Security Teams are an essential component of any security program. Building a security team to safeguard people is crucial for any house of worship. The Faith-Based Information Sharing and Analysis Organization is hosting a series of discussions on how to effectively create, develop, and manage a security team. Participants will learn best practices, strategies, and practical tips to ensure their security team is well-equipped to handle a variety of challenges. The program sessions include:
- Is a Security Team Right For Us? And How to Approach Leadership
- Building Your Security Leadership Team
- The Importance of Risk Analysis Coupled With a Safety and Security Operations Program
- Selecting and Recruiting an Operational Team
- The skills and Ideas That Go Into Training an Operational Team
- And Finally, When a Security Team is Not Possible – What Can Be Done?
For more information about each session, please scroll down and click on + next to each session name! We continue to develop sessions in the series. More information will be provided as soon as it is available.
To register, please visit our events page.
November 6: Is a Security Team Right For Us? And How To Approach Leadership
Date: 06 November 2024
Time: 12pm ET
Is a Security Team Right for my House of Worship? This session will explore the entry points for the program – highlight the pertinent questions to be explored, introduce the key concepts and considerations, look at various approaches House of Worship and communities have taken, and how to get started on the path toward developing the appropriate security structure for your House of Worship.
- Overview to the Topic
- Outline What the Audience Can Expect
- Key Concepts and Considerations
- What Kind of Security Team is Best for My House of Worship?
- Discussions with leadership
December 4: Building Your Security Leadership Team
Date: 04 December 2024
Time: 12pm ET
Effective establishment of a security team could begin with a leadership team specifically tasked with building the foundational elements to maintain a safe and secure house of worship. A security leadership team is generally established to provide development, management, oversight, and accountability of the security program. The security leadership team delegates responsibility appropriately depending on the size, scope, and risk tolerance of the organization.
- The role of the leadership team.
- Defining the necessary functions.
- Getting the right people to participate.
- Understanding the need for identifying your operational team at a later time.
- Strategies for, and benefits of, keeping the leadership group small.
- Identifying key roles and advisory positions.
- Determine Communications and Delegation of Authorities and Responsibilities (RACI.)
- Defining a vision, mission and key performance indicators.
January 8: The Importance of Risk Analysis in the Safety & Security Program
Date: 08 January 2025
Time: 12pm ET
A sound safety and security program begins with an understanding of the organization’s risk profile. To understand the risk profile, an organization could begin with conducting an in-depth risk analysis which means asking relevant questions about risk and vulnerability and developing an understanding of the different components of risk. As each organization is unique (faith tradition, congregation size, location,) gaining a thorough understanding of the unique threat and vulnerability landscape allows an organization to move forward properly.
- The security program should address the actual threat, vulnerabilities and consequence of the unique house of worship.
- A thorough risk assessment means gaining an understanding about what could be lost in case of an incident.
- A thorough threat assessment includes gaining an understanding of what the potential threat(s) is/are and who the threat is posed by and finally how the potential threat incident could be carried out.
- A vulnerability assessment includes gaining an understanding of the organizations weaknesses and how those weaknesses could be exploited.
February 5: Selecting and Recruiting your Operational Team
Date: 05 February 2025
Time: 12pm ET
Not everyone is cut out to serve on a safety and security team. Good practices for vetting the team include designing and using an application, interviewing, and performing a background check to arrive at a good cadre of candidates. While there are no “ideal” candidates, each of us are human and are subject to associated frailties. During this session we will discuss screening potential team members for alignment with the organization’s mission and culture. Those traits can include the team members’ proper mindset, aptitude, character and disposition.
- Discuss the importance of assigning roles and responsibilities, providing for leadership coordination, deciding on the requirements for training, and incorporating the needed tools for an effective operational team.
- Discuss the distinction between an operational team and the leadership team in the context of the larger security program.
- Explore ways to leverage the leadership team’s skills and resources to build a safety and security program.
- Review the various types of operational team and how to determine what type of operational team your facility requires.
- Consider the personality attributes that may not be well suited for an operational team.
- Consider ways to resolve internal conflict, and if necessary, how to potentially remove members from the team.
