Church Security

Believe it or not, churches (or places of worship) are not immune to violent acts. In 2012 alone, deaths from church attacks rose 36%. (Steffan, 2013) What was once thought to be a safe place may not be anymore. If you think it can’t happen here… well, it can, and does.

Year —– Deaths —– Incidents
2010 —– 51 ———– 102
2011 —– 50 ———– 107
2012 —–76 ———– 139
2013 —– 45 ———– 132
2014 —– 74 ———– 176

Incident Statistics
Occurred inside the building 31.20%
Occurred outside on ministry property or activity location 68.80%
Occurred during event 39.76%
Occurred in off hours 60.24%
Single attacker 72.80%
Multiple attackers 27.20%

Total incident weapons known (some attacks had more than one weapon)
Gun 57.29%
Knife (or other stabbing weapon) 16.82%
Auto 4.28%
Explosives 5.81%
Other 15.80%

Statistics from Carl Chinn (http://www.carlchinn.com/Church_Security_Concepts.html)

Just think of how much each incident costs, not just monetarily, but in the trust that your parishioners have in your ability to protect them, your church’s reputation and so on. Think of it as risk management for your congregation.

We have several programs available for church groups.

We offer defensive tactics training for your security team as well as CPR/AED/1st aid training and certification for your team members and classroom teachers. Either of these can be had separately or in one package.

The defensive tactics portion looks at your response procedure, and will train your team on the following:

Awareness and decision making
How you can combat stress
Communication
Pre-assault cues
Strikes
Active control
Contact and cover
3rd party intervention
Going from unarmed to armed
Weapon retention

Other modules can be added in if needed.

Please contact us to discuss this further.

Steffan, M. Deaths from Church Attacks Rise 36% in 2012. http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2013/january/deaths-from-church-attacks-rise-36-in-2012.html

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