ELERTS Blog

The threat of workplace violence can create toxic stress

This month we’ve had the advantage of exhibiting at a couple of intriguing events on each coast, most notably the ASIS International Security EXPO in Boxborough, MA. The keynote speaker, Felix Nater, who specializes in making organizations safe and developing non-violent workplaces through situational awareness, spoke on “Combating the Threat of Violence in the Workplace through Robust, Agile: and Collaborative Leadership.” Felix spoke to a hall packed with security experts and … Continue Reading

Blue Lights are security placebos, not real security. Yet these obsolete systems still occupy college campuses nationwide, and are used as symbols of “campus safety”.

Blue Lights. Great for Kmart. Not for public safety.

Public safety is an important aspect of any campus.  College tours emphasize safety to nervous parents, concerned about their high school seniors leaving home.

Blue Lights are obsolete and should be removed from campuses.

Visiting parents are directed toward the towering symbol of campus safety, the Blue Light.  Here we are told how the Blue Light will … Continue Reading

CMAS Alert: Civil Emergency in this area until 1:24 PM EST. Take Shelter Now. U.S. Govern popped up on mobile phones in New Jersey yesterday.  No need to panic, this was apparently part of a poorly run test of CMAS in the garden state. And the test results were not good.

While some blogs and headlines proclaim the alert “freaked out New Jersey”, that’s hyperbole and exactly what did not happen.  One report says 911 call centers got 172 calls during the one hour period from noon to 1 … Continue Reading

Heading into the 10 year anniversary of the largest terrorist attack on US, we learn there may be

See Something, Say Something

another attack planned to explode vehicles during the memorial weekend, in DC or NYC.  An informant claims that  2 or more men, reportedly dispatched by Al Qaeda, left Afghanistan and entered the United States with the intent to detonate bombs hidden inside cars or trucks.

In New York and Washington DC, the public has been put on a cautionary-heightened alert.  Extra police are on patrol.  … Continue Reading

Quake rattles buildings

Today we experienced a 5.9 quake at the ELERTS office in Massachusetts.

Our building swayed and shook for about 20 seconds, as did many east coast buildings.  No alarm was sounded.  No evacuation orders given. Building management had no way to communicate with tenants, to give instructions.  There was a failure to communicate inside a defined structure, our building, which was experiencing stress.  Fortunately, this quake didn’t cause serious damage.

Earthquakes are not the norm in Massachusetts.  But unusual events can be the most dangerous.  … Continue Reading

What a great example of a watchful person on the street stopping a crime by taking a photo with his smartphone.

Bank Robber stopped by iPhone

As a bank robbery was about to go down, a 23 year old man who was outside on a break, saw the robber dressed in a wig.  Ed G.  discretely photographed the would-be-robber using his iPhone.  It was the quick actions of this smartphone user that brought police to the scene immediately and stopped the bank robbery.

This robbery was happening … Continue Reading

Post Mortem vs. Active Crime Interception

One need look no further than London, the city with perhaps the most CCTV (closed circuit television) security cameras in the world, to realize fixed-mount cameras are useful as “rewind” devices, to go back and review how a crime or event happened.  But are these fixed-mount, always-filming, cameras the best model for detecting events before or when they occur?

CCTV recording everything

Fixed-mount security cameras are non-discriminating in what they record; everything within their focus capability is captured.  That is … Continue Reading

You’re settling into your seat on the train.  You look across the aisle and see a large bag on the floor. An “unattended” bag. You’ve heard “if you see something, say something,” but who do you call?

Unattended bag

If you are on a New Jersey Transit train, you can send a text message to 65873 and report a suspected terrorist situation. “Text Against Terror” is promoted on signs on the trains, and urges people to act and report suspicious activity. Announced in June, it is … Continue Reading

Chris Russo at Stanford University

In NYC today, near the site of a defining event in US history, the US Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA) announced they are soon going live with a new system to send emergency alerts to mobile phones in select geographic areas. The events of 9/11 put emergency notification systems to the ultimate test…and those systems failed. As a first responder who took part in recovery efforts, I saw the consequences of failure.

We at ELERTS commend the efforts and intentions of FEMA … Continue Reading