Physical Security

As a volcano on one of the Spanish Canary Islands has its first major eruption in 50 years, spewing a steady stream of lava, roughly 6,000 residents evacuate the island and emergency workers continue to try to divert the lava’s flow from reaching the ocean and destroying more of the island.  

The agency announced it will develop rules for U.S. employers in an effort to mitigate the potential hazards of hot working conditions.

Security personnel are on alert and warning of the potential for violence ahead of a rally on Saturday to support people involved in the 6 January riot at the U.S. Capitol.

The International Criminal Court approved opening an investigation into crimes that may have been committed in the Philippines during its drug war, as allegations arise of thousands of civilian murders under Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration. 

Saturday marks the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks that led to a turning point in the security profession and the beginning of America's longest war in Afghanistan.

Although 2020 already saw an increase in motor vehicle deaths, the first half of 2021 hosts an even higher number of fatalities as more people return to regular driving, according to a preliminary report from the National Safety Council. 

A man thought to be inspired by ISIS stabbed six people in an Auckland, New Zealand, grocery store before being shot and killed by a police surveillance team.

The FBI received reports of more than 10,000 offenses that were motivated by bias against race, gender, sexuality, religion, or disability in 2020, and the number of crimes against Asian and Black Americans surged 70 and 40 percent, respectively.

Two out of five generators at a Thibodaux Regional Health Systems hospital failed during the power outage, and hospital staff were forced to move patients—including critical care COVID-19 patients—down stairwells to functional areas of the hospital.

Because so many officers were pressing their panic buttons, their colleagues couldn’t respond to all calls and had to prioritize, one law enforcement official told the Associated Press.

The U.S. military completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan on 31 August, marking the end of America’s longest war and a new era for the nation now under Taliban control.

The latest surge of wildfires pushing through parts of Greece, Italy, Spain, and Turkey are now threatening areas near Greece’s capital. Residents of both Athens and the nearby island of Evia were forced to flee from the flames.  

Four suspects were arrested on weapons and drug charges this weekend at a hotel one block from the Denver stadium hosting the Major Leagues Baseball All-Star Game.

Learn about the latest projects, installations, mergers, acquisitions, and announcements from the security industry.

While 14 U.S. government agencies use non-federal facial recognition systems to support criminal investigations, only one agency reported awareness of which non-federal systems are used by employees.

There is never a slow week in security. Here’s a quick rundown of some of the major stories we’re following into the weekend.

An independent public inquiry into the mass attack at a 2017 Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, concluded this week that there were “serious shortcomings” in security that enabled a suicide bomber to carry out his attack.

A court fined Ikea France and gave a suspended sentence to the company’s former top executive resulting from a decade-old case of intensively investigating employees, unions, and customers.

The Senate report found that the USCP and federal authorities, including the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Defense, and Department of Justice, failed to communicate potential threats, leaving USCP officers unprepared and lacking much-needed support during the 6 January attack on the Capitol.

On 10 June 1917, the first U.S. signals intelligence agency was formed and dubbed MI-8. Their mission: to decode military communications and create codes for the U.S. military to use.

Despite a patchwork of quick-changing, country-by-country restrictions, pent-up demand shows leisure travel is poised for recovery while business travel plans continue to lag.

The incident late last month in South Africa was captured by a dashcam and illustrates the danger that private security personnel face.

Learn about the latest projects, installations, mergers, acquisitions, and announcements from the security industry.

A gunman opened fire at a FedEx warehouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Thursday night, killing eight people and injuring five others. Authorities said they believe the suspect shot himself and died at the scene.

Like his predecessor Allan Pinkerton and his successor at the Bureau of Investigation, J. Edgar Hoover, William J. Burns was a master of self-promotion. He had an instinct for publicity that magnified the major cases he investigated.

A train derailed in Taiwan early Friday morning, killing at least 50 people and injuring 150 others in one of the worst disasters in the country in decades.

Learn about the latest projects, installations, mergers, acquisitions, and announcements from the security industry

Mass kidnappings have skyrocketed in Nigeria, with victims primarily abducted from schools to pressure entire communities to pay ransoms. This new model is highly lucrative for attackers and risks devaluing each abductee's life.

“The pandemic has been especially hard on women and girls. This is the most discriminatory crisis we have ever experienced,” says Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.

Up to 150,000 security cameras installed in schools, hospitals, factories, and businesses were compromised, giving outsiders access to video from Tesla factories, prisons, psychiatric hospitals, and more.

Spurred on by the desire to ensure resumption of safe travel, the development of vaccine passports presents wider possible uses and numerous complications.

The United States is again facing a shortage of authentic medical grade masks for hospitals, while fraudulent masks seep into the market and U.S. producers deal with lingering stockpiles.

More than 1,600 public water systems or wastewater treatments systems in the United States are exempt from regulations that would require them to implement certain security measures, posing potential risks, a watchdog report finds.

Armed protests are being planned at all 50 U.S. state capitols and at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., through at least inauguration day on 20 January, according to an internal FBI bulletin.

Typically in Today in Security, we focus on one topic and provide additional analysis for our security practitioner audience. But this week has been anything but typical, so we decided to put together a rundown of stories we’ve been following throughout the week and that you might have missed.

“They should have been able to deal with this, but I think it boils down to ‘Fail to plan, plan to fail,'" says Martin Herman, president and CEO of Special Response Corporation.

The sixth edition of Handbook of Loss Prevention and Crime Prevention draws on the expertise of more than 25 contributors to survey the security field.

Drones must broadcast identification information and meet regulations in order to fly over people.

U.S. Air Force demonstrates quadrupedal unmanned ground vehicles—robot dogs—to be deployed in a security function at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida.

Drugmakers are in a rush to the finish line as two companies announced early results from COVID-19 vaccine tests so far this month.

Violence escalated sharply yesterday in Nigeria after protesters were reportedly shot by members of the Nigerian army in Lekki, a suburb of Lagos. Witnesses told the BBC that 12 people had been killed.

Throughout the 1860s and 70s, Pennsylvania and West Virginia coalmines were terrorized by a series of violent assaults, arsons, and murders, blamed on a secret society of Irish immigrants called the Molly Maguires.

In 1910, dynamite planted outside the Los Angeles Times building sparked a natural gas explosion that killed 21, injured scores, and set the U.S. labor union movement back years.

The U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee determined that the two Boeing 737 Max plane crashes were the “horrific” result of flawed technical assumptions, “a lack of transparency” from the company’s leadership, and insufficient oversight by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Hurricane Sally has made landfall and is crawling along the northeast at less than 5 miles per hour, dumping up to 30 inches of rain in certain places on its way.

The Christiana Riot of 1851 pitted abolitionists and African Americans against a posse of slave hunters, further polarizing the national debate over slavery and the role of security forces.

Mass murderer and white supremacist Brenton Tarrant was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for killing 51 people and injuring dozens more when he shot at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.

In response to the growing threat of violent reactions to retail workers’ requests for customers to follow pandemic rules, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released guidance for retail employees and businesses on how to mitigate their workplace violence risk while preventing the spread of COVID-19.

Four U.S. government agencies issued a guidance document designed to help public and private entities navigate the legal space of detecting and mitigating security threats posed by drones.

Lightning from a rare summer thunderstorm sparked several new small blazes in northern California and stoked a huge blaze that threatens more than 4,500 buildings in the area around the Angeles National Forest.

Death tolls from COVID-19 in the United States have reached a record high since mid-May, according to new data.

Local leaders and school administrators struggle to understand how to best keep students and staff safe as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.

U.S. President Donald Trump and the Department of Justice announced on Wednesday that federal law enforcement agents will be sent to more cities, including Chicago and Albuquerque. The cities' leaders are at least skeptical, if not flat-out opposed, to the decision.

On 16 June, Pacific Gas & Electric pled guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter for its role in the 2018 Camp Fire. The plea deal means a $3.5 million fine but no jail time for executives of California's largest utility provider.

Use of federal force without an invitation from state governors would likely require invocation of the Insurrection Act of 1807.

Protests over the killing of George Floyd and other black Americans escalated sharply this weekend as curfews imposed in nearly 40 cities were largely ignored, leading to tension and clashes with law enforcement.

Tropical Storm Cristobal is the third named Atlantic storm of 2020, popping up only three days into this year's hurricane season.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order to allow private businesses to deny people entry if they are not wearing facial coverings or masks.

Minneapolis deals with violent protests erupting in response to the death of George Floyd.

Civil unrest and defiance of stay home orders are spreading in the United States as the response to the coronavirus becomes increasingly politicized across the nation.

To bring order to chaos in the immediate aftermath of a crisis, put the focus where it is need most: the staff and people affected.

Male security guards working in the United Kingdom are at significant risk of dying from COVID-19, according to the U.K. Office for National Statistics (ONS).

On 7 May 1945, celebrations have begun throughout Europe. Years earlier, however, the race to collect intelligence had begun—coupled with counterintelligence measures—key determinants in deciding who would win World War II.

In a Family Dollar in Flint, Michigan, officer was shot and killed after barring a customer who was not wearing a face covering as mandated by the state’s governor.

The National Safety Council announced the creation of a task force this week to provide best practices for employee safety and returning to work amidst the coronavirus pandemic.

As hurricane season nears and severe weather looms, authorities are grappling with the realities of responding to a natural disaster mid-pandemic.

The quake was strong and widely felt, but given its distance from population centers, no casualties or major damage has been reported so far.

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson tested positive for COVID-19 to close out a week where the number of confirmed cases has risen drastically worldwide, placing increasing pressure on leaders to take action to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

After initially denying involvement in the attacks, an Australian white supremacist pleaded guilty to killing 51 attendants at two New Zealand mosques in 2019.

Technology components manufacturers are primary targets for warranty fraud, but new data-crunching technology may be able to help.

Little remains unknown after an employee walked onto the Molson Coors campus on Wednesday afternoon and began shooting, killing five coworkers before killing himself.

A Kansas City firm is touting its sensor-filled AI security robot—"We find ourselves constantly humanizing him," says the company’s VP.

Thousands of people from all over the world are headed to Miami this weekend for Super Bowl LIV to watch the Kansas City Chiefs battle the San Francisco 49ers on the field.

Kenya is suffering its worst desert locust infestation in 70 years, and the swarms are threatening to spread further into East Africa and threaten the region's food security.

Dozens of people treated for skin irritation after passenger plane dumped fuel to reduce landing weight.

Early reports indicated no U.S. casualties in the strikes, which were in retaliation for the killing of Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani.

New York announces $45 million grant program for security at religious schools and institutions after rash of anti-Semitic attacks.

In response to catastrophic, ongoing bushfires, 3,000 reservists have been called up to assist in firefighting and evacuations in Australia—the largest military deployment on the continent since World War II.

The United States confirmed it launched a drone strike that killed Qasem Soleimani, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force.

A new report calls for immediate aid to improve security and prevent future attacks at houses of worship and faith-based communities.

The internationalization of far-right threats and tension between the Persian Gulf countries rank as the top two security risks for companies in 2020, according to a new risk forecast.

'Tis the season for holiday shopping and thieves snooping around your doorstep. With U.S. consumers expected to spend about $136 billion in online purchases between 1 November and 31 December, a 13 percent increase from what was spent during that same period in 2018, package thefts are on our minds as over 30 percent of shoppers have reported a theft happening within the past year.

Protests against a citizenship law turned violent this weekend in India as police used force inside two university campuses, injuring more than 100 students.

Retailers continue to face serious challenges from organized retail crime, which averaged more than $700,000 per $1 billion in sales in 2019, a new survey found.

Two attackers who killed four in a New Jersey shootout seemed to be targeting the kosher market where the violence took place.

In new Hong Kong developments, Taiwan stands ready to assist those who want to leave Hong Kong and two homemade bombs with significant explosive capacity were found.

Officials are treating the shooting, which left three dead and eight wounded, as an act of terrorism and are investigating whether the gunman was working as part of a larger network.

Uber released its first U.S. safety report this week—the only report of its kind for the rideshare industry, examining incidents of sexual assault, physical assault/murder, and motor vehicle fatalities in 2017 and 2018.

Tens of thousands of people protesting in Paris and other French cities led to a shut down of the Eiffel Tower and the country's high-speed train system, as well as clashes with police.

Death toll estimates for recent protests range from roughly 200 to more than 400, making it the country’s deadliest unrest in 40 years.

Days after large-scale protests, the French government unveiled a multimillion euro plan to address domestic violence, including electronic tracking bracelets for abusers and prevention programs in schools.

A new study of the U.S. private security services market predicts continued growth in overall guarding revenue for the next few years.

International universities are recalling exchange students as Hong Kong protests escalate on college campuses.

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation released the Lone Offender Terrorism Report, looking at the people and events surrounding the 52 attacks that have occurred since 1972.

U.S. Attorney General William Barr released a new plan to reduce gun violence and enforce existing federal firearms laws across the country.

Most students who committed deadly school attacks over the past decade were bullied, had a history of disciplinary trouble, and concerned others with their behavior—but that behavior was never reported, according to a U.S. Secret Service study.

With the homicide rate continuing to rise in Washington, D.C., officials are implementing a 70 percent increase in the surveillance camera program.