Targeting Terror at the Mall

Feb 1, 2007 12:00 PM, PAUL ROTHMAN

           

Shopping malls across the country have begun training their security guards to fight terrorism.

A 14-hour program has been developed by the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), a trade group, and the Homeland Security Policy Institute at George Washington University. It is the first standardized anti-terrorism curriculum written for the nation's estimated 20,000 mall security guards.

“There is no consistency in how guards are trained for terrorism,” says Malachy Kavanaugh, ICSC's vice president of communications and external relations. “There are a lot of companies scrambling to find a balance between terrorism preparedness and regular security training.”

Developers of the program say it is crucial to safeguarding shopping centers. The training consists of customized DVDs that focus on specific areas of terrorism prevention and response, according to Paul Maniscalco, a senior research scientist at George Washington University who helped create the program with the help of shopping mall security managers on the ICSC Security Committee. The DVDs use real-life re-enactments — some performed in the shopping malls themselves — to test the responses of the guards.

“We spoke with security experts in Israel, Spain, Russia and the U.K. — where there have been mall security incidents in the past,” Maniscalco says. We wanted to be diligent to make sure none of the guards can say ‘this doesn't apply to me.’”

The training is broken into 10 modules: an introduction; the National Incident Management System and National Response Plan; the history and threat of terrorism; The North American Emergency Response Guide; chemical terrorism; biological agents; radiological and nuclear terrorism; explosives; behavioral awareness; and suicidal terrorism.

The program is based on the Department of Homeland Security's terrorism response guidelines. “We followed all the DHS procedures,” Maniscalco says. “We didn't want any deviation from their generally accepted methods. This is all real-world, everyday stuff that the security officer will encounter.”

The training focuses on making guards more aware of the effects of terrorist attacks and helping them recognize potential attackers. It ranges from understanding the characteristics of the nerve agent sarin (especially dangerous in enclosed spaces because it vaporizes quickly) to spotting suicide bombers (look for unusual dress, like a heavy coat in the middle of summer).

The program has completed testing at a handful of shopping centers and is planned to be rolled out over the next month. More than 20,000 DVDs will be produced, Maniscalco says.

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