Excerpts:
“It was Friday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. in the autumn of 2003 when two Middle-Eastern-looking men, later identified as Mohammed and Omar, attempted to pass the front desk of a sprawling Jewish Community Center (JCC) in the Midwest. The receptionist stopped them, inquiring about their visit, and asked that they sign the visitors log. In broken English, Mohammed informed the receptionist that they were looking for their friend Amin, who was at the center attending a community- based course on English as a second language (ESL). When the receptionist called the ESL offices and learned that no one by the name of Amin was or had been there, Mohammed asked to speak with someone from the program. . . . . Further investigation revealed that Mohammed and Omar had tried to enter a daycare center on the premises and had also been in several other areas of the JCC, including a stairwell leading to a basement maintenance and boiler room area.

The incident illustrates how the front lines in the war on terrorism extend potentially to the front door of any private enterprise. This is the real challenge of homeland security. And for management, the question is how best to prepare the company’s own security teams and other employees to handle this new counterterrorism responsibility. The first step is proper training.

Several initiatives related to homeland security training are underway to help businesses get up to speed. For example, the University of Findlay’s Center for Terrorism Preparedness (CTP), where the authors work, has trained more than 2,000 private security personnel, law enforcement agents, and other first responders since it was launched in mid-1999. . . . .

Given law enforcement’s limited funds for training, the goal is to establish a strategic community/corporate alliance in which a company underwrites the training for its officers (and perhaps for police with whom they work or security officers from other businesses) as a good corporate citizen.”

To receive a copy of the entire article please contact Mark Alliman, CTP Project Manager, at 419-434-4135.