AST Digital Magazine October 2017 Digital-Oct | Page 30

Volume 17
October 2017 Edition
where very little exists in the way of hardware or
visible means of entrance control.
John P. Torres, Guidepost Solutions
In his article “Active Shooters are Meticulous
Planners – Are You?”, John P. Torres of Guide-
post Solutions makes an excellent case support-
ing the need for thorough detailed planning for
such incidents.
Meanwhile we at Automatic Systems have care-
fully studied the role that a properly planned and
executed entrance control design/implementa-
tion strategy can play in helping to deter the pos-
sibility of such an incident.
(Law enforcement official says gunman killed 1, injured mul-
tiple people before killing self. Courtesy of Fox News and
YouTube. Posted on Jun 30, 2017)
These soft targets have limited security
measures to protect the public.
Evidence suggests that the largest proportion
occur in workplaces where no visible entrance
control system is in place.
We know that thorough and correct
preparation for an active shooter inci-
dent can help in two ways:
1. Deterring a would-be shooter, and
2. Responding effectively, to minimize impact in
case the unthinkable occurs under our watch
In this article we focus pr imarily on the deter-
rence rather than response, although there is an
important role that an entrance control plays with
regards to emergency egress – getting our folks
out of a building smoothly and efficiently in case
of emergency.
According to the FBI, statistics show that most
active shooter incidents happen at locations
where there is minimal impediment to attack –
With the rapid increase in active shooter incidents, security
design professionals are exploring ways to provide safety
while complying with the business mission.
Optical turnstiles with swinging glass or retract-
ing glass barriers, mechanical turnstiles, and por-
tals, offer an enhanced level of security against
active shooter incidents, especially when com-
bined with security doors, surveillance video, se-
curity officers and access control systems.
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