Be Careful What You Wish For

While the prospect of school shootings is horrifying over-reaction is not a solution...

In his opinion piece titled Mining Student Data Could Save Lives, Lieutenant Michael Morris of the University Police at California State University-Channel Islands thinks data mining university networks is a possible preventative to a Virginia Tech sort of scenario.

My reply to The Chronicle of Higher Education reads as follows:

Dear Lt. Morris,

I am pleased your opinion piece is just that – opinion – because if it were your department’s policy your institution would have a variety of ethical, legal, and technical hurdles to surmount. Your ideas around data mining for mental health data should have been labeled with some serious yet rudimentary caveats.

“It is a form of behavioral surveillance, and it can be used to predict, with amazing accuracy, the propensity for a person's future behavior.“

Please cite the research that demonstrates the effectiveness of data mining for the prevention of workplace and school violence.

“Although university administrators may resist the idea of passive behavioral surveillance of the campus community because of privacy considerations, the truth is that society has been systematically forfeiting its rights to online privacy…”

Individuals may choose to share personal information with service providers but that does not mean all citizens (or college students) have surrendered their constitutionally guaranteed rights (1st, 4th, 5th, and 6th amendments for starters).

“…his sweating hands firmly clutched the grips of the twin Glock 22 pistols he had ordered online.”

“…shopped online for high-powered firearms…”

While it’s tempting to lead with a lurid example they are more effective absent factual errors. As you well know, while a person might shop for firearms on-line they are purchased in highly regulated face to face transactions. In the case of handguns they cannot be purchased by persons under 21 years of age. What’s more, California citizens are further protected by a state ban on high capacity magazines.

“An important distinction would have to be made between violations of the law and violations of campus policy, and established guidelines would have to be followed to ensure the student's rights to due process.”

What shall your department do with all the other contraband you encounter during this electronic dragnet? File sharing, use of bootleg software, and possession of illegal pornography all represent violations of the law. Can you, as a law enforcement officer, overlook such items in the interest of pursuing a health and safety interest? After that, how do you propose to winnow through all the false positives to get at the potentially serious cases? Finally, given that homicidal ideation rarely results in deadly action on what grounds will your department pursue investigation, corrective action, suspension, dismissal, or involuntary treatment for thought crimes?

Gratefully workplace and school shootings are very rare. When potential cases are brought to the attention of law enforcement professionals like yourself your community can count on you to make use of every lawful means to prevent harm. Please look into the many ethical, legal, and technical impediments to your current concept. Reasoned discourse on this important topic is of great value to all. Thank you for putting your opinions out there.

Armor Bearers?

Flunkies, personal assistants, handlers, sycophants, bodyguards, or thugs?  Depends...

There was a shooting at the Greater Faith Christian Center Church in Lakeland, Florida, last Sunday. 

The attacker, Jeremiah Fogle - who was convicted of manslaughter in the shooting death of one of his six former wives - had just murdered his seventh wife in their home.  Before killing her he apparently made her compose a lengthy confession of infidelity.  He left an open bible near the body. Fogle - who had served as a deacon in the church before having a falling out with the leadership - then walked a block to the church.  He strode into the sanctuary and opened fire.  He wounded the pastor (gravely) and assistant pastor (less so) before being wrestled to the floor and disarmed.  The men who tackled Fogle were later described as "Armor Bearers."  Seems some especially important church pastors select members of their flock to serve as armor bearers.

"What the heck is an armor bearer?" I said to myself.  Actually, I know what armor bearers were, but what has the archaic phrase got to do with a little church in Middle of Nowhere, Florida?  The term "armor bearer" once described an attendant who carried an Old Testament military leader’s fighting gear until he needed it. At other times he fought alongside his boss, to the death in more than a few cases.

More than a few bible heroes had armor bearers: Jonathan (1 Samuel 14), Abimelech (Judges 9:53-54), Saul (1 Samuel 31:4), Elijah (2 Kings 3:11), and Moses (Joshua 1).  No less than David himself may have been the bible's most famous armor bearer (1 Samuel 16:21).  Jesus of Nazareth does not seem to have had any armor bearers, but after his departure his apostles selected Stephen to wait on them (Acts 6).  So, a pastor who appoints armor bearers might be accused of equating himself with the likes of Saul, Moses, or the Apostles, but not Jesus.  I could make some sort of snarky comment here, but I won't.

According to a variety of church websites and religious forums in some churches armor bearer carries the pastor’s bible and in some cases they carry firearms.  This Bronze Age concept has spawned a cottage industry.  There are books, blogs, training courses, websites, and providers of services. 

Judging from a random assortment of forums there are many people who find their pastor’s armor bearers intimidating.  Why is that?  Well, varied descriptions of the appointment, roles, responsibilities, and personal attributes speak to self aggrandizement, a cult of personality, and a preacher who thinks himself more important than the message.

Among this particular branch of the faithful there is much talk of spiritual warfare.  

"Much of Christianity today is cowering before the enemy with our entire spiritual arsenal stripped from us because we have compromised ourselves before our enemies of the faith.  What is needed today are new heroes of the faith who are willing to do great exploits by taking great risks in faith to insure the victories that are needed."

Call me a weak reed if you must, but when I hear armed bodyguards talking about their protectees as though they are Old Testament prophets and secular society, church dissidents, and would-be assassins as the personal representatives of Satan I get a serious chill.

According to the book "God’s Armor Bearer," by Terry Nance, an Armor Bearer must:

Provide strength for the leader

Have a deep-down sense of respect for the leader, and acceptance for and tolerance of, the leader’s personality and their way of doing things

Instinctively understand the leader’s thoughts

Walk in agreement with and submission to the leader

Make the advancement of the leader the most important goal

Possess endless strength so as to thrust, press and force their way onward without giving way under harsh treatment

Follow directives immediately and correctly

Be a support to the leader

Be an effective communicator

Have a disposition that will eagerly gain victories for the leader

Have the ability to minister strength and courage to the leader

Talk about a recipe for delusions of grandeur, of biblical proportions no less.  Still, if all this were only about preacher's egos, surrounding oneself with yes men, or imagining oneself a Solomon my reservations would be mostly academic.  The problem is that assassins are created by their cultures and communities.  Madness is made worse by unhealthy surroundings.  And sometimes the person you piss off is a bigger whacko than you, and a convicted killer to boot.  Dynamics that create in group/out group distinctions, perceived inequity, discomfort, fear, a sense of helplessness, or an abusive or toxic work (or worship) environment can confound attempts to manage a workplace violence threat. 

We don’t have any reason to believe such issues apply to this case (Fogle was a former deacon not an armor bearer), but then we don't yet know much about the power relationships at Greater Faith Christian Center Church. I expect we will learn more about this sad case.  I predict - unhappily - that it will prove even uglier than it currently appears.

Another Dumb Terror Plot Foiled

Massachusetts Man Charged in Plot to Bomb Pentagon Using Model Airplane...

You'd think our domestic jihadi wannabes would have learned by now that anyone who encourages them to pursue their stupid plan and offers them all the cash they need to do so, a pile of C4 explosive, and a mess of AK47 assault rifles is almost certainly an FBI informant.  Oh well, best they lock up this fellow before he begins running with scissors or refusing to wash his hands after visiting the restroom.

Don't Shoot!

Another book for the reading list...

Don't Shoot: One Man, a Street Fellowship, and the End of Violence in Inner-City America By David M. Kennedy is generating some serious pre-publication buzz.  I look forward to learning more because most everything we've tried so far isn't working very well.  Thanks to Safegrowth blog for the heads up. 

The Sky Continues To Fall

By the way, Bill Whitmore has a new book out...

From Security Info Watch by way of ASIS Security Management Daily:

"AlliedBarton chairman looks at how to stem tide of workplace violence

by Steve Lasky, Editor-in-Chief, Security Technology Executive magazine

Sept. 21, 2011, Orlando, Fla. -- Distraught employees are injuring or killing co-workers and supervisors at an alarming rate. Customer rage is at an all-time high. Domestic violence has spilled over into the workplace. And it’s not that these incidents are getting more media coverage – the Center for Disease Control has officially classified workplace violence as a national epidemic."

My reply (to the comments section and in an email):

But Workplace Homicide Is At An All Time Low

Steve,

I'm not sure which BLS report you or Mr. Whitmore read but according to http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/cfch0008.pdf workplace homicide numbers are at the lowest point since they were first tracked in 1992. Even if they weren't your unusually lurid opening paragraph fails to mention that fully 75% of all homicides at work are perpetrated by outsiders during robberies of retail and service establishments. http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/work_hom.pdf  Death at the hands of coworkers (and former coworkers), clients (including patients), and family and friends (especially including estranged abusers) represents the remaining 25% of the 542 workplace murders in 2009. Is that too many? Absolutely. There are certainly many important issues to resolve. Robbery prevention and survival training, cab driver safety, assault prevention in healthcare and social services settings, humane management practices, prohibitions against horseplay, zero tolerance for bullying and all other forms of harassment, quality mental health benefits, screening and treatment for depression, and suicide prevention are elements an organization may draw upon to create a workplace violence prevention and response program that meets its business needs. Hyperbole and hysteria have no place in the security professional’s approach to this important issue.

UPDATE: By the way, I'd appreciate it if someone would show me precisely where the CDC has "officially classified workplace violence as a national epidemic."

All that said, while I disdain fear-based marketing, I do look forward to seeing what Potential: Workplace Violence Prevention and Your Organizational Success has to say, especially if our C-level bosses and clients are going to be reading it.

REUPDATE: My review of Potential will be published in the April 2012 issue of The Workplace Violence Prevention eReport.