Protecting ourselves amid a false sense of security

Last Friday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., a man disembarking his flight from Alaska killed five innocent people in an airport that was layered with security.

Last summer in Orlando, Fla., 22-year-old singer Christina Grimmie was shot dead by a man while signing autographs for her fans following her concert. Shortly thereafter, also in Orlando, a man entered the Pulse nightclub and proceeded to use an assault rifle to murder 49 people and injure even more than that.

On the other side of the country, a man was stopped and arrested by police in Santa Monica for traveling in a vehicle filled with weapons and explosive material. When questioned, the man said he was headed to the heavily attended Los Angeles PRIDE parade.

According to police, the man went to the Grimmie concert with the intent to hurt her. Officials made clear that in the case of the Pulse nightclub, that killer was a sympathizer and pledged his loyalty to the Islamic State. And in Santa Monica, investigators said that the man with the car full of explosive material was from Indiana and stopped him due to a tip they had received.

All four of these incidents had security in some form present or respond to them. At Pulse, it was an off-duty police officer working as security, in Santa Monica it was local police and at the Grimmie event, it was the singer’s brother who tackled the gunman to the ground while it was reported that event security rushed to clear the area of innocent bystanders.

As someone that worked as a registered security officer for three years while in college, I can tell you that the presence of security is important to many businesses as it provides the appearance of a safe and controlled environment.

But the majority of private security firms staff unarmed officers and will even train their officers with the guiding principle that they are designed to “deter” rather than “react.”

Whenever I did encounter legitimate issues of real danger or concern, I was instructed to notify local law enforcement to assist.

I once watched as two women brutally attacked one another over a product disagreement; a man flashed and forced himself on a young woman in a parking lot; three teens broke into an employee’s car and a brazen drug addict stole a security camera off the wall during operating hours in front of shoppers and employees, all while using a crowbar.

In all of these incidents I could do little more than contact the police because I was bound to do so by the company I worked for. I may have had a badge, handcuffs, radio and a flashlight, but that’s as far as my authority went — looking like I could do something.

That I had to wait, just like they had to wait, for someone to show up to actually do something always seemed wrong.

Of course, none of this remotely reflects the type of events or devastation that took place this past weekend or throughout 2016, but I underscore these experiences with you because they have taught me that we all perceive that we are secure because many times there is a visible presence.

Unless that visible presence is an actual police officer, you will still wait for a first responder and you will still need to find a way to protect yourself if any real danger unfolds.

To add even more uncertainty and worry to this idea is the revelation that the Pulse shooter’s day job was as a registered security officer with London-based G4S, and protected a residential community in south Florida.

Think that’s bad? You might recall that it was discovered that an alleged Somali war criminal, accused of crimes against humanity, was found working as a security guard at the Dulles International Airport in Washington D.C..

I share all of this with you in the shadow of another major terror-inducing incident because it’s more apparent than ever that our safety and security is our responsibility.

We have become conditioned to rely on first responders and the perception of security as the lone shield that will protect us.

Remember, even as the Pulse terrorist was murdering people inside the nightclub, it took police nearly three hours to bring it to an end and finally save people.

We must defend ourselves and be our own first responder or assume that the perception of security will save us. Of course, by then it might be too late.