CHURCH & MUSQUE

Keeping Your Congregation Safe

Church is supposed to be a safe place, a refuge a place where everybody from the local community can leave their troubles at the door to join together in fellowship. However, churches have been subject to shootings and violent crime with increasing frequency, and the fear that this inspires can sometimes prevent churches from fulfilling their mission.

In the wake of tragedies like the shooting in Churches, the threat that violent crime poses to churches is unprecedented. However, there are many other types of security concerns that are both more likely, and more preventable that also need to be taken into consideration. Topping the list of these threats are physical/sexual abuse, kidnapping, theft of property/information, and vandalism.

We will walk through practical steps you can take to ensure the safety of everybody who walks through your doors, from young to old, and preserve the church s place as a refuge from the outside world.

Systems to keep your place of worship safe

Safety Codx can provide many types of security technology to protect your church, and we ll design our systems around its unique environment. We ll work with you to find the best solution whilst ensuring we take great care. We won t drill unnecessary holes, interfere with d cor or put security on display to disturb your congregation. We will be discreet but effective   wireless systems are perfect for this.

-Implement An Effective Communication System: One of the best and easiest things you can do to manage potential threats to your church is to develop an effective and reliable system for communication. 

-Perform Thorough Background Checks For All Church Staff & Volunteers: No churches in the country conduct complete background checks on prospective staff members. This is a major security gap, as these staff members will be responsible for the safety of your entire congregation, including the children. It s extremely important that you know exactly who you are hiring, so be sure that you choose an experienced firm to perform your background checks for you.

-Create An Air-Tight Check-In System For Children: The children are the most vulnerable members of your congregation, and losing track of one of them is a disaster! How do you identify a child s custodial parent or guardian? You need to develop an air-tight system to keep track of the exact location of each child at any given time. It s a good idea to consider investing in special security software to help you with this task.

-Install Security Cameras: Installing security cameras is one of the most basic things you can do to manage the security of your church s campus; they come with a wide array of benefits. Your security cameras should be plainly visible; this will serve as deterrence, and help reassure your congregation that they are in a safe place. Security cameras also enable your security staff to monitor your church more efficiently.

-CCTV - Church security cameras allow you to see live and recorded footage, inside and outside the building. We can also provide the option to view your church video camera remotely, for peace of mind when you re not there.

-Have Easily-Visible Security Personnel During ServicesThis is especially important in large  mega-churches  that draw large crowds every week. Whether you hire private security staff, or off-duty police officers from your congregation.

-Control Access To Your Church's: An  open door policy  is important in a church, but don t take that expression too literally! The locks on your doors are tools that should be used strategically to manage the flow of traffic in and out of your building. Ideally, you should only open as many doors as is absolutely necessary, and those doors should be monitored.

-Put Together Volunteer Triage Teams: You might consider assembling a team of medical professionals (doctors, nurses, EMTs, etc.) from you congregation to act as first responders in case of a medical emergency or violent crime. They should be prepared to provide medical care until the paramedics arrive at the scene. Remember that your church might be liable if any harm comes to members of your congregation while they are in your church.

-Have Emergency Kits Readily Available: On that subject, it s a good idea to prepare emergency kits in case of an incident. These kits should be placed in strategic locations, and should include all the equipment you might need in the event of an emergency. To start with, you should throw in additional radio equipment, maps of the building, and reflective vests. You might even consider including supplies to keep children calm during an emergency, like blankets and snacks.

-Devise A Solid Emergency Action Plan, And Train Your Staff Accordingly: Last, but certainly not least, you must develop an emergency action plan for every possible scenario that could put your congregation in harm s way. These plans should be written clearly, and be readily available to your staff at any point. These emergency action plans should also be the subject of intense training for all of your church s staff.

-Churches fire safety - As well as providing security for churches, we can ensure you are best prepared to deal with the threat of fire. Fires can be caused accidentally by naked flames and faulty electrical equipment, or intentionally by arson. We ll advise on fire detection systems and extinguishing equipment to offer early detection of fire and ways to reduce losses. Fire systems can be linked to your intruder alarm system to safeguard your church from fire risk.

-Intruder alarm systems - Systems to deter thieves and raise the alarm in the event of intrusion. Individual artefacts and assets can be protected as part of this system using vibration sensors and similar devices.

-Roof alarm - With lead theft one of the biggest concerns for churches, one of the most commonly requested solutions are roof security systems. A roof alarm can be integrated with your intruder alarm to notify you if these areas are under threat from thieves.

-Escape of water detection - Integrating the intruder alarm system with moisture sensors to alert to any sudden ingress of water, caused by a leak or flood.

-Wireless technology - Many of our systems are wireless which means there s not need to use extensive cabling to connect systems together. We can avoid disturbing delicate brickwork and help to protect hard-to-reach areas e.g. the rectory or vestry.

-Monitoring services - allow us to link your system to specified keyholders, 24/7 Surveillance roon and or the Police for 24-hour response.

-Panic buttons - Can be linked to the intruder alarm and installed at specified locations. Panic buttons are ideal for the personal safety of clergy, children in the church, wardens and maintenance staff who may be lone-working.

We also provide the following Security services.

Take The First Step Towards Keeping Your congregation Safe Schedule your free consultation and security 
risk assessment with Safety Codx Service Group today! We are here to help!