When Security Records Violence Instead of Preventing It

Every second of Wendy Harper’s last day at work was captured in stunning high-definition video. The cameras performed exactly as intended. They documented. They verified. They provided evidence after the fact.

What they couldn’t do was prevent the tragedy from unfolding in the first place.

That morning, Wendy’s former fiancé had been waiting for her in the corporate parking garage - a place where she had always felt safe. Security cameras recorded him pacing near her car for nearly thirty minutes before she arrived. No one watching recognized the danger, and no system was designed to intervene. When Wendy entered the garage, he confronted her. Within moments, he shot and killed her, an act so sudden and public that the company’s CEO, standing at a window overlooking the garage, later said he saw the commotion but couldn’t understand what was happening until it was too late.

Like so many organizations today, Wendy’s employer believed their investment in physical security - cameras, locks, ID badges, and access control systems - meant it was preventing violence. In reality, they were recording it. They responded to incidents as they occurred rather than preventing them before they began.

The Illusion of Prevention

Most organizations make the same mistake. They equate visibility with prevention. A new camera system goes up, a locking system is installed, or a panic alarm is added to the front desk. These tools are valuable and necessary, but they only work once a person has already crossed a behavioral line.

OSHA data shows that healthcare and social service workers experience more non-fatal assaults than employees in any other industry. The American Nurses Association found that roughly one-third of nurses have considered leaving the profession because of violent or aggressive behavior at work. These are staggering numbers for industries that have invested heavily in security infrastructure.

The reality is that technology can deter, delay, and document, but it cannot detect intent. It cannot recognize the earliest signs that someone’s frustration, fear, or anger is building toward aggression. It cannot build trust among employees, nor can it teach them how to recognize those precursor behaviors that, left unaddressed, escalate into conflict, abuse, or violence.

Why Traditional Security Isn’t Enough

Cameras record. Locks restrict. Policies outline expectations. But none of these tools can read body language, tone, or changes in interpersonal dynamics. None of them can spot the subtle shift when irritation becomes contempt or when a calm face masks the “walking dead” stare of someone who has given up on reasoning.

That’s where human insight becomes essential. Aggression, whether in hospitals, schools, or corporations, rarely erupts without warning. It follows a predictable pattern - a continuum - that can be identified, measured, and redirected if recognized early enough.

The Critical Aggression Prevention System (CAPS) was built on this understanding. It doesn’t replace traditional security tools; it enhances them. It enables organizations to see what cameras cannot: the early, observable behavioral precursors of aggression.

The Missing Layer: Behavioral Prevention

CAPS was developed from decades of research into both Primal (adrenaline-driven) and Cognitive (intent-driven) aggression. Primal aggression is that impulsive, physiological reaction we all know - anger, frustration, fear. Cognitive aggression, by contrast, is intentional. It is the calculated desire to harm, undermine, or control another person.

Every act of aggression, whether a heated argument or a planned attack, begins with measurable precursor behaviors along these two continuums. CAPS trains employees to recognize and respond to signs of violence long before they reach the threshold of violence.

We refer to these employees as Aggression First Observers and Certified Aggression Managers.

First Observers are trained to identify early warning behaviors and to report them. Certified Aggression Managers are trained to engage the individual by modeling such behaviors to redirect aggression and restore trust. Together, they create a living, breathing system of prevention - human insight powered by behavioral science.

Evidence-Based and Privacy-Compliant

Unlike psychological assessments or threat evaluations, CAPS does not rely on private mental health data. It observes only behavior; what people do and how they do it. This keeps CAPS fully compliant with HIPAA, FERPA, and civil rights regulations, and ensures employees’ privacy is protected at every stage.

What makes CAPS truly different is that it is both scientific and measurable. Through the CAPS Dashboard, leaders can see in real time where potential aggression is emerging across their organization. Over time, they can identify patterns across departments, shifts, or locations. That data is invaluable for decision-making, training, and resource allocation. It transforms prevention from a hopeful ideal into an evidence-based practice.

Cost of Reaction vs. Power of Prevention

The cost of reaction is staggering. When a single incident occurs - whether it’s a verbal assault, physical altercation, or workplace shooting - the financial and human costs multiply rapidly. Legal fees, medical claims, turnover, lost productivity, and damaged reputations can total hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars.

But the most devastating cost is human. Each incident creates victims and perpetrators whose lives are altered forever.

Prevention changes that equation. It ensures that innocent people never become victims and that those struggling with aggression never become perpetrators. It protects not only people but also an organization's culture, trust, and reputation.

How Behavioral and Physical Security Work Together

For security professionals, especially those in the ASSA network who provide cameras, locking systems, and integrated security solutions, CAPS offers a new kind of partnership.

Cameras, locks, and access control systems protect the environment. CAPS protects the relationships within it. Physical systems secure spaces; behavioral systems secure people. Together, they provide a complete model of workplace safety.

Imagine your clients entering a meeting where you not only offer them the most advanced hardware and software solutions, but also an evidence-based behavioral prevention system that enhances the effectiveness of those technologies. That’s the future of comprehensive security.

By helping your clients integrate CAPS into their overall safety strategy, you can offer them what no physical system can achieve alone - true prevention.

A Case in Point

Let’s return to Wendy Harper. The cameras that recorded her final moments were part of a multimillion-dollar security investment. The footage helped investigators, but it did nothing to stop the attack.

Had Wendy’s organization trained its staff as Aggression First Observers, they might have recognized her colleague’s escalating hostility - the visible tension, the verbal barbs, the subtle withdrawal from team activities. Those were early indicators of the simultaneous development of Primal and Cognitive aggression.

With CAPS, those signs could have been identified, reported, and addressed well before the tragedy occurred. A Certified Aggression Manager could have intervened, redirected the behavior, and prevented what no camera ever could.

That’s the difference between reaction and prevention. Between documentation and intervention. Between seeing what happened and stopping what was about to happen.

The Future of Safety

Security technology has advanced at an extraordinary pace. AI-enhanced cameras, biometric locks, and data analytics now collect and process more information than ever before. Yet even with all these breakthroughs, technology still cannot read intent - the moment when someone decides to harm another person. The next evolution in safety isn’t more sensors or algorithms. It’s human training and awareness.

Organizations that combine physical security with behavioral prevention will lead the way. They will create workplaces where employees feel not just protected, but safe, valued, and trusted.

For security professionals, this is an opportunity to expand your role and your value. You already protect your clients’ people and property. Now you can help protect their future.

Let’s work together to give your clients something even more valuable than protection – prevention.