View from the Chair

Timely Topics, Golden Nuggets, and Upcoming Events!

February’s membership meeting had a tremendous turnout and the topic was so timely, Terrorism, Bombs, and Bomb Threats. Before 9-11, many companies and individuals treated terrorism or bomb threats as something that happens to someone else. Since 9-11, it has become a real threat that many companies are now preparing for.

The presentation and presenter, Tony Lavelle, were professional and informative. Tony kept the presentation moving and entertaining. He shared stories from his personal experience and funny anecdotes. However, he never once made light of the seriousness of his topic. He clearly understands bomb detection and knows how to implement it into an existing security program.

When Tony brought in Luca, one of his highly trained K-9s, the presentation went to the dogs, literally. Luca is a black lab and is almost too cute to believe she’s a bomb detection dog.

Merv Marty, our host and ALZA Director of Corporate Security, shared his bomb threat and bomb detection implementation experience with the audience. Merv Marty shared that ALZA had had to evacuate a building several years ago due to a bomb threat. There were a number of executives evacuated. This evacuation lasted 13 hours. Once business was restored, Merv set out to look for a solution that would prevent this kind of downtime in the future.

In order to sell upper management on the concept of bomb detection K-9s, Mr. Marty took the annual salaries of all personnel evacuated and divided it by annual hours. This provided Merv with an hourly cost for the evacuation. When he presented this information to upper management, it was a “no-brainer” to justify the cost of bomb sweeps. Money talks.

Once Merv had identified and quantified the need for this element of security at his site, he surveyed all the ALZA employees to identify potential obstacles. There were two, one or two employees were terrified of dogs and a couple others were extremely allergic to them. These employees’ cubicles are now clearly marked with a bright sticker of a German Shepard in a circle with a line through it indicating no dog search here.

At first the employees were skeptical about having dogs around. Now Merv is frequently asked when the “dogs” will be on-site again. Some employees even bake homemade dog biscuits.

Whenever I attend an educational program, I always try to walk away with at least one “golden nugget.” A “golden nugget” is something I can apply to my work. Merv provided the first one with a formula for justifying the need for bomb sweeps and other security procedure additions.

The other “golden nugget” was information on local police cooperation in the event of a bomb threat. Many local police departments do not have “bomb” resources available 24/7. There can be a lengthy response time and their first question is “how do you want to handle this?” In other words, they are going to look to you to find out what your site policy and procedures are. It proved again the importance of having solid policies and procedures in place in advance of the need. Please don’t misunderstand me, our police counterparts are a tremendous resource of information, but they are limited by budgetary constraints and bomb threats are still relatively infrequent. Their bomb squads and K-9s have other “jobs” besides bomb detection.

St. Patrick's Day Law Enforcement Appreciation Luncheon
Security Management’s relationship with our public counterparts is why every year we host this month’s major event St. Patrick’s Day (March 15th this year) Law Enforcement Appreciation Luncheon. It is our way of expressing our tremendous appreciation for what law enforcement does. This year we will honor those who passed in the line of duty on 9-11 and those who risk their lives everyday for our companies, our employees, and our families.

The event is shaping up nicely with Willie Harper, retired 49er Linebacker, as our guest speaker. His speech will focus on teamwork, specifically between private security and public law enforcement. Each attendee will receive an autographed, miniature football helmet. It is rumored that one Mr. Keena Turner may also show up for autograph opportunities, but he is not yet confirmed. Two significant door prizes are also part of the day’s activities, a regulation size helmet autographed by Willie Harper and Ronnie Lott and an autographed Willie Harper jersey.

Please bring your law enforcement counterparts. This is a day of remembrance, appreciation and honor.

Speakers Bureau
A couple other items are on the horizon that could use your support. We are moving ahead with a speaker’s bureau and we could use “speakers” and presentations to enhance this service to our membership. Once we have a decent selection of topics and speakers, we will promote its use.

CPP Study Materials
The Executive Council agreed unanimously to purchase the most current CPP study materials. Our copies at De Anza College are not as up-to-date as we would like them to be. This is a $1200 investment and it is our hope that any members in need of them will visit the library and check them out.

Volunteerism
We still need volunteers for committees. Your ASIS Chapter is also in need of meeting space and speakers for June, July, November and December (meeting space only because it is a holiday social with lunch).

If you have ideas to share to with the membership to make our Chapter even better, please speak up. I want to hear from you and I will put you on our next Executive Council Meeting Agenda.

Your 2002 Chair,
Connie Vaughn