Former Buffalo Police Officer Aaron Salter, Jr. is Recipient of 2022 Ralph Day Memorial Security Award

  • Sep 01, 2022

ASIS International announced that the late Aaron Salter, Jr., an Allied Universal security professional and retired police officer who made the ultimate sacrifice while protecting shoppers at the Tops Friendly Market during a mass shooting, is the recipient of the 2022 Ralph Day Memorial Security Officer Heroism Award. Aaron Salter III will accept the award on behalf of this father, on Sept. 13, at the 2022 Global Security Exchange Conference.

Each year, ASIS International recognizes one security officer. ASIS International is the world’s largest membership organization for security management professionals and host of the GSX Conference, for outstanding service/acts in the security profession through the Ralph Day Memorial Security Officer Heroism Award. This award singles out a security professional, who performs a heroic act that involves circumstances where a private security officer risks his or her life to save their life to protect or save lives and/or property. The award nominee must be an employee of a contract security company employed as a security officer. This is the first time this award has been bestowed posthumously.

“We admire Aaron Salter, not just for his heroic actions in May, but for the heroic life he lived protecting and serving the community for over 30 years,” said Steve Jones, global chairman and CEO, Allied Universal. “I have been inspired and proud to see the outpouring of support for Mr. Salter’s family from the Allied Universal team, the Buffalo Community and others.”

On May 14, 2022, a mass shooting occurred at the Buffalo Tops Friendly store. Ten people, including Salter, were shot and died and three people were injured. When a gunman wearing tactical gear, armed with an assault rifle entered the grocery store, Salter confronted the attacker, firing multiple shots, one of which struck the 18-year-old attacker’s body armor. Killed by return fire, he is sailed as a hero by police officials, shoppers and colleagues for confronting the assailant and slowing the assault, which gave time for others to move to safety.

Salter retired as a lieutenant from the Buffalo Police Traffic Division in 2018 after 30 years on the job and had worked for Allied Universal at the Tops Friendly Market post for seven years. Salter was a musician who played bass guitar, loved cars and was a scientist who invented a car engine that could run on water via hydrogen electrolysis.

Aaron Salter III established a GoFundMe page in honor of his father to help his family with this unforeseen tragedy.

Featured

  • AI Is Now the Leading Cybersecurity Concern for Security, IT Leaders

    Arctic Wolf recently published findings from its State of Cybersecurity: 2025 Trends Report, offering insights from a global survey of more than 1,200 senior IT and cybersecurity decision-makers across 15 countries. Conducted by Sapio Research, the report captures the realities, risks, and readiness strategies shaping the modern security landscape. Read Now

  • Analysis of AI Tools Shows 85 Percent Have Been Breached

    AI tools are becoming essential to modern work, but their fast, unmonitored adoption is creating a new kind of security risk. Recent surveys reveal a clear trend – employees are rapidly adopting consumer-facing AI tools without employer approval, IT oversight, or any clear security policies. According to Cybernews Business Digital Index, nearly 90% of analyzed AI tools have been exposed to data breaches, putting businesses at severe risk. Read Now

  • Software Vulnerabilities Surged 61 Percent in 2024, According to New Report

    Action1, a provider of autonomous endpoint management (AEM) solutions, today released its 2025 Software Vulnerability Ratings Report, revealing a 61% year-over-year surge in discovered software vulnerabilities and a 96% spike in exploited vulnerabilities throughout 2024, amid an increasingly aggressive threat landscape. Read Now

  • Motorola Solutions Named Official Safety Technology Supplier of the Ryder Cup through 2027

    Motorola Solutions has today been named the Official Safety Technology Supplier of the 2025 and 2027 Ryder Cup, professional golf’s renowned biennial team competition between the United States and Europe. Read Now

  • Evolving Cybersecurity Strategies

    Organizations are increasingly turning their attention to human-focused security approaches, as two out of three (68%) cybersecurity incidents involve people. Threat actors are shifting from targeting networks and systems to hacking humans via social engineering methods, living off human errors as their most prevalent attack vector. Whether manipulated or not, human cyber behavior is leveraged to gain backdoor access into systems. This mainly results from a lack of employee training and awareness about evolving attack techniques employed by malign actors. Read Now

Most   Popular

New Products

  • AC Nio

    AC Nio

    Aiphone, a leading international manufacturer of intercom, access control, and emergency communication products, has introduced the AC Nio, its access control management software, an important addition to its new line of access control solutions.

  • Unified VMS

    AxxonSoft introduces version 2.0 of the Axxon One VMS. The new release features integrations with various physical security systems, making Axxon One a unified VMS. Other enhancements include new AI video analytics and intelligent search functions, hardened cybersecurity, usability and performance improvements, and expanded cloud capabilities

  • Luma x20

    Luma x20

    Snap One has announced its popular Luma x20 family of surveillance products now offers even greater security and privacy for home and business owners across the globe by giving them full control over integrators’ system access to view live and recorded video. According to Snap One Product Manager Derek Webb, the new “customer handoff” feature provides enhanced user control after initial installation, allowing the owners to have total privacy while also making it easy to reinstate integrator access when maintenance or assistance is required. This new feature is now available to all Luma x20 users globally. “The Luma x20 family of surveillance solutions provides excellent image and audio capture, and with the new customer handoff feature, it now offers absolute privacy for camera feeds and recordings,” Webb said. “With notifications and integrator access controlled through the powerful OvrC remote system management platform, it’s easy for integrators to give their clients full control of their footage and then to get temporary access from the client for any troubleshooting needs.”