Security in All Forms
- By Ralph C. Jensen
- Nov 01, 2014
We have learned via the news recently that
security comes in many forms and fashions;
included are risk management and
contingency planning.
Ebola. The first that comes to mind is the recent
scare of an Ebola outbreak on American soil. I live
in the Dallas area, and the news of Ebola has been
in all the headlines. Thomas Eric Duncan contracted
the disease in West Africa and brought it with him
to Dallas, even though reports are that Duncan went
through a health screening before leaving the country.
At 42 years old, Duncan came to the United States to
visit and marry his girlfriend, and be a father to their
child, who has since grown up and is making his way
through college.
It seems that proper security measures were in
place and taken prior to his departure from West Africa.
However, I believe that not enough was done in
Dallas to ensure he received proper treatment. Duncan
arrived in Dallas on Sept. 20, and within five days
sought medical care at Texas Health Presbyterian
hospital, only to be sent home with antibiotics. He returned
three days later with those unmistakable symptoms
of Ebola. In fact, two days after being admitted
to the hospital, his medical diagnosis was confirmed.
In my opinion, security of a different form should
have been taken. Medical staff should have taken into
consideration that Duncan had just flown to Dallas
from West Africa. This is the first red flag. Security
should have come in the form of attacking the virus
inside the patient days earlier; however, hospital staff
has assured Dallas residents they will stop the Ebola
virus in its tracks.
After laying in isolation for 10 days at the hospital,
Duncan, a Liberian national, died on Oct. 8, after showing
some improvement in his health. His ordeal showed
Americans the reality of a plague that was once considered
a far-away problem. Nearly 4,000 people have died
in what was once just a West African epidemic.
I feel bad for Mr. Duncan, his family and those
affected by this situation. New medical security measures
should be put in place to ensure this never happens
again.
No more football. I really love this story pulled from
the news in New Jersey. The Sayreville High School
football team in Parlin had its season cancelled in early
October because there were allegations of bullying, intimidation
and harassment among players.
From my youth, I thought this was what high
school football was all about, but school officials now
see it differently. They already canceled and forfeited
a game prior to the announcement of the season’s suspension.
The Middlesex County prosecutor’s office is investigating
these allegations, which have been said to be
enough to prove incidents of harassment, intimidation
and bullying on a pervasive level, on a wide-scale
level and at a level that players knew, tolerated and
generally accepted.
With this knowledge, school superintendent Richard
Labbe said that what has been substantiated to
have occurred, “We have canceled the remainder of
the football season.” (Where was this guy when I was a
high school freshman and sophomore football player?)
The school would not discuss the case any further,
nor would the prosecutor’s office, but there is credible
evidence to back up the allegations.
As schools today act to add security to district
facilities, some of the biggest security problems reside
within the halls of the school, or in this case, the
locker room.
Riots in Ferguson. Talk about security…Missouri
authorities had to draw up contingency plans, fearing
that if the grand jury no billed a white police officer
for killing a black teen, a riotous battle might ensue.
State officials even sought information from other
U.S. police departments on out-of-state agitators.
Riots have been commonplace since Aug. 9 when
police officer Darren Wilson shot teenager Michael
Brown, sparking days of protests in Ferguson, a suburb
of St. Louis. Security and safety have been absent
in this city for a couple of months now, and Missouri
law enforcement officials have been so concerned that
they have been in contact with police chiefs from Los
Angeles, New York, Florida and Cincinnati. Police
fear an outbreak of violence not only in Ferguson,
but also in numerous metropolitan cities.
Protesters, most from outside of Missouri, including
New York and California, and civil rights groups
say that the shooting is part of a national epidemic of
young black men being shot by white police officers.
What alarms me more than anything is that it seems
civil rights protestors can bully law enforcement and
the courts into getting what they think is fair.
The grand jury’s decision will affect members of
the black community as well as those in the white
community. The city is fraught with racial tension
and simmering anger from Brown’s death. Any
death in this type of situation should not be taken
lightly, but mixing in racial tensions does not help
calm the storm.
This article originally appeared in the November 2014 issue of Security Today.