Publisher's Synopsis
Serious threats and harmful acts have been increasing at houses of worship all across America so that there is a serious need for more effective security training, improved equipment and a greater acceptance of these realities today. While many synagogues and churches have begun forming security teams to protect their worship centers and congregations most have not taken the next step to design and install a Dispatch Center where rapid, effective communication and coordination of all on-duty Sentinels can be carried out and where trained Dispatchers can multiply security team efforts by seeing where they can't see and actually look ahead of a dangerous incident to alert the team while contacting first responders quickly while being under less stress. This book describes how our church designed and built such a surveillance support ministry that now contributes to greater peace and security for our congregation and our children. The following subjects are covered in detail: coming to grips with what-if situations, selecting and training Sentinels and Dispatchers, design considerations (and examples) of a dispatch center including costs involved and various kinds of video imaging, processing and data-storage hardware, human factors of visual surveillance, radio communication issues, importance of memorizing campus locations, understanding different kinds of code yellow events that could quickly go to red status, and the basics of serious event report writing. References are included for all topics.
