Chris Hertig, former professor and IFPO board member.

Chris Hertig, former professor and IFPO board member.

Preventing and Mitigating Violence – Part 1 (Random Thoughts From The Last 35+Years)
by Chris Hertig
 
Violence takes many forms in accordance with the present environment. Unfortunately, we tend to think of specific types of violence and ignore the others. We don’t “see the whole battlefield." Instead, we only see what is in the news and entertainment media.
As the old boxing saying goes: “you get hit with the punches you don’t see."
Customer service training – and socialization/supervision of/auditing of, etc.. – is a good base from which to launch violence protection programs.  Doing so provides return on investment: enhancing employees skills in dealing with irate customers simultaneously aids in preparation for  robbery and hostage scenarios. Most of the skills are interchangeable. A little buttressing of employee development in customer service, client relations, etc. makes sense. It provides a necessary foundation where more specific learning can occur at a later date.
If ya don’t know the basics, ya can’t learn the other stuff.
Human resources is important!  Obviously screening out violent persons from the workforce is important to violence avoidance. That’s the beginning, but there are numerous junctures at which HR plays a central role in "connecting the dots." Seamless investigation between HR and security departments is necessary in all cases, violence-related ones are more critical.
Like it or not, HR is often the weak link:
Some HR folks don’t fully understand their role here. Many organizations have not really assessed this properly.  Violence management is an add-on rather than being centrally integrated within the HR function.
Some HR folks have never been taught how to investigate (interview, take notes, etc.) properly.
And some HR personnel have all sorts of pre-conceived, inaccurate perceptions of security departments, violence, etc.
It makes a lot of sense to facilitate getting these folks together and talking. This is a valuable undertaking that pays off over time.
Physical security is important!  Access and egress  control, surveillance, etc. are all components of a protection plan. Having a security analysis conducted by a professional is prudent business practice. For small businesses that may not be able to afford this, many police departments have crime prevention specialists who can do a survey free of charge.  It is not the same as a professional assessment, but some of these folks are knowledgeable about Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, camera placement, etc. The Department of Homeland Security provides assessments, so does the Pennsylvania State Police as well as the South Central PA Counterterrorism Task Force.
Any business that has not had an assessment is like a patient who has not had a checkup.