I have always believed in the power of politeness and a good smile, however a few days ago I got to see just how powerful these tools can be in disarming someone from following basic security protocols, and potentially putting themselves and others at harm.
I’d been booked to do some security training for some local government officials at a government building in the US; part of this training was an active shooter component, so myself and my associate who were conducting the training had brought along some Rings Blue Guns (training guns), that included both short and long barrel weapons, along with non-metal training knives. For those who aren’t familiar with Blue Guns, they’re exact replicas of actual firearms, but cast in a dense/solid blue plastic. We’d contacted the department who had organized the training ahead of time, to inform them of this, and that it would be wise to inform security that we’d be arriving with these items – or if there was a better/preferred way of bringing them into the building (it turns out that security was never contacted). When we turned up at the building, it was extremely busy, busier than normal, and we ended up in line behind a woman with a baby and a pushchair. I had passed the bag to my teaching partner, who is female, and a lot more innocent looking than myself to try and lower any anxiety that the security personnel may have had when I explained what was in the bag.
Whenever I explain to law enforcement, security etc. that I have a bag containing replica training weapons, I always ask them whether they want to open it, or have me open it. It’s a simple thing that lets them know that I am handing control of the situation over to them. I also give them the name and the department of the person who has organized the training, and a quick outline of what it is. I’m always polite, slightly apologetic for the difficult situation I’m putting them in, and make sure to smile. In this instance – and I would point out that this is the only time this has happened – I was told not to worry, and to put the bag on the belt for it to go through the X-ray machine.
I have done training exercises before using X-ray machines, and I have used Blue Guns (along with other types of replicas and training weapons), as dummy weapons to see if operators can identify/pick up on them. In an X-Ray machine, the rays go out at roughly a 45-degree angle, from bottom to top, creating a slightly skewed angle. An operator needs to take this into account when trying to identify certain objects, and it can take more than a quick glance, depending how items are positioned, and what they are next to. It is also worth pointing out, that different types of object, display as different colors e.g. metals range from black to blue, and plastics blue to green. The colors relate to the density of the material the object is constructed from. These training guns, were fully weighted replicas, so the plastic used is very dense; enough for the gun to appear closer to a blue than a green – and certainly given the fact that the image would have been very clear (the guns were laid flat), enough that the bag should have been inspected after going through the machine – it should have been inspected before. We both walked through the metal detector “clean”, picked up the bag, and took the elevator to our destination. That’s how I got three MP5s, 6 Glock 19s and 8 training Knives into a government building, without a challenge, a questioning look, or even a glance – The X-ray operator was looking and talking to me, as the bag went through.
I’ve worked various security roles, and many can be boring, monotonous and underpaid. Many security guards can feel undervalued. When I apologized for putting the security guard in an awkward position, over bringing training weapons into their building, and that I had informed the person organizing the training to let them know in advance, I was told with a sneer, that nobody tells the security guys anything. I’m not excusing the guard for not checking, but when a “them and us” attitude develops between security and those who work in a building, guards are not going to be so inclined to be vigilant. Next time you fall foul of security by forgetting to bring your pass to work etc. try to be polite and understanding. Yes, they may know who you are, and using your logic and understanding of the situation, should just let you in, however they should have policy and protocols to follow e.g. they don’t know if you’re an employee who has been fired, and had your pass taken off you etc. This is the way security should work: no exceptions, no flexibility, no bending of the rules, no “just this time”. Although such an approach may seem over the top, and overly rigid, it is necessary, and we should accept it. Without this approach, it is possible for the nice people, with the nice smiles, who understand the difficult job security has (and can empathize with them), to bring guns into a busy workplace.
The day that we turned up was an overly busy day. It is easy for security personnel to forget what the actual job is i.e. preventing the wrong people getting into the building, and become focused on just getting the “right” people in. This may seem like a semantic issue however many people can come off or try to present themselves as the right people – myself and my fellow-trainer were all too quickly cast in that role. If we’d been planning a rampage/spree killing, this would have been an attractive day to carry it out as there would have been more potential victims for us to have gunned down; in most active shooter situations headcount is the major motivator. This should have been a day, when a supervisor or manager, told their staff to be extra vigilant rather than less.
Security is a serious business and should be treated as such (I also believe that those working in the sector should be better paid and remunerated – and at the same time held to a higher standard). Whilst it is looked on and treated as an inconvenience, that is necessary to satisfy the insurance companies, it will never fulfill the requirements it is intended to.