Late last month, ASIS International announced that it would be hosting the first ever Security Week in conjunction with its 62nd Annual Seminar and Exhibits scheduled to take place Sept. 12-15 in Orlando. The event, which is being supported by the Department of Homeland Security Office of Infrastructure Protection, will feature a series of community preparedness and educational sessions designed to help small business owners and community leaders gain a better understanding of today’s threat landscape.
Although ASIS has held isolated initiatives in the past as a way of giving back to the annual conference’s host community, such as the School Security Funding Competition that rewards schools with funding for security improvements, Michael Gips, chief global knowledge and learning officer for ASIS International, says that in the wake of recent terror attacks they realized they wanted to do more to educate communities and small businesses about soft target protection and share strategies to help them do that more effectively. Originally, Security Week was supposed to launch at ASIS 2017 in Dallas, however, given the shooting massacre that occurred in Orlando at the Pulse nightclub in June, Gips says they thought this was the right occasion to start the event.
“We plan to educate small businesses, church groups and other houses of worship, hospitals, schools, first responders and law enforcement, and provide a forum for all of these groups to learn the fundamentals of security and risk to leave these communities safer and more resilient,” Gips says. “We want to leave communities more aware and prepared for safety and security issues and better able to bounce back from any events that might happen. Traditionally, churches, community groups and small businesses haven’t been targets for terrorism or violent crime but these days anybody can be a target.”
While larger organizations have the resources to protect themselves against myriad risks, Gips says smaller firms and communities do not have access to the funds or even the know-how, in many cases, to adequately mitigate active shooters or other types of violent crime. “We’re providing them with tips and best practices and access to experts who can help them in that effort to create a more safe and secure environment,” Gips adds.
Just because they may lack the financial resources of a Fortune 500 corporation, however, doesn’t mean that some small- and mid-sized businesses are not security savvy. Gips says many of these companies have come to the realization that they are not immune from terrorism and have begun implementing polices and even technology where they can to reduce their risks.
Peter O’Neil, CEO of ASIS International, hopes that attendees to Security Week will walk away from the event knowing that the organization has a strong commitment not just to security practitioners and professionals but to the communities they bring their annual conference to.
“In the foreseeable future, we see [security week] growing. We can’t really define what that means yet because we’re still so early in the process for first Security Week in Orlando,” O’Neil says. “I think you will see it even more integrated than it currently is with the annual meeting and I think you will certainly see more partner participants. Certainly, DHS has been a great initial partner for us. We’re out talking to the Building Owners and Managers Association, the National Retail Federation, the National Restaurant Association and many, many others who will certainly want to, we think, come to some sort of arrangement or partnership because it is really their members we can help serve in those communities moving forward.”
"DHS recognizes that communities are the first line of defense when it comes to keeping the public safe and secure. Security Week aligns with our work to ensure the security and resilience of our critical infrastructure and our way of life,” Caitlin Durkovich, assistant secretary for infrastructure protection at DHS, said in a statement. "Recent events across the world illustrate the need to protect against these threats and mitigate the consequences. ASIS is taking a significant step in helping educate communities on possible threats and ways that organizations can takes steps to better prepare for emergencies. We are pleased to be a part of this discussion.”
Although the focus of the inaugural Security Week in Orlando will be on physical security, O’Neil says that cybersecurity will certainly be a part of the event moving forward.
“Sadly what we’re seeing is a significant physical security threat, which I think for many years was maybe not as widely talked about as cyber which was, in many ways, all the rage in the news and all people talked about,” O’Neil adds. “We really haven’t talked about, in a long time, the physical security piece but I think all of the terrible incidents that have happened here and abroad call into question physical security. Moving forward I think cyber will be a component of Security Week.”
Click here for more information about Security Week or to access the full agenda. Also, on Wednesday, Sept. 14, law enforcement officers, first responders and military personnel will be granted free admission to ASIS 2016 as part of the organization’s Law Enforcement and Military Appreciation Day.
Joel Griffin is the editor of SecurityInfoWatch.com.
