Tuesday’s spasm of gun violence at a Kennesaw FedEx facility put a spotlight on workplace security measures, which run the gamut from none to armed guards and metal detectors.
Relatives of the security guard most seriously injured in the shooting say he “didn’t stand a chance” because he was unarmed.
“It’s real unfortunate they didn’t allow those security guards to be armed,” Russell Brannen, the guard’s father-in-law, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Wednesday. “The scales are tipped in the wrong direction when the security guard can’t carry a sidearm. Had he been armed, he might have been able to stop the other five from being shot.”
Authorities haven’t released enough details of how the shooting unfolded to allow judgment on whether armed security would have made such a difference.
But experts say the decision whether to use armed guards is complicated. Companies consider a range of factors, from culture to costs, when settling on security measures.
FedEx spokesman Scott Fiedler told the AJC that the delivery giant does not discuss its security procedures.
“This continues to be a difficult time for all of us at FedEx,” Fielder said. “Our primary focus is on supporting the needs of those affected by this tragic incident. Together, we will work through this.”
Devising security plans means not only balancing cost-culture issues but also weighing risks such as the safety of a neighborhood, the value of assets in the building, hours of operation and worker turnover.
Whether or not security officers are armed “generally has to do with the company’s threat policy, things that happened in the past, employee comfort levels,” said Jeffrey Slotnick, chief security officer of Bellevue, Wash.-based OR3M, who also helped write the industry’s workplace violence standard.
“There’s a lot of places that have armed security, there’s a lot of places that don’t.”
In Tuesday’s shooting, a FedEx worker identified as 19-year-old Geddy Kramer showed up at the Kennesaw facility before dawn, heavily armed with bullets strapped to his chest “like Rambo,” one co-worker said.
He shot security guard Christopher Sparkman, an Army reservist working the job while waiting for a chance to pursue an air traffic control job, then shot five others before turning a shotgun on himself and commiting suicide.
Sparkman, 28, remained in critical condition at Wellstar Kennestone Hospital.
Some workplaces don’t want armed security because they count on law enforcement response, Slotnick said. But, “if you don’t have an armed presence on site, even if it takes law enforcement two to three minutes to respond,” statistically, someone is shot every 15 seconds once a shooting starts, he said.
“The key to active shooter [incidents] is not allowing it to progress to that point. It certainly is in prevention,” Slotnick said.
Some suggest the presence of armed guards can escalate dangerous situations rather then defuse them.
“Despite extensive training on a firing range it may not equip them to deal with the everyday confrontations that they may be called upon to deal with,” said Loretta Worters, vice president of the Insurance Information Institute.
“In fact, many believe that security officers are sometimes far less effective when armed – relying on the fact that they have a gun, instead of using social skills to persuasively de-escalate a situation.”
There is also at least the possibility that the guard himself or herself might be unstable or violent, she said, or that an accident can occur.
Because of those factors, insurance companies typically charge higher premiums for coverage when there is an armed guard, she said.
“The liability exposure an armed guard presents is too great that many insurance carriers would shy away from insuring the business. It is all about the risk.”
An armed guard also costs a company more to hire – partly because state regulations require more training.
“They are required to have 40 hours of training before they strap on a gun,” said Steven Turner, a gun instructor as well as chief executive of Strategic Executive Services, a Hampton-based security company. “And after that, every year they need to take eight hours of training.”
Turner said insurance costs do keep some companies from having an armed guard, but he generally doesn’t approve.
“Our recommendation is always to have an armed guard in volatile environments,” he said.
Darrell Mercer, owner of Alpharetta-based Mercer Protection Agency, said he discusses the choice with clients.
“Yes, when there are valuable assets that they are trying to protect or when they are in (an unsafe) neighborhood,” he said. “They pay a little more because of the insurance. I have sometimes recommended to a client that they go unarmed, because I thought it was just not needed.”
He also rejected the idea that having a gun made a peaceful settlement less likely.
“I have been faced with situations in which I would talk somebody down and I did that rather than use force. It is a matter of training, but it is also necessary that the individual has good common sense.”
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