How to Assess Your School’s Security Needs

School Security NeedsIf you work at a school in the Rochester/Western New York area, when’s the last time you assessed your school’s security needs?

Having a security plan in place is both mental and physical. It’s mental in the sense that you and others in the building know what to do if and when something bad happens– you think about what could go wrong and plan accordingly. It’s physical in the sense that you might need physical protection against threatening people or things, including active shooters and/or bombs.

Meanwhile, nowadays security plans typically include cyber-related computer issues. For example, how do you protect grades such that students don’t hack into the files and change them?

It’s important to assess how your school is currently doing at security, and what it could do to be better. It’s also a good idea to look at the entire campus and the area around it, to take into account any new or potential threats. Where are the vulnerabilities?

To assess your security plan, make a list of security issues you can think of, followed by a list of potential dangers.

Consider the following:

• What’s the current management policy regarding security? Who is keeping overseers at the school accountable?

• What’s the current physical policy? Do personnel know what they should be doing at all times?

• Take a risk assessment… what are risks that could happen and how would they impact the school?

• How about access control? How do people enter/leave the campus and its buildings? Is there a way to stop unwanted guests from getting into buildings or rooms they don’t belong in?

• What about staffing issues? How many guards does the school have? Are more needed? Are more experienced guards needed?

• And how about cyber/communication issues? Who is watching over the school’s computer systems? Is there a rapid response plan? How can staffers and others communicate both internally and externally should a problem arise?

• After assessing your security plan, you might need to adjust policies and procedures. Maybe you need more security cameras, gates or guards. Maybe you need to implement an ID system.

Schools often revise their security plans in order to keep up with the times– and like Bob Dylan sang, “The times, they are a changin’.” So true.

COP Security can help your Western New York school figure out how to guard its people and places better– call COP Security at 585-750-5608 for more information.

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