After Weeks of Vigilance, Escape Happens Instantly

Jul 1, 2004 12:00 PM, LARRY ANDERSON, Editor

Buford has figured out a dozen ways to get away.

Sometimes he pulls his collar over his head. Other times he makes a well-timed leap through a door that is slightly ajar — defying any attempt to block his path, squeezing between your legs if necessary. Or he leaves through the garage as you're unloading the car.

He has perfected several plans for escaping, but generally loses his momentum after that. He might pause briefly in the yard, even flash a puzzled glance as if in disbelief at the true nature of his freedom. And then he just runs away through the woods or across a neighbor's yard. He moves faster if you try to chase him down.

Then we get the call two or three hours later from a do-gooder five streets over who just found the sweetest little dog — looks a little like a beagle except with shorter ears, mostly black with a patch of white across his chest, and he has a telephone number engraved on a blue tag hanging from his collar. We have met more people in the neighborhood who have rescued Buford than we ever would have otherwise. Sometimes they bring him home, or we get directions and go to pick him up. He has ridden in the nicest cars in the neighborhood — he came home just yesterday in the front leather seat of a really fancy BMW. One time he wound up at the fire station and got to ride home on the top of the fire engine (no siren).

It's a little embarrassing that we can't seem to keep our dog from running away, but as I said, he is forever thinking of new ways to get free. Just a moment's pause when you're attaching his leash … and he's gone. Then the phone call and we meet a new neighbor.

My point in telling this story is to emphasize how many ways something can go wrong in the world of security (or the world of dog ownership). It happens in a split second, despite weeks and weeks of vigilance.

Our readers face a challenging list of threats and vulnerabilities, a hundred ways that their companies can be victimized or their assets threatened. It's almost like there are a thousand energetic canines waiting for you to make one wrong move. And associated with each element on the list is a lengthy menu of uncontrollable circumstances that can contribute to possible losses. If you look at it that way, the job of most of our readers — protecting their company's facilities, people and assets — is truly intimidating. And they have to do the job while, in some cases, lacking needed tools and in spite of budget cuts and other corporate obstacles.

You may take these observations for what they're worth — keeping in mind that the person who made them can't seem to keep his dog from running away.

YOUR THOUGHTS

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