Mon 24th Dec

School And Airport Safety/Security Etc & How We Address Security Issues In Our Personal Lives

Gershon Ben Keren

An extra-ordinary event often causes us to focus on our day-to-day security and safety. An event such as that in Connecticut has had many schools, including my 6 year old son’s, looking to do something – anything – that increases, or has the appearance, of increasing school security. I always understand the need to do something in light of a serious security breach (and disaster); however often the procedure, process or measure put in place does little to address the actual dangers and threats that may be faced.

Whilst my son’s school has implemented some procedures that look to identify unwanted person’s trying to gain access to the school, especially during morning drop-off, the relative chaos in front of the school, which would make it relatively easy for a pedophile to abduct a child hasn’t been recognized or addressed. Many parents/guardians still text or talk to other parents when dropping off their children, without having them in their eye line at all times, relying on harassed school staff to ensure their safety.

The focus of unwanted shooters in the school has meant that looking at overall security has taken second place to one particular threat/risk. If a child is ever abducted from the front of school I am sure the focus will shift on to this particular danger – till then it will all be about unwanted persons (armed/unarmed) within the school, not outside it.

After 9/11, much of airport security was stepped up – to prevent unwanted people from getting aboard a plane however “overall” airport security was addressed in only a few locations, Boston not being one of them.

On one occasion around 2009 when I was flying back to the UK with my family, we used a porter to get our luggage from the taxi to the check in desk. Our luggage was left in one place, near to the check-in desks, whilst we were told by the porter to join the winding queue that would move us away from our luggage. I asked him, what would stop me leaving the queue and the airport, and my luggage e.g. that I was a terrorist who had filled my luggage with explosives, who would drop them off, join the queue and then leave it and the airport. There was no process that informed the check-in staff of who in the queue had luggage left to pick up or that associated me to my left luggage – I also wasn’t sure how I could honestly answer the question, “has your luggage been with you at all times?” (As obviously it hadn’t).

Although it hasn’t happened for a while Arab Terrorists have often attacked airline check-in desks and those people waiting to be served. Whilst unaccompanied luggage in airports is as a matter of course identified and if necessary destroyed, that which is seen to be accompanied – even if it has no one in attendance – is built in to the processes that airports use. It will unfortunately take a tragedy to address this particular issue.

Security and safety is an afterthought for most of us (and most institutions) and something that we look at in light of certain events and perceived risks. Schools in the US at the moment are understandably looking at the risk of mass-shootings and terrorist acts – yes, the Connecticut shootings were an act of terrorism, despite not being committed by a named organization and/or foreign group (it would be positive and progressive for US News Agencies to categorize and name such incidents this way). Unfortunately this may well take their focus and attention away from other real and possible more likely dangers and threats.

Schools, Airports and Ourselves etc should take a look at the way we view and address risk from an overall and complete perspective. This will help us predict and prevent future violence rather than simply implement specific and singular measures against one particular type of violence. We must be honest in our approach to this and accept the need for processes and procedures that may inconvenience us and carry a cost. When everything is going great, this cost/inconvenience may seem too high and time consuming but in light of a disaster such as a school shooting or similar terrorist act any safety procedure however costly will be seen as worthwhile.

Now may be the time for us all to revise the way we live our lives from an overall rather than specific personal safety perspective.