Page 28 - Security Today, June 2018

The Focus on Public Space Taking a hard look at terrorist attacks and solutions to mitigate effects
BOy Bill Edwards and Autumn Harris
ver the past several years we’ve seen an increase in at- tacks focused on public spaces. There is no safe-haven in today’s societal landscape that would allow any public service or business to conclude that they are not a target. Hospitals are no exception.
It is clear that increased threats across the globe due to the rise in violent extremism have created a need for proactively and predictively protecting critical assets, infrastructure, and people. The frequency and magnitude of recent terrorist attacks against civilians and civil- ian structures have alerted the design community to the need for ho- listic, layered, integrated comprehensive design solutions to mitigate the effects of such attacks.
Thwarting a terrorist attack through intelligence gathering or law enforcement techniques is always preferable, but securing our build- ings and infrastructure is increasingly seen as a necessary line of defense in any coordinated anti-terrorist program. In particular are the vulnerabilities presented by open public space. These spaces are where you find the true exploitable “soft targets” that threat actors like to take advantage of.
Increasing Terror Concerns
While the threat of terrorist attacks has increased over the last several years, so has the ability of security professionals to mitigate the phys-
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ical, economic and social damage, as well as loss of life, associated with these events in a cost-effective way. By learning from past experi- ences, taking advantage of advancing technical capabilities and using state-of-the-art technology, the design community has been able to respond to the increased need for security.
Nevertheless, new and more effective ways to deal with this prob- lem are needed, as well as more adept methods of dealing with to- day’s highly trained and extremely creative terrorist element. Inno- vative concepts and techniques for holistically mitigating the effects of terrorist attacks, and securing our buildings and infrastructure against forced entry, ballistic attack, vehicle ramming, active shoot- ers, chemical and biological attacks, eavesdropping, cyberattacks, incendiary devices and explosive bomb blasts are but a few of the threats that need to be addressed.
Securing a hospital is different for a multitude of reasons. Hospi- tals deal with a litany of internal threats and vulnerabilities that other facilities do not often have to consider. Child abduction, aggressive patients and securing all types of pharmaceuticals are just some of the additional considerations that contribute to the complexity of hospital security.
The balance between security and maintaining the necessary emergency ingress of critically ill or injured patients also adds chal- lenges. Furthermore, hospital security directors deal with the chal-
HOSPITAL SECURITY
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