Enhanced Non-Lethal Security Blog

The school shooting in Mississippi at Delta State University that resulted in the death of history professor Ethan Schmidt is another reminder that violence can strike anywhere at anytime. The small town of Cleveland, Mississippi is the last place you'd expect an active shooter situation to force a school into lock down, but that was the same sentiment in places like Sandy Hook, Columbine, and even Blacksburg.

And while the investigation is ongoing and a suspect has yet to be found as of this posting, there are some universal truths about violence we know:

• Violence knows no geographic boundaries.
• It does not discriminate based on population and is not independent of socioeconomic status.
• It is a cancer that can sometimes spring up where we least expect it, and it is surely difficult to eliminate from our existence.

Human history is riddled with it, but I believe there are still hallowed locations that should be untouched by it and immune from it.

• Violence should never be able to encroach on our children's schools, regardless of whether it is student-on-student, student-on-staff, or staff-on-staff aggression.
• It should never rear its head in a care facility where medical staff are sworn to do no harm.
• It should stray far from places of worship where hands should only lift in praise and not victimized surrender.

If you scour the Internet for private security stories, a recent one out of Utah should have caught your eye. It may have also made you cringe a bit...at least, I hope it did.

Here's the gist:

• A male subject walks into a Driver License Office. 
• During his transaction with one of the clerks, an argument ensues.
• The subject is asked to leave and initially complies until he comes back into the facility to continue the argument.
• An armed private security officer confronts the subject and a hands-on struggle breaks out.
• At some point during the fight, the guard's weapon discharges while both subjects are struggling on the ground.
• Thankfully, the bullet did not hit anyone and the aggressor ceased his violent behavior after the accidental discharge (AD).

Guardian 8's Pro V2 Enhanced Non-Lethal device was featured on our local ABC affiliate during yesterday's evening newscast on three separate occasions! The station was conducting a story on school violence, and reporter Joe pinned us as a great solution to the problem. We made sure to emphasize the Pro V2's value to hospitals, private security, and other industries, too, and we're glad Joe mentioned it in the story.

The deplorable acts of violence by a disgruntled gunman last week in Virginia really rattled my cage.

I was actually in Virginia for a training class, watching the local news in my hotel room that morning. I left about 15 minutes prior to the on-air incident, so I was as shocked as anyone when I heard what happened.

Rightfully so, the story got national (and international) attention. Over the past week we've continued to hear stories about the gunman's troubled past, especially as it relates to some of his aggressive, confrontational, and accusatory behaviors. He obviously made a lot of his former coworkers uncomfortable and even frightened. In hindsight, of course, we can clearly understand why those fears were warranted and valid. 

While on a phone call this morning with a ranking official from a healthcare facility in Ohio, we learned about an incident in which a security officer at the facility successfully deployed a Pro V2 unit to de-escalate a potentially violent incident.

At first, we assumed that the officer recognized a potential threat and then drew and armed the Pro V2 to gain compliance. When we learned the full story, we were even more excited that the device did exactly what it was designed to do and that the officer utilized quick thinking under pressure to protect himself and others from harm.

Here's the scoop:

Do you remember when you got your first smartphone?

If you're anything like me, making the transition from a perfectly functional flip phone to a seemingly foreign handheld computer came with a side of apprehension. I had to overcome not only the hurdle of the increased price point of the smartphone, but also the mindset that I didn't "need" a phone that could handle email, web browsing, music storage, app purchases, and a host of other capabilities. At the time, it was difficult to imagine that what I thought was a luxury item could be an actual need.

But now, many years later, I'm probably like a lot of you reading this article. It's hard to imagine life without a smartphone. So much of my (and our) world revolves around being able to access information and communicate with others instantaneously in many different ways. Put simply, what was once a luxury has indeed become a need based on how the world has changed.

But what does the smartphone culture have to do with the security industry?