In this episode we are going to discuss different training suggestions for your security personnel. What courses should we offer to make sure they are prepared both for protecting us but also training that covering our liabilities.

So the first topic I believe you should focus on is making sure that all members who you are considering as part of the security team, need to have training on what leadership wants and what the policies of the ministry are, what some of you might also call an orientation. How do you want them to handle medical situations, how do you want them to handle disruptions or crimes within the church ministry.

You would also want to make sure they know your direction on domestic violence issues, disruptive issues, how to handle suspicious people around the service areas, and how you would like your personnel to interact with law enforcement when something more serious happens.

Next I would suggest that we have to discuss in detail “use of force” issues. There needs to be some discussion of what level of force is needed for various situations that might arise.

Then we might as well discuss training for your armed personnel if you have them in your team. They obviously need to know the requirements to be able to carry a firearm, those state or special laws and regulations. Then use of force needs to be an important training topic along with discussions about carrying the firearm and how you want them to conceal and or control the firearm with holsters. Then we need to discuss the big issue for our gun toters and that would be actual training time at the gun range.

Some really good verbal communication skills are a really good component of training for a security staff member. Learning how to talk to people is a skill many of us have not mastered.

Last the basic training should include discussion of how we will handle general emergencies as an individual security person or as a group.