template that figures out, outlines how the organization plans to
protect its people and properties. A typical security policy should include
specifics such as: procedures for evaluating the effectiveness of the security
policy to ensure that necessary corrections will be effected; stipulates who is
authorized to talk to the Press/Police in the event of an incident, that under-aged
children will be released ONLY to their parents or an authorized adult after
service and so on and so forth.
3. Places
of worship should formulate a comprehensive emergency (fire, terrorism/active
shooter, health-related natural disasters) and evacuation plans, lockdown
procedures and scrutinize the aforementioned procedures routinely in response
to plausible natural or man-made misadventure.
4. The
security department must strive to organize periodic security awareness
programmes: seminar, symposium or briefings for members of the congregation.
5. Carry
out a routine comprehensive risk assessment and vulnerability surveys of the
place of worship vis-à-vis location of the place of worship and crime demographic,
identifying potential hazards, how secured the access or entry points are, fencing,
untrimmed shrubs/trees, inventory of equipment amongst others. Recommendations
must be put in place to mitigate such risks. Recent events demands that places
of worship must re-think leaving their premises unlocked to such an extent that
anybody can walk in and out.
6. A
rigorous background check or screening must be done on staff of the security
department, volunteers, those taking care of children and those responsible for
money/finances. Don’t be carried away by how sanctimonious folks appear when
they are in the public or a religious centre. A popular parlance holds that in
every twelve, there’s a Judas. Again, not every member of the choir or
congregation sings with the same passion. There are paedophiles, sexual
predators everywhere; churches, mosques are no exceptions.
7. Ensure
the place of worship is thoroughly scanned or searched prior to a religious
activity. In addition to this, it is in the best interest of worshippers and
visitors to have their bags, vehicles professionally frisked prior to coming
into the worship centre. This is where metal and bomb detectors come into play.
Recall that a while ago, about six Boko Haram militants were purportedly apprehended
inside a Winners Chapel branch in Owerri, Imo state while attempting to implant
improvised explosive devices within the church premises.
8. An
efficient access and traffic control mechanism must be activate to detect,
prevent a would-be suicide bomber from gate-crashing with IEDs (Improvised
Explosive Devices) or VIEDs (Vehicle Borne Explosive Devices), commonly called
car bombs and also to avoid inconveniencing other road users or passers-by.
9. Thanks
to the proliferation and affordability of security gadgets, financially established
places of worship are encouraged to invest in some of these devices. Please ensure
whatever security gadgets you want to buy are tested prior to purchasing them
to ascertain they work according to specification. For instance, an efficient CCTV
Camera, an intrusion (burglar) detector and fire alarm/extinguisher system,
metal or bomb detector will respectively help monitor the premises in real
time, protect against intrusions, fire incidents and concealed weapons, IEDs or
VBIEDs.
10.
In buying
a metal or bomb detector, ensure it is easy and safe to use, boasts greatest SENSITIVITY
and SELECTIVITY, very minimal false alarms or noise. For CCTV Cameras, go for
high-end security cameras with night vision capability, motion detection
capability, consider storage capacity and ability to save videos/pictures
externally, not hackable (especially for wireless cameras), weather resistant, high
definition (HD) capability (though consumes more storage space), can discriminate
objects at farther distances (say 75-100 feet), wide angle of coverage, amongst
others. Note that wireless cameras slow down internet connections. For more
details, please Google, read – Guide To Buying A
Home Security Camera: 16 Features To Consider.
11. During activities, the security team should
be strategically located, kitted up with preferably two-way walkie-talkies for unhindered
communication and coordination. They must be vigilant and observe suspicious
behaviors such as people milling around, those walking towards or leaving the
premises abruptly and ensure such folks did not leave anything, an object, bag
behind.
12. A security staff should be on sentry to
screen, check folks that want to see the ‘man of God’ after religious activities.
13. Many a times people die as a result of
panic or stampede than the actual occurrence hence worshippers are encouraged
to be calm and desist from congregating around the scene of an incident to
avoid exposing themselves to further danger and not to destroy possible clues,
evidence. In the event of an explosion or active shooter, dash to the ground
and crawl to the nearest cover.
14. Indiscriminate
parking of vehicles must be avoided. There should be designated areas for
parking vehicles.
15. In
this era of using make-shift buildings as places of worship, please carry
out a due diligence, architectural
integrity test to ensure the agility of the structural materials. See to it buildings
are well-constructed; will not easily cave in and that there are no exposed
wirings, defective ceilings amongst others.
16. Security
is a collective responsibility. Worshippers MUST be security conscious; try to
know their members, recognize strange faces and report suspicious behavior to
members of the security department.
17. The
mind is deceptive and people can give in to temptation; to guard against
pilfering, two or more people must be around when funds are collected, counted
and safeguarded. Apart from insider threats, there are reported cases of armed
robbers raiding places of worship to cart off offerings.
18. Critical
and expensive assets, valuables (musical equipment, electronics) etc. of the
organization should be labelled in case of theft, safely stored and inventory
taken, at least annually.
19.
Worship
centres must ensure their premises are well-illuminated preferably with energy-efficient
flood lights, especially at nights.
20.
Given
the possibility of fire incidents, flooding, a data breach, places of worship
must take steps to ensure safety of sensitive records: financial transactions, receipts,
membership records (addresses), amongst others. Better and safer to digitalize
and backup such information and ensure no unauthorized access.
21.
Partner
with mainstream law enforcement agencies and promptly notify them of any breach
and hand over any suspect, culprit that may have been apprehended.
Finally, WATCH
and PRAY!!!
Written by:
© Don Okereke
(Security Adviser/Consultant, Entrepreneur, Researcher, Writer and
Change agent)
Follow
Don on Twitter: @DonOkereke
Contact
him via: donnuait(a)yahoo.com
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