A few days after the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, I
visited Disney World in Florida. I
watched and participated with thousands of people as we entered the various
parks and through the Disney security system.
While I don’t have any direct knowledge of particular Disney security
protocols, based on my observations there are a number of things done by Disney
that have application to locations that are responsible for the security of a
large number of people, such as schools.
The security begins, as the Disney experience does, before one
enters any of the parks. There are
concentric rings of physical, technological and human-based security around
each park. All guest vehicles are
channeled through a single entrance area.
The first physical and human barrier is paying for parking. The parking lot itself acts as a second physical
barrier and is populated by large mobile watch towers and security personnel on
bicycles. All guests are then channeled
through an entrance which involves screening, paying for entrance and finally
entry into the park. These three
barriers allow for multiple opportunities for a cast member (Disney employee)
to make observations and potentially intervene.
As we walked from the parking lot toward the entrance to
Epcot Center there was a Disney security cast member with a working dog. The handler stood with the dog on a leash as
people passed by. The dog, like the
handler, was standing and watching (and no doubt smelling) as people walked by.
While I don’t know what the dog had been trained to do, I don’t think it was
there for the odd joint that might slip into the park. It was likely an explosives detection K9.
Immediately after walking passed the dog, we encountered a screening
area. This is the first time you might
notice that security cast members have a clearly defined role they play that is
very different from other cast members.
It is always been important to Disney that cast members stay in
character. As we entered the screening area, security cast members were all
similarly dressed in their dark blue pants, light blue shirt and eight-pointed
caps. Moreover, they were all similarly
equipped with radios and water bottles hanging on a modified utility belt. While
other cast members who scanned tickets or pass-cards or pass-bracelets, interacted
directly and were very friendly with guests, security cast members were alert
and friendly, but only interacted with guests in accordance with their
duties. Throughout my five days at the
various parks I never saw a security cast member acting outside their
role. The were never engaged in a conversation
with a peer, leaning against something, or seemed distracted. They were always performing the duties for which
they had been cast.
The security cast members directed all people with bags to
tables for inspection. They also directed
anyone over the age of 14, without a bag, to a “random screening.” I was screened five out of five times. Another man I was with who looks older was screened
three out of five times, the women in our party were screened less than half
the time. After
screening, I watched for several minutes.
The majority of screening interest was directed at young-healthy
males. Why? I don’t know that Disney has a specific
policy, but it is young healthy males that commit the vast majority of violence
in our society. They seemed to be committing
their very limited security resource right to where it needed to be.
The screening was similar at all the parks. Sometimes you would see the dog, sometimes
the clearly marked K9 vehicle would be parked outside the main entrance. Once inside the location you would occasionally
see security cast members on roving patrol.
However, if there was a problem, they intervened quickly.
At Epcot Center, beer is served at multiple locations. This is particularly true in the German
area. It was late afternoon in the German
area when we heard loud angry male voices.
I turned to see non-security cast members begin to walk to the commotion
and almost form a physical barrier between the two males and other guests. Within in moments, the blue eight-pointed caps
of the security cast members could be seen wading into the crowd, past the
other cast members and directly intervening.
As I moved closer to watch, I saw an Asian woman in business attire,
with a cast name badge, move behind the security cast members. She had an electronic note pad in her hands
as she observed and took notes. She
stood with the interested nonchalance of a middle manager. It was
obvious that the regular cast members, the security cast members and the management
cast member had implemented a plan. There
response just didn’t happen; they were trained to intervene, and it was successful.
Later that evening, near the German area, I saw two security
cast members talking to a female guest who had obviously slipped and injured herself. As the security cast members rendered aide,
the same Asian woman stood with them, again taking notes and only once making a
suggestion to the security cast members.
This second instance further demonstrated that response protocols were
important in Disney planning.
While information about specific Disney security and protocols
are unknown, we can use the
observations to begin a conversation about changing our
thinking relative to school safety. Thinking
about schools as having rings of security is a good place to begin.
The inner most ring is the individual classroom. The next ring out is the building containing
the classroom, then the campus, then the surrounding area. In creating a master plan for school safety, each
‘ring’ is an opportunity for intervention.
Many communities have laws which add penalty enhancements to crimes
committed within 1000 feet of a school. This is the outer ring for a school where the
security experience should be begin.
Just as schools are often forced to work on traffic problems surrounding
campus with the community, so should schools and law enforcement work with the
community within 1000 feet of school to create the first ring.
The campus itself is the next ring. Just as the Disney K9 handler was between the
outer-most ring of security and the inner most, so should local law enforcement
consider being deployed. This is not the
school resource officers working area.
The area just outside the school should be patrolled and deployed to
randomly as well as at specific times by the officers assigned the beat. Furthermore, sitting in the patrol car as
children walk-by is not part of the role.
Simply put, the role is to look sharp and stay alert.
Metal detectors and screening are unlikely to prevent a Columbine,
Sandy Hook or Parkland like school massacre.
Screening will prevent the odd
handgun or weapon from getting into a classroom, but not those types of
shooters. Those are shutdown by human
beings. Specifically, armed human
beings. Furthermore, a good lesson from
Disney is people should be selected, trained and cast for a specific role. While cross training is essential for
emergency response, the best response is by the person trained and
equipped. Plainly, arming teachers is a second-class
response froth with dangers.
Rings of security which funnel people into specific ingress
points allow for the best deployment of outside law enforcement (the beat cop)
and inside law enforcement (the school resource officer). The idea of rings of security create opportunities
for inventions and make planning and training more effective. Like Disney,
schools must have plans and train their cast to implement their various roles
in the event of an emergency. From
Disney we can take away that the school experience begins well outside the
classroom and it is crucial to have people selected, trained and cast for
specific roles.
About the Author
Raymond E. Foster is a retired LAPD Lieutenant and the author
of several books. More about Raymond can
be found at www.police-lieutenant.com
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