Hardening soft targets

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MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: church safety in tense times.

In January, protestors shut down the Sunday morning service at Cities Church in Minnesota. Video of the protest has prompted some churches to reexamine their safety plans.

WORLD reporter Emma Freire has the story.

EMMA FREIRE: On a Saturday morning last fall, a church congregation in Maryland gathered for a long-scheduled security training.

SOUND SYSTEM: Lockdown, Lockdown, Lockdown

A volunteer posed as an intruder while the congregation practiced what it would be like awaiting law enforcement. Red lights flashed for a lockdown.

CHURCH LEADER: This is how the system works …

If an intruder got in, the congregation was instructed to run…

CHURCH LEADER: You gotta move fast. You gotta go as quick as possible, right? But you gotta be low and you want to get far away from here. You want to keep your eyes up.

..or fight.

CHURCH LEADER: You have to fight hard and dirty. You don't stop until the threat has stopped. Use everything at your disposal, including Bibles, candles, canes; bite them if you have to.

WORLD agreed not to name the church for security reasons. Its training occurred prior to the January 18th invasion of Cities Church in Saint Paul.

That incident has raised new security concerns around the country.

ZACH BAKER: That changed a lot of conversation for the churches.

That’s Zach Baker, who helps run a private security firm in Oregon.

Baker says the Cities Church incident broadened the scope of scenarios churches may need to consider.

BAKER: One thing that that definitely happened, was it became from theoretical to reality, not "what if this happens," but "when this is going to happen."

Security measures pose a special challenge for churches because they aim to be warm and inviting, while at the same time keeping everyone safe. Baker says a church’s budget is a big factor, and what churches spend on security can vary widely.

Baker says the lowest cost option is simply to monitor who is coming and going.

BAKER: Generally, a church is a pretty tight knit community, so you probably know everybody that's supposed to be in there, but also providing some sort of reactive time. If they're posted outside where they could see something like a mob coming to the church, they could put that security plan in place to lock down the facilities, which could be as minimal as just locking the doors.

Surveillance cameras also help. And Baker says there are reasons to consider hiring a guard.

BAKER: You're having somebody designated that's not going to be distracted by services or relationships inside the church, that can be really dedicated as those eyes and ears for the facilities.

But he acknowledges many churches won’t have the budget.

BAKER: If you were to have somebody there eight-hours-a-day, seven days a week, you're looking at probably a $100,000 annual bill.

Westminster Presbyterian Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, put security in place 15 years ago. Associate Pastor Tucker York:

YORK: I think, with just a growing awareness of churches are soft targets, there's increasing publicity of church attacks, a growing awareness of threats, dangers to children, gathering of people. So we formed a safety team.

That was about it for a decade. Now, surveillance cameras monitor inside and outside, and the safety team follows stricter policies.

YORK: Sunday morning, two services, Sunday school, usually three safety team volunteers, one observing the security cameras, the other two on patrol, engaging doorways, entrances, hallways, the parking lot.

The church provides training.

YORK: They train two or three times a year and go through various incidents; disruptive person, active assailant, medical emergency, fire escape, and they come up with scenarios.

Westminster Presbyterian has a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy when it comes to members carrying concealed weapons at church. 

Baker supports that idea, but has one warning.

BAKER: I think it's something where you'd want to verify the training of those members, making sure that it's not just somebody on a whim decided to go get a concealed handgun without any training.

York says the congregation has never seen political protesters at the church property, but there’s a plan should it happen.

YORK: They would be asked to leave, and if there was resistance, we would call the police and cite them for trespassing, and do what we can to mitigate, keep them from inturrupting service. We would not tolerate an active protest on our property or inside our facilities.

Baker, the security expert, says the Cities Church incident may have churchgoers concerned. But:

BAKER: There's always a silver lining in that, which is hopefully action, and creating those defensive measures within a church that will then give people a newfound peace of mind.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Emma Freire.

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