Security a must for houses of worship

THE times in which we live mandate that we first pass through a metal detector or other security before boarding a plane, or entering government buildings and some school buildings, or watching certain sporting events. Are houses of worship next on the list?

The question is prompted by Sunday’s massacre in a small town in Texas, where a man with a violent past walked into a Baptist church and used a high-powered rifle to kill 26 people during the morning worship service.

Law enforcement officials said the layout of the church, with one front entrance and single exit doors on each side of the altar, left worshippers almost nowhere to go once the shooting began. Given the small quarters, employing the “run, hide, fight” response taught by security experts might not have helped a great deal as the gunman walked to the front of the church, then back out, firing all the while.

The heads of two Oklahoma-based church security companies said Sunday’s attack might persuade leaders of houses of worship to take security measures more seriously or to upgrade the measures they now have in place.

Bill Kumpe, a Tulsa attorney and author of a book about church security, said the “run, hide, fight” method is suitable much of the time, but not always when the buildings are crowded. He suggests what he calls the three R’s: report a situation to others at various locations in the church, remove as many people as possible, and respond, using qualified armed individuals.

Kumpe also tells clergy to place someone at all church doors, advice consultant Tara Koetter offers as well. Koetter, of Norman, co-founder of a church security consulting firm, said those at the doors should watch parking lots and other areas, and be able to alert others to potential trouble via cellphone or two-way radios.

The idea of resorting to armed security guards may well be off-putting for many clergy — these are houses of worship, after all. Roberta Clark, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Oklahoma City and former head of the North Texas office of the AntiDefamation League, stresses that security is about “creating a culture, 24-7 and 365.”

Security “has to be a part of our to-do list,” Clark says. “If we make it part of how we do business … then if and when something happens, we will be able to respond to it in the best possible way.”

Clark suggests that houses of worship develop policies specific to the institution, then follow through on those policies, and train and retrain staff, clergy, ushers and others. Ensuring that most doors stay locked from the outside is one simple security step. Another simple one, Clark suggests, is for greeters to be sure to say hello to those they haven’t seen at services before. Why? Because, she said, someone intent on doing harm generally prefers not to be noticed at all.

No security measure is guaranteed to be 100 percent effective, of course. On the other hand, it only makes sense to have solid ones in place — for schools, government buildings and, sadly, even churches, synagogues and mosques.