Today, ‘active shooter’ incidents are at the top of everyone’s mind in American.
We are hard pressed to make it through a day without media outlets describing graphic details of the most recent event.
Just this morning, a woman shot and killed three people at a drugstore distribution center in Harford County, Maryland, before shooting herself in the head twice in an apparent suicide attempt, officials report.
Fear of active shooter threats are real, pervasive and debilitating, leaving countless lives encumbered by uncertainty and fear.
(A shooter killed three people and wounded two others at a drugstore distribution center in Harford County, Maryland, officials said. Courtesy of CNN and YouTube. Posted on Sep 20, 2018.)
On average it takes 6-8 minutes for law enforcement to arrive on the scene and by then much of the damage has already been done.
Developing a preparedness mindset is a foundation for understanding what happens when an ordinary day turns into an extraordinary one, and identifies the decisions that need to be made, including what to do when law enforcement arrives.
Active threats can and do happen where we work, where we learn, where we worship, where we serve and where we play.
Active Threat Readiness (ATR) training educates, engages and empowers individuals to recognize threats, act without hesitation and replace fear with confidence.
Kiernan Group Holdings, a Platinum Award Winner in the 2017 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Program, and a strong competitor in the 2018 ‘ASTORS’ Program, believes that individuals are always the initial responders in a catastrophic event and can be better prepared to change the outcome when an ordinary day turns into an extraordinary one.
GOT PREPAREDNESS?
Develop Skills in Awareness, Preparedness, Response and Recovery
Preparedness Without Paranoia®
KGH’s Preparedness Without Paranoia® approach provides education and training for individuals to gain a heightened situational awareness and understanding of today’s multidimensional threat environment, recognize telltale signs of an evolving threat, and become empowered to take effective action without hesitation.
By replacing confusion with clarity, KGH training prepares participants and organizations to mitigate the unseen costs of what has become a national crisis-immeasurable health, social, and economic consequences.
The approach is non-tactical by design. It is complementary to the tactical concepts and operations employed by first responders. Those brave men and women who deliberately run towards danger not away.
The Preparedness Without Paranoia® approach prepares individuals for the spectrum of active threats faced in public and social environments and equips them with the confidence to Prepare, Respond, and Recover in these situations.
(Learn More about KGH’s Preparedness Without Paranoia™ (PWP) training, courtesy of Kiernan Group Holdings (KGH) and YouTube.)
KGH’s Preparedness Without Paranoia® approach fosters an educated, engaged, and resilient public.
Individuals will gain a heightened situational awareness to:
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Understand today’s multidimensional threat environment,
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Recognize telltale signs of an evolving threat,
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Empower people to take effective action, and
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Understand how to recover and resume one’s daily activities in an effective manner
“I developed Preparedness Without Paranoia (PWP) because violence is no longer a rarity nor confined to any type or place of business,” explains Dr. Kathleen Kiernan, Chief Executive Officer of Kiernan Group Holdings (KGH), and a 29 year veteran of federal law enforcement with the ATF.
Active threat incidents can happen anywhere, to anyone, at any time: where we work, where we serve, where we learn, where we worship, and even where we play, as evidenced by the grievous attacks in mass gathering venues where families go to relax and be entertained.
The second and third order effects on society are incalculable from a human suffering perspective, as families never fully heal.
From a socioeconomic perspective, the impacts on commerce resonate across the critical infrastructure community in terms of the hotel and travel industry, long-term health care, job loss and an undercurrent of uncertainty when making decisions on personal and corporate security.
Perspectives on security have shifted as the routine assumptions that a military base or other “hard target” would preclude the opportunity for an assailant to gain access, as we have painfully learned, is no longer viable.
Mitigating this evolving threat environment from a citizen/practitioner level through education on preparedness of both individuals and organizations is at the core of KGH’s business model.
KGH expects to see more hybrid-type attacks like those using vehicles that are re-purposed into weapons as well as a new hybrid warfare which employs multiple weapon systems to include a combination of physical and cyber-attacks.
Firearms, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and knives have long been the weapons of choice for terrorists, but in what has become their latest warfare tactic motor vehicles are being weaponized as their instruments of attack against pedestrians.
While this tactic has long been used in conflict zones such as in the Middle East and elsewhere), it is relatively new in the West, including the United States.
During the 2016 – 2017 period, for example, in Western Europe, the United States, and Canada, based on a rough estimate, 12 of the 27 multiple-casualty terrorist attacks, in which two or more casualties were inflicted, have employed trucks, vans or cars that are intentionally driven into public crowds, sometimes over long stretches before the attacks are terminated, usually through crashes.
(On October 31, 2017, Islamist terrorist Sayfullo Saipov intentionally drove a rented pickup truck into cyclists and runners for one mile of the Hudson River Park‘s bike path in Lower Manhattan, in a vehicle-ramming attack the killed eight people, and injured eleven others. Courtesy of Fox News and YouTube. Posted on Oct 31, 2017.)
At times, the attackers’ violence continues when they flee their vehicles and inflict further damage on pedestrians, using hand-held weapons.
The KGH team continues to monitor, research, and analyze vehicle ramming and other emerging hybrid scenarios and platforms to identify the adversarial technology adaptation cycle.
Understanding the tactics, techniques and procedures (TTP’s) used by active assailants results in state of practice training and services for our clients.
Often, the means to an attack include the adversarial exploitation of routine behavior and process when expectations of threats are low, for instance, attending an open-air event or riding a bicycle on a city street.
“These are precisely the kinds of threats that are often hidden in plain sight, invisible to the untrained eye,” says Dr. Kiernan.
“KGH specializes in training individuals and organizations on how to identify these hidden threats and what to do when they are identified.”
“When individuals are prepared, they are also confident and capable of responding quickly and appropriately; if they have planned, practiced and, most importantly, accepted the fact that violence can occur anywhere, they will know how to respond,” says Dr. Kiernan.
She added: “I like to think of it as seeing with one’s ears, and hearing with one’s eyes, a variation on sensory perceptions which can refine cognitive abilities and identify early indicators of anomalous behavior.”
Three types of attacks which repurpose vehicles as weapons:
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Type 1 – the vehicles are intentionally driven into public crowds to cause as many casualties as possible
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Type 2 – the vehicles ram into crowds and the driver gets out and uses hand-held weapons to attack bystanders and first responders, and
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Type 3 – the vehicles are used to breach a hardened target’s security to conduct a further attack within its compound
“Security is now a personal responsibility” explains Dr. Kiernan.
“Security sense is really just common sense.”
“Everyone, from the kitchen table to the boardroom table should take the opportunity to learn about techniques that can enhance their situational awareness and preparedness” and employ these skills regularly.”
“As kids, we all learned security lessons about danger, danger from passing cars, fire, strangers, sharp or hot objects and we retain those lessons throughout life.”
“These new lessons are not all that different.”
“Preparedness Without Paranoia™ (PWP) is predicated on the fact that understanding the modern threat environment and training for the worst-case scenario does not have to be an intimidating or overwhelming task.”
“From small businesses to Fortune 500 companies, the resiliency of any organization in a threatening situation depends on the extent to which its employees are prepared, confident and capable of reacting appropriately and effectively.”
“If individuals, from children to adults, are trained on how to survive an active threat, they will act as they have been trained when and if an incident occurs.”
“PWP teaches heightened situational awareness and increasing everyone’s security efficacy by emphasizing the importance of understanding today’s threat environment, recognizing telltale signs of an evolving threat, and empowering people to take effective action.”
“One of the easiest points for individuals to learn—developing a sense of awareness for what is going on around us—is the hardest, sometimes, for us to put to practice.”
“People often see but do not react to important early-warning indicators that could identify a person on the pathway to violence because they are themselves distracted by the demands of a busy life and may not want to get involved for fear of reprisal, or fear of being wrong.”
“The triggers which can compel an individual include life stress imposed by job loss, divorce, financial problems, and health issues to identify a few.”
“Learning to accept that a culture of active engagement is beneficial to all mitigates the sense of “reporting” a colleague or friend who appears to be struggling to HR, and directly contributes to a safer work environment.”
KGH specializes in training organizations to develop a capable and confident workforce that can recognize behavioral indicators of individuals who may be on the pathway to violence.
Courtesy of Kiernan Group Holdings (KGH)
The historical reliance on calling 9-1-1 and waiting for first responders to arrive is no longer a viable singular option.
First responders (law enforcement, fire, EMTs) take, on average, 8 to 10 minutes to arrive to an active threat scene.
That 8 to 10 minutes is an eternity if you are in the pathway of an individual on a rampage.
Those crucial first minutes of the attack may well determine who survives and who does not.
Often, by the time the first responders arrive at the scene, the assailant will have already achieved his or her objective and either committed suicide, or staged for the final confrontation with law enforcement.
What this means is that the average citizen is now the initial responder; that survivability from a violent attack could depend on the preparedness, confidence and capabilities of one’s coworkers, employees, co-worshippers and or until that time, strangers in public venues who have consciously prepared for an event.
KGH is continually adding research to the PWP approach, such as their Minor Visions program which focuses on our youngest and most vulnerable segment of the population.
(Learn More about KGH’s Minor Visions Program, because Security Sense is Common Sense – and applicable to all ages. Courtesy of Kiernan Group Holdings (KGH) and YouTube.)
“These kids will carry the lessons learned in our training throughout their lives,” says Dr. Kiernan, “and capturing their worldview really ensures that the learning models are accurate.”
“We obviate the presumption that a singular training model suits all age levels and learning styles.”
“We are educated by the kids who have already translated Preparedness Without Paranoia™ into “Be Prepared Not Scared” and as one young earnest learner very seriously informed me that “Clever Beats Strong” when we were discussing what the fight piece, of the national run, hide, fight model means to a ten-year old!”
“I think she is exactly right,” said Kiernan.
Preparedness Without Paranoia® Seminars are offered to organizations and corporations as on-location presentations, as well as via webinar and podcast. Working guides are also available for purchase.
Kiernan Group Holdings Competes in 2018 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Program
AST focuses on Homeland Security and Public Safety Breaking News, the Newest Initiatives and Hottest Technologies in Physical & IT Security, essential to meeting today’s growing security challenges.
The 2018 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Program, is organized to recognize the most distinguished vendors of Physical, IT, Port Security, Law Enforcement, Border Security, First Responders, (Fire, EMT, Military, Support Services Vets, SBA, Medical Tech) as well as the Federal, State, County and Municipal Government Agencies – to acknowledge their outstanding efforts to ‘Keep our Nation Secure, One City at a Time.’
As an ‘ASTORS’ competitor, Preparedness Without Paranoia® will be competing against the industry’s leading providers of InnovativeHomeland Security Education Programs.
To Learn More about the ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Program, see 2017 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Award Winners Honored at ISC East.
Over 100 distinguished guests from National, State and Local Governments, and Industry Leading Corporate Executives from companies allied to Government, gathered from across North America and the Middle East to be honored from disciplines across the Security Industry in their respective fields which included:
- The Department of Homeland Security(DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T)
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection
- The Department of Justice
- The Security Exchange Commission
- State and Municipal Law Enforcement Agencies
- The Royal Canadian Mounted Police
- Leaders in Private Security
Last Call for the 2018 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards at https://americansecuritytoday.com/ast-awards/.
Good luck to Kiernan Group Holdings on becoming a 2018 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Program Winner!
To inquire about availability and pricing for your organization or company, please call: 571-290-0275 or email CPO@kiernan.co -KGH Team
The highlight of the 2018 AST Homeland Security Awards Season will be the 2018 ‘ASTORS’ Awards Presentation Luncheon to honor Nominees, Finalists and Winners on November 14, 2018 at ISC East 2018 at the Jacob Javits Exhibition Center.
Join us in Recognizing these Industry-Leading Firms for their outstanding Product Development Achievements, Exciting New Technologies and Innovative Education Programs to address the growing Homeland Security Threats our Nation is facing.
Take advantage of this exclusive luncheon opportunity to Invite your Guests, Clients and Show Visitors to a lovely & affordable plated meal event in the heart of New York City, for a Fabulous Networking Opportunity!
ISC East is the Northeast’s largest security industry event and your ‘ASTORS’ Awards Luncheon registration includes complimentary attendee access to the show.
Already Exhibiting and/or Attending the 2018 ISC East Conference?
Join us to meet the 2018 ‘ASTORS’ Award Winning Company Executives & Government Agency Representatives.
Register today for the ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Luncheon on November 14th, in New York City and give yourself & your clients a break from the show!
Gourmet luncheon choices available per person, or reserve a table – make an Impression on your Guests and Receive an Exclusive Discount Opportunity.
