PREPARING FOR THE WORST
Congregations’ reps discuss active- shooter drills, hiring armed guards
Brandon Rhone, assistant director of the ALICE Training Institute, talks to people from houses of worship, schools and nonprofits Wednesday during a Church Mutual Insurance Compan event at the East Liberty Presbyterian Church. Mr. Rhone, a former law enforcement officer, described a protocol for organizations to follow during shootings. 1.
Early in his presentation on how churches can respond to armed intruders, Brandon Rhone of the ALICE Training Institute posed this question:
“Do you or do you not believe this type of event can happen to you?”
In fact, members of his audience had already answered just by showing up Wednesday: More than 100 people, including pastors, staff members and lay people, had traveled from throughout Pennsylvania and surrounding states.
They gathered in a fellowship hall of East Liberty Presbyterian Church for a morning’s worth of training on being prepared for such attacks. The free seminar was offered by Church Mutual Insurance Co.
“If you believe it can happen to us, what are we prepared to do about it?” Mr. Rhone said.
In recent years, high- profile massacres have targeted religious sites such as the Tree of Life synagogue building in nearby Squirrel Hill and churches in Charleston, S. C., and Sutherland Springs, Texas.
“We’re more aware of the violence in the community, and we want to be able to respond to that and also to prepare people to take action to prevent this from happening,” said Richard Dorman, district manager with Church Mutual.
The speakers did not offer guarantees that certain measures would foil every attack, but it’s important that they’re “not being paralyzed” with lack of knowledge, Mr. Dorman said.
Speakers described troubling symptoms to look for among both regular members and strangers who show up for worship. They described tactics such as fleeing when possible, using barricades to keep intruders out and distracting gunmen to keep casualties to a minimum.
The ALICE training, for example, stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate, but Mr. Rhone emphasized that these actions don’t necessarily happen in sequential order and people need to act depending on circumstances.
Kevin Nugent, senior risk- control consultant for Church Mutual, said each congregation needs to decide for itself whether to have armed security, and if so, whether that should be trained members or outside security. He noted that some churches’ values would prohibit that, and often there would be differences among members of the same congregation.
“You’ve got the side that says we don’t want guns in church, and the other side that says we have to,” Mr. Nugent said. Churches’ liability increases if they have armed security, but the company does insure them if they ensure the guards meet standards of training and other qualifications.
Churches should also consider evacuation drills, he said. It may be easier to start with doing a standard fire drill to get people used to the need for such exercises, he said.
Jennifer Shumar, a member of Blainesburg Bible Church in Washington County, attended with a group from her congregation. She said they wanted to be prepared before any incident took place. One week, a visitor showed up and brought a toolbox into the building; it turned out he just wanted to have his work supplies with him, but such incidents illustrate the need to be vigilant, she said.
“We’re in a small country church,” she said. “It’s just something you think about. We sit back at the sound booth, so we have cameras and we monitor them during the service. We always thought we needed a plan.”
Debra Thomas, who is on the custodial staff at the East Liberty church, echoed those concerns.
“Our society, with stuff going on, it’s not going to stop,” said Ms. Thomas, who previously worked in security. “We do need to be prepared.”
In an opening session, Dan Savage of Secure Education Consultants talked about being alert for people — whether current members, disgruntled employees or total strangers — who exhibit warning signs such as rage or grudges. Before such cases escalate to emergencies, he encouraged finding out if they have such things as positive relationships with family or friends who could lead them to get help.
But when a gunman is determined, there’s no time to negotiate, speakers said.
The Rev. Elaine Hower of Bethesda Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lower Burrell said she appreciated the day’s training but also noted its limits.
“As a pastor, you think, ‘ If I could just reach that person, maybe I could stop this,’” she said, but she also realizes not everyone can be reached.
“It’s great information, very helpful. ... Some of this may save some lives. But if someone is so determined, they’re going to succeed at some level.”