LOUISVILLE, Ky.--In the wake of the March fatal shooting of a minister during a church service in Maryville, Ill., Ron Aguiar, the safety and security director of Southeast Christian Church, one of the largest churches in the country, said that churches face different obstacles than other organizations when it comes to implementing security

measures.

“As security professionals, you have to balance creating an environment that is inviting for someone to come in to worship and if you put up an obstacle or distraction, they won’t come,” he said. Aguiar, who is charged with protecting a congregation of more than 18,000 every weekend as well as a one million square feet of church property, emphasized that it is often a combination of hard and soft security measures that tend to work best in church settings.

“We have uniformed police directing traffic in our parking lot and protecting the offering in the building,” he said. The presence of uniformed officers is intended to dissuade criminals and protect vulnerable areas such as parking lots during the service, he said.

In addition, Aguiar has implemented security measures that aren’t as obvious to members of the congregation. “We have plain-clothed police or security people within the congregation sitting during worship,” he said. These individuals are often former or off-duty law enforcement who are often members of the church.

Jeffrey Hawkins, executive director of the Christian Security Network, said there is a large percentage of churches that have no security in place, which makes them a target for crime. He said often the most difficult part in establishing a security program is convincing church leaders that incidents can happen to them.

“Once you get over that hurdle and they do have an acceptance of risk, I tell them they must conduct a risk assessment, since every church is a little different,” he said. “Churches face different issues and a really wide variety of problems, so there’s not just one solution.”

However a model most churches can follow is the establishment of two teams of people, one dedicated to crisis response management during a catastrophic event and the other a safety team who are present during service times and other special events.

And while it is imperative for a church to select members of the congregation for security, Frank Santamorena, principal of Security Experts, Consulting & Design, said it is often basic security procedures that get overlooked. “Houses of worship are notorious for crime and they often don’t use proper security measures, and have poor key control and leaving doors and windows open.” He said simple measures such as installing security lights with automatic timers and sensors inside and outside can drastically reduce crime along with locking doors and windows. Santamorena also emphasized that churches need to change their mindset to being more security conscious. “Congregations have to eliminate their open door policy and control their access to offices,” he said. “They have to have all visitors sign in and out.” They also need to know who has access to the building, know who has keys and have them return when they’re done, and change locks every two to three years.