Planning Ahead
Free security seminars help educate security professionals on dealing with potential threats
- By Lindsay Page
- January 01, 2018
Long before the Columbine High
School massacre put school shootings
in the media, the threat was
already there, and certain emergency
protocols had been put in place.
Violence is nothing new, and sadly, sometimes
a tragic event is the only thing to make
changes to the way schools, universities, businesses,
hospitals and other facilities handle
emergency situations and threats.
Technologies change, and protocols need
to adapt in order to keep everyone safe when
something such as an active shooter incident
takes place. Although it is impossible to have
a facility 100 percent secure, by being proactive
and constantly learning about new technologies
and emergency procedures, we can
get pretty close to that 100 percent.
So, how can we really be prepared for these
events?
Here is where A+ Technology & Security
Solutions comes in. Founded in 1988 and
headquartered in Bay Shore, N.Y., the company
offers a myriad of solutions – all of
which provide integrated security solutions to
schools and universities, federal and state
government agencies including law enforcement,
healthcare, and businesses. With this
level of expertise, the company decided they
wanted to share their knowledge in order to
help create the best outcome possible in a terrible
situation.
A+ Technology recently announced they
were offering a series of free security preparedness
seminars to professionals in the
industry in order to help educate them on
how to deal with potential and probable
threats. During the seminars, attendees will
learn how to perform risk assessments; look
for weaknesses in their current emergency
procedures; identify risks such as an employee
or student who could be potentially dangerous;
while also learning about where security
technology is headed in the future and
how to plan ahead.
David Antar, the president of A+ Technology
& Security Solutions, said he saw the
need for these seminars and wanted to do
something to help their community know
how to plan for and respond to threats and
emergency situations.
“Our main objective with these seminars is
to go beyond that, and to be the go-to
resource within our community for education
on effective security preparedness which
includes planning, training and the right
technology,” Antar said. “We’ve learned a lot
in our 28-plus years of being in business and
we want to share our knowledge and experience
along with the experts that we partner
with; and want to share this with the community.
A community that is educated is a community
that can be better prepared for the
worst-case scenario.”
No one knows when something such as an
active shooter situation may arise, but these
seminars offer ways that help to quickly identify
any potential threats while also teaching
attendees how to deal with the situation
before it turns deadly. Prevention is a top priority,
but knowing the correct protocols can
make a huge difference.
With the demand for these seminars on the
rise, A+ Technology & Security Solutions is
constantly striving to make them even better.
“Recently we began to institute a more formal
series of educational sessions," Antar
said. "Focusing on helping schools, municipalities
and businesses to collaborate and
learn more about safety and security preparedness,
and the associated security technology
solutions available to them."
Currently these free seminars are being
offered to security professionals on Long
Island, but A+ has held seminars in a few other
states as well. For next year, the company is
working hard to add more to their agenda.
“2018 is going to be absolutely amazing,”
Antar said when asked about the year ahead.
“We are already being contacted by so many
educators and security experts that want to
partner with us for this program. Right now,
we are serving our local community here in
New York, but our focus for the future is to
scale this out to a regional and then national
initiative where we can continue to be a go-to
resource, sharing more insight on all things
that help improve security preparedness
across the country.”
Having the correct emergency procedures
in place and knowing how to identify risks
and the correct ways to deal with them can
make all the difference in a situation where
seconds count. With A+ Technology now
offering security preparedness seminars for
no cost to attendees, planning ahead for these
events just got a lot easier
– and that’s something we
can all get excited about.
This article originally appeared in the January 2018 issue of Campus Security Today.
About the Author
Lindsay Page is the editor for Campus Security & Life Safety magazine, and the senior editor for Security Today.