Preface
This book has been written for the practitioner – the peacekeeper or referee – within an organization. In other words this book was written for the person who is responsible for the safety and security of the associates as well as the guests. You may come from many different disciplines, such as loss prevention, risk management, security, safety, human resources, employee relations, operations management, facilities management, and so forth. We welcome you all, we share the anxiety you have about being responsible for the lives of the people within your facility, and we applaud you for your decision to learn about violence prevention and how to apply it within your organization. The anxiety you feel will greatly dissipate once you have a viable violence prevention plan in place.
This book was written for your benefit. Our tome is not an in-depth psychological study of those who have become ordained in violence, although there will be succinct discussions of the motivations and symptoms of those who engage in threats, harassment, assaults, and rampage-driven homicide.
We entered this endeavor with two guiding principles: (1) to give you the tools you need to get a violence prevention plan up and running and (2) to provide concise and impactful information that is backed up by facts and just enough case studies to prove our points.
The information contained herein is presented in 12 chapters sectioned into three parts. Part I is entitled “Getting Your Ducks in a Row” and contains three chapters:
Part III lays out sample violence prevention plan, the training components for your staff and management teams, and how to put together a situational assessment and management team. Finally, this section takes you through the intricacies of building threat management plans and gives you an in-depth look at managing the aftermath of violence.
It was our deliberate plan to produce a book that was concise and impactful so that you can gain an understanding of the concepts quickly. We know that some readers may read the chapters out of order or skip others entirely as they want to get to the topics that cover the most pressing issues for their organization. As such, we will occasionally repeat information from prior chapters or refer the reader to a previous section when there is important information that precedes a new topic.
The primary market for this book is businesses and as such, we tend to use the words “business” and “employee” quite frequently. However, the concepts presented herein can also be applied to schools, houses of worship, healthcare facilities, nonprofit organizations, shopping malls, or other places where people come together and interact, even a household. Because of this, we also intermittently use the words “organization” and “associate.”
We hope you find this book easy to digest, and we know that the information contained in the upcoming chapters will be helpful in protecting the employees and associates in your business or organization. Be alert, be responsive, and be safe.