Faith-Based Daily Awareness Post 05 October 2023

These updates are shared to help raise the situational awareness of Faith-Based organizations to best defend against, and mitigate the impacts from all-hazards threats including physical security, cybersecurity, and natural disasters. 

State commission reviewing Virginia Beach mass shooting offers little new insight but recommends more tools for its work

WHRO Public Media reports:

“The state commission created to investigate the response to Virginia Beach’s 2019 mass shooting said in its final report that its investigation was stymied by a lack of resources and inability to interview city employees.

The report gives no further insight into the shooting or the motives of the shooter, a city engineer who opened fire in the government building where he worked. The shooter was shot and killed by Virginia Beach Police after he killed 12 people and injured 4 more.”

While the report does not provide further insight, it does provide good recommendations to prevent and respond to future incidents.

While the report is written for Virginia state legislators and government agencies, some topics and resources are relevant to Faith-Based Organizations (FBO).

The following topics from the report are relevant to FBOs:

• Emergency and fire drills (including active shooter drills)
• Up-to-date security plan ensuring annual training
• Emergency Action Plan (EAP)
• First responders’ access to all parts of building
• Regular Active Threat Response training, including Run Hide Fight
• Computer vision on closed-circuit television (CCTV)
• Report concerning comments and behaviors
• Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD)

The following resources from the report are relevant to FBOs:

• STOP THE BLEED
• FEMA’s You Are the Help Until Help Arrives
• FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute (EMI) Course | IS-904: Active Shooter Prevention: You Can Make a Difference
• CISA’s Non-Confrontational Techniques
• CISA’s Protective Security Advisors (PSA) Security Advisors
• Virginia Fusion Center
• CISA’s Pathway to Violence: Warning Signs and What You Can Do
• CISA’s Active Shooter – How to Respond Poster

Analyst Comments:

FBOs can consider the above topics and use the above links to obtain valuable resources. Members of FBOs should consider reviewing the report to learn the details of the above topics and recommendations.

The report recommended that local governments engage with regional Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD).

FB-ISAO’s August 8, 2023, Daily Awareness Post included information on VOAD. FBO should consider joining their local VOAD.

FBOs can check out the National VOAD at Homepage | VOAD (nvoad.org).