Introduction: The
age-long reverence for places of worship and
religious leaders is increasingly eroding around the world. The unprecedented security
threats to places of worship are diverse and alarming. They include: terrorist
attacks, kidnapping of religious leaders and congregants, theft of relics and
offerings, arson active shooter incidents, amongst others. An active shooter is an individual actively engaged in killing
or attempting to kill people in a populated area. Victims are selected at random.
Event is unpredictable and evolves quickly. I will cite some incidents
to buttress the fact that places of worship, religious leaders are no longer venerated
nor spared by men of the underworld.
At about 8:30am on September 8, 2017, three gunmen posing as
worshippers invaded St. Thomas’ Catholic Church, Onilekere, Ikeja, Lagos State,
Southwest Nigeria and shot the Parish Priest, Rev. Daniel Nwankwo at close
range. The incident took place after the priest concluded morning Mass.
In Imo state, Reverend Father Cyriacus Onunkwo was on
September 1, 2017, abducted
and subsequently killed in cold blood by his
assailants. An police ex-corporal, Mr. Jude Madu, is one of the five suspects arrested
for masterminding the abduction and killing of the priest.
 |
| St. Thomas Catholic Church, Onilekere, Ikeja, Lagos |
On
August 6, 2017, a gunman (active shooter) or gunmen as some say, infiltrated St.
Philips Catholic Church, Amakwa Ozubulu in Ekwusigo LGA, Anambra state,
southeast Nigeria during a 6.00am Mass and massacred about a dozen congregants (some
newspaper reports claimed 35) and injured scores of other worshippers. We shall not dwell on insinuations as to whodunit
or the remote and immediate causes but our aim is to proffer solutions that
would forestall recurrence of such incidents. Recall that not long ago, gunmen
kidnapped two Catholic Priests
in Delta State, South-South, Nigeria. There was also news about a notorious
kidnapping syndicate that specializes in kidnapping
little children from churches. 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. Sometime
in 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. The
aforementioned are random security incidents in and around places of worship.
Here
are procedural recommendations that will help strengthen the security, safety
of lives, properties in a place of worship.
1. Watch and Pray! Vigilance should be our watchword while within
and outside a place of worship. This is why the Bible admonishes us to WATCH
and PRAY? Notice that ‘’watch’’ precedes ‘’pray’’ and not the other way around.
Many places of worship (churches, mosques) etc. out there seem to have very lax
security/safety, emergency preparedness plans. The notion is that only God can protect.
Granted God protects but we have to play our part of the bargain. As they say, ‘’heaven
helps those who help themselves’’. Security is a collective responsibility and
all hands must be on deck!
2. Establishment
of a functional Security Department/Committee to be headed by a Security
manager/Chief Security Officer (CSO) or whatever designation. The security
department should be peopled with members of the congregation that have
security background/experience (ideally, serving/retired military or law enforcement
personnel, carefully selected laymen/laywomen, ushers, volunteers). A security
consultant can be retained and private security operatives hired if need be.
3. Members
of the security department are expected to undergo periodic security and first
responder training/re-training and also have knowledge of basic first aid.
4. The
security department will do well to organize periodic security awareness
training, seminar, or briefings for members of the congregation.
5. An
efficient and emergency communication procedure/protocol must be put in place
which should specify a chain of command.
6. A
detailed security policy/plan 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.
7. Places
of worship should formulate a comprehensive emergency (fire, terrorism/active
shooter, health-related natural disasters) and evacuation drills/plans,
lockdown procedures and scrutinize the aforementioned procedures regularly in
response to plausible natural or man-made misadventure.
8. Carry
out a routine comprehensive security survey, threat/risk and vulnerability
assessments of the place of the facilities 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.
9. 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.
10.
Ensure the place of worship is thoroughly
scanned or searched prior to a religious activity or during special events. 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.
11.
It is also important to have the
contact details (phone numbers) of security agencies/agents within the
locality. Consider inviting law enforcement agents to
patrol or “drive-through” the parking lots, vicinity during such events,
religious activities.
12.
During services,
have security staff/ushers that are familiar with the congregants/members
should be positioned at each door and also have someone who randomly checks the
halls, Sunday school classrooms, and restrooms. The
security team must be vigilant to 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.
13.
Security team or
congregants must report any suspicious persons or activities to a designated
church/parish/mosque leader who will then escalate it to the security agencies.
14.
A security staff/usher should be on sentry
to screen, check folks that want to see the ‘religious/spiritual leader’ after
religious activities.
15.
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.
16.
Indiscriminate parking of vehicles must be
avoided. There should be designated areas for parking vehicles.
17.
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.
18.
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.
19.
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.
20.
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.
21.
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.
22.
Partner
with mainstream law enforcement agencies and promptly notify them of any breach
and hand over any suspect, culprit that may have been apprehended.
Internal Physical Security Best Practices For Places of Worship
1.
When practicable, places of worship must ensure that their
facilities are well illuminated with security lights especially at nights.
2. 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.
3.
As much as possible, limit unauthorized access to Sunday school, childcare,
business offices, cash count areas, instrument/equipment and media rooms.
4.
Regularly check entrance doors, windows and locks to ensure they
are in working order and consider installing window security liner in public
areas.
5.
It may be expedient to establish a “safe room” for the spiritual
head of the place of worship.
6.
Promptly report suspicious packages to police, and do not touch the
suspicious package. Such packages could be an IED (Improvised Explosive
Device). Church members must be enlightened never to touch any suspicious
package. Such issues must also be addressed during emergency evacuation
procedures/drills.
7.
Install burglarproof bars on screens and large openings. Bear in
mind that window bars should not limit evacuation in case of fire or an
emergency).
External Physical Security Best Practices For Places of Worship
1.
Ramp up perimeter security with fencing or CPTED (Crime Prevention
Through Environmental Design) principles. Use planter barriers and gates near
entrances. Ensure gates and fences are in perfect working order.
2.
Ascertain that security lights at vehicle parking space are
sufficient and in working order and the timers adjusted seasonally.
3.
Where feasible, install door/window alarms and motion-sensing
lighting in areas that are dim, secluded.
4.
Regularly trim shrubs/bushes/trees around the place of worship
especially near the doors and windows to eliminate hiding places and to enhance
visibility.
5.
Eradicate possible fire hazards, such as trash, debris and store
petrol (if any) in a safe place.
6.
Religious centres will do well to establish good relationships
with their neighbours and neighbourhood watch associations.
7. Thanks
to the proliferation and affordability of security gadgets, financially established
places of worship are encouraged to invest in some of these devices. For
instance, an efficient CCTV Camera, metal or bomb detector will respectively help monitor
the premises in real time, protect against intrusions, and concealed weapons,
IEDs or VBIEDs. Please ensure whatever security gadgets you want to buy are
tested prior to purchasing them to ascertain they work according to
specification.
8. 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.
What Individuals Can Do In The Event of An ACTIVE SHOOTER Incident
Granted there are no one-size-fits-all answers to an active
shooter security incident but knowing
what to do or what action to take will definitely save lives. More often than
not, active shooters employ firearms and there
is no strict pattern or method to their selection of victims. When
an Active Shooter is in your vicinity, you must be prepared both mentally and
physically to deal with the situation. The United States Federal Bureau of
investigation, FBI recommends the following course of action in the event of an
active shooter scenario:
1.
RUN
(a) Have
an escape route and plan in mind.
(a)
Leave
your belongings behind.
(b) Evacuate regardless of whether others
agree to follow.
(c)
Help
others escape, if possible.
(d) Do
not attempt to move the wounded.
(e)
Prevent others from entering an area
where the active shooter may be.
(f)
Keep your hands visible.
(g) Call
the emergency numbers or security agents when you are safe.
2.
HIDE
(a) Hide in an area out of the shooter’s
view.
(b) Lock door or block entry to your hiding
place.
(c) Silence
your cell phone (including vibrate mode) and remain quiet.
3.
FIGHT
(a) Fight as a last resort and only when
your life is in imminent danger.
(b) Attempt to incapacitate the shooter.
(c) Act with as much physical aggression as
possible.
(d) Improvise weapons or throw items at the
active shooter.
(e) Commit to your actions…your life depends
on it.
4. When law
enforcement officials arrives:
(a) Remain calm and follow instructions.
(b) Drop items in your hands. (e.g., bags,
jackets)
(c) Raise hands and spread fingers.
(d)Keep
hands visible at all times.
(e) Avoid quick movements toward officers, such
as holding on to them for safety
(f)
Avoid
pointing, screaming or yelling.
(g) Do not ask questions when evacuating.
5. Information to provide to Emergency
operators or first responders:
(a) Location of the active shooter.
(b) Number of shooters.
(c) Physical description of shooters.
(d)Number
and type of weapons shooter has.
(e) Number of potential victims at
location.
Written by:
© Don Okereke, a
security aficionado/analyst/consultant, writer, is CEO Holistic Security
Background Checks Limited
Follow
Don on Twitter: @DonOkereke
***This article was first published in February 2016 but was recently rejigged and updated.
References:
1. Active Shooter
Event Quick Reference Guide
U.S. Department Of Justice Federal Bureau Of Investigation
2. Recommended Best
Practices For Securing Houses Of Worship
ASIS (American Society For Industrial Security) International
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