As our nation struggles to understand the issues surrounding violence in the workplace and schools and its association with increasing threats of terrorism, we all hope to find solutions that will provide us with increased security. Questions like “do we run?”, “how do we evacuate?”, “who searches and what happens in a search?”, and “how do you know the difference between a hoax and the real thing?” are all reasonable.
The reality is that in most cases we can increase our security with good planning and practice, but it is also likely we will never be able to eliminate all risks. For that reason it is imperative that we develop plans to mitigate the risk to the best of our ability. If your organization is in need of developing procedures we recommend looking at the following documents:
U.S Department of Justice - Bomb Threats in Schools by Graeme R. Newman
This is a comprehensive planning tool that will walk you through the different components of a comprehensive bomb threat procedure.
Homeland Security Bomb Threat Call Procedures Checklist
FBI and DHS Bomb Threat Guidance Brochure
ATF Document – Bomb and Physical Security Planning
The National Counterterrorism Center Evacuation Distances
Please feel free to direct additional questions to the EIA’s Loss Prevention staff.