Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Good morning. You're listening to Michigan's Big Show starring Michael
Patrick Shields. My name is Scott Ellis, executive director of
the Michigan License Beverage Association. Sitting in today with for MPs,
who's out traveling. My next guest and first guest today
is a good friend and a longtime expert in you know,
the world of safety is Jason Russell from Secure Ed
Environment Consultants.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Good morning, Jason, Good morning, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Hey, thanks for getting up early and taking the call.
You know, the reason I'm having you on again is
that there's a lot going on. We've had obviously active
violence starting and places of worship are continuing to grow,
and your company is in the forefront. You specifically, you know,
being a former secret service and former law enforcement with
Lansing Police Department. Can you tell me what you're seeing
out across the country with this increase in violence and
(00:53):
how it's affecting businesses and people. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
I think everybody's you know, super concerned about what's happening
as we see more attacks and churches and just out
in public spaces. So you know, we're seeing obviously an
increase in just interest in people looking at their spaces.
So we spend a lot of time with organizations getting
them to understand their risks and what their weaknesses are.
(01:17):
We use kind of an assessment process to really identify
gaps or weaknesses and safety and security and then hopefully
provide them with some recommendations on ways to sure those
areas up that are kind of you know, understanding of
their budget, their culture. You know, churches don't want to
be closed, right, they don't want to have their doors locked.
That's kind of the opposite of the point. So we
(01:38):
try to figure out ways to increase their safety and
security without you know, changing who they are and making
them you know, maximum security prisons.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
And that's and I you know, I know where I
go to church, it's the same thing. We've had to
increase security over the years, and I've helped with that,
and I know, actually you have helped with the school
and the church that I attend. But you know, what,
what what what are people saying to you? You know, personally,
I mean this, this has got to be from a
CEO or from a company that is trying to protect
their people, or a church as the pastor what are
their major concerns in how do they go about doing
(02:08):
this and help protecting themselves.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yeah, I think the leadership and all these organizations feels
a responsibility, right these people are coming to you, whether
it's a workplace or a you know, a school or
a church, you know, really figuring out, okay, what are
some steps that we can take that aren't an overreaction
but are kind of more on the proactive side. And
I think the organizations that we hear from obviously are
(02:31):
trying to be proactive, or else they probably wouldn't be
reaching out to begin with. So it really is, you know,
about looking at the organization and determining what's possible. For example,
a church, in a lot of times what we'll do
is is stand up kind of a safety ministry. So
volunteers who whether they're armed or unarmed, can really serve
as kind of a safety and security function. So if
(02:52):
there's an emergency, understanding how do we evacuate people, how
do we alert, how do we communicate you know, some
understanding of the policies and procedures to be able to
hopefully make people safe should something happen. And a lot
of it's just being about you know, situational awareness and observation.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Well, that's I was going to ask you. So, I mean,
we don't have to become so fearful that we know
we're not going to let it paralyze us. But it's
really having a plan, which we know from you know,
our law enforcement background. If you have a plan and
you're trained, you can react. And so do you go
in and work with them and to make it work
like you said, it's not intrusive, and do you go
in and set up you know, different facilities, but also
(03:31):
educate you know, the not armed and unarmed and what
to even just observe what do they look for and
that type of thing.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Yeah, so we kind of use an assessed plan train model.
So first we have to know kind of what what's
your reality, what's possible? Then set you know, good processes,
policies and procedures, whether that's how we let people in
where you know, all the pieces that go into the
organization in terms of allowing adoperate so you know, entries, exits,
(03:58):
those types of things, and then train people how to respond.
I think the reason there's so much fear when it
comes to emergencies is because we don't really know if
we're if we would be prepared to respond, you know,
when when the bad thing happens, and during emergencies, you know,
human beings don't rise to the occasion. We sink to
the level of our training. So I think the area
(04:18):
where we really try to focus people on is when
you're prepared, you are going to feel less panicked, right,
You're going to you're going to feel like you you
may never have the emergency, but should have happened, you'll
you'll have some idea what to do. And I think
that's where we try to focus people's attention.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
And I think you've seen instance across the country that
that maybe not one of your clients or whatever, but that
people have reacted. Right, there was one here in Michigan
where you know, one of the parishioners actually reacted and
was able to take out the threat. And then obviously
the most recent one here in Michigan, you know, law
enforcement was there quickly and handled it. Are you seeing
an increase because of what you and other companies like
you do in response and the ability to protect themselves.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Yeah, I think overall we're seeing you know, it used
to be what we would see with like an active
shooter situation. It was kind of be a two to
one ratio where you'd see, however many fatalities you saw,
you'd usually see double the number of injured. It seems
to be more of a four to one ratio, which
I think obviously, any fatalities is too many. But I
think people's ability to respond quicker, even some of the public.
(05:19):
You know, of information that's out there, the run high,
fight and the things like that, We're becoming more and
more aware. Training is becoming more and more common. So
I think despite the fact that we are seeing kind
of an increase in overall incidents, I think people are
becoming better prepared to respond and hopefully that's going to continue, you.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Know, and we can train all we want, and obviously
that's hard to do, right when you have so many
people and who's going to be here every week for
church and sometimes you know you don't have that. What
other is technology playing a role and what types of
technology and that you know, obviously there's a lot out there.
It's a big industry and I understand that, and you know,
we want people to be careful what they look at.
But what do you when you comes to technology, what
are your recommendations and how do you you look at
(06:00):
that and play that role, take that role?
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Well, I think it really depends on what the organization
is trying to accomplish in kind of how they're using
their technology. But we are seeing.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Uh oh, did we lose Jason there on the call?
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Hello Jason, Yeah, I'm here.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
We lost you for a second. And so we were
talking about technology and how that has a role in it.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Yeah, we are seeing an increase in like artificial intelligence,
so whether it's weapon detection or you know, those types
of things playing a role kind of as a force multiplier.
You know, it's so whether it's your cameras or your
access control. So they're a little bit more active in
terms of how they're they're participating in safety and security.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Yeah, so I've heard you say it before. It's a
layered approach, right. You must have the assessment, you must
know your facility, your guest, your what's going on, and
then you must also you know, look at layers of
different things you can do because there's obviously the threats
are ever changing, right, I mean, you know with different
types of weapons, what are you know if you're if
you were if we have people listening right now, what
(07:04):
would you recommend for places of worship, businesses and things
like that, what do you recommend they do and to
prepare and reach out to people.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Well, I think the first thing is always have an assessment, right,
whether it's internal or whether you bring somebody in, before
you can know what the treatment is for whatever the issue,
you know what the solutions are. You have to know
what the problem is. So always starting with that diagnosis
of an assessment and then really using that assessment to
guide kind of how you're going to fix those issues.
(07:34):
So you try to prioritize, you know, the weaknesses or
the gaps, look at your budget, look at your ability
to operate, and then determine, okay, how are we going
to tackle these issues. And many times obviously we'll do
an assessment. Will take years for them to fix all
the issues, but at least having a plan in place
helps them kind of over time be able to fix
(07:54):
things ensure up their safety and security.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
All right, Jason, we have with about thirty seconds left,
you know what, we switch to school a little bit, right,
So schools obviously we know is you know, we always
want to protect and we've had issues, and we get
the budget passed and there's some things in there where
they want to put s ros in the schools. But
you know, I understand law enforce the departments don't have
enough staffing, so what can schools do you know, technology
employ others to come in and help protect their schools
(08:17):
with about thirty.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Seconds, Yeah, so we you know, we employ a lot
of retired arms staff, so you're getting the same experience
level as a as a S foreign officer, but they
just you know, not aren't wearing the uniform, but they
still have a lot of the experience. So that seems
to be the main thing is you're seeing a difficulty
in law enforcement agency is being able to get enough officers.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Well, Jason, you know we really appreciate what you do
and protecting everybody, not just schools and everything, and please
keep up the good work and thanks for joining the show. Today.
You are listening to Michigan's Big Show starring Michael Patrick Shields.
And again my name is Scott Ellis filling in for
MPs today.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
This is Chris buck with Michigan Reimagined podcast. And when
it comes to managing your finances and planning for your future,
I suggest you contact my friends at Wagoner Financial whether
you're just getting started, getting ready to retire, or anywhere
in between, Wagoner Financial can help you make smart financial decisions.
Don't navigate a complex problem on your own. Wagoner as
the expertise to help you feel confident that you're making
the right financial choices. Contact an advisor by calling five
(09:23):
one seven eight five three three three sixty seven, or
visit their website at Wagoner Hyphenfinancial dot com.
Speaker 4 (09:29):
Our path to a top ten state is only as
strong as our strength of commitment. It's time to compete
to win. When we do better by our kids, invest
in people, accelerate our economy, and get the fundamentals right,
we will feel a powerful win in our sales that
will move Michigan over. That's a top ten state. Business
(09:50):
Leaders for Michigan is the state's business Roundtable. We're committed
to make Michigan more competitive. Time to be bold, Michigan.
It's time to compete to.
Speaker 5 (10:00):
When it comes to healthcare costs, we often focus on
one thing, our insurance premiums. But what if we're only
seeing part of the picture. The truth is our health
insurance costs reside downstream at the end of the cost equation.
But to really understand what's driving up costs, we need
to look upstream to the healthcare system itself. Upstream, there
are costs like the price is charged by hospitals and doctors,
(10:23):
and the cost of prescription drugs, healthcare administration, and technology.
These costs flow downstream directly into your health insurance premium.
That's why Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is advocating
for a system wide solution to address the rising cost
of healthcare. Blue Cross knows that healthcare is personal, needs
to work for everyone, and affordability matters, and that starts
(10:47):
with shedding light on the entire cost equation from upstream
costs to downstream premiums. Want to learn more, visit miiblue
daily dot com slash affordability
Good morning. You're listening to Michigan's Big Show starring Michael
Patrick Shields. My name is Scott Ellis, executive director of
the Michigan License Beverage Association. Sitting in today with for MPs,
who's out traveling. My next guest and first guest today
is a good friend and a longtime expert in you know,
the world of safety is Jason Russell from Secure Ed
Environment Consultants.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Good morning, Jason, Good morning, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Hey, thanks for getting up early and taking the call.
You know, the reason I'm having you on again is
that there's a lot going on. We've had obviously active
violence starting and places of worship are continuing to grow,
and your company is in the forefront. You specifically, you know,
being a former secret service and former law enforcement with
Lansing Police Department. Can you tell me what you're seeing
out across the country with this increase in violence and
(00:53):
how it's affecting businesses and people. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
I think everybody's you know, super concerned about what's happening
as we see more attacks and churches and just out
in public spaces. So you know, we're seeing obviously an
increase in just interest in people looking at their spaces.
So we spend a lot of time with organizations getting
them to understand their risks and what their weaknesses are.
(01:17):
We use kind of an assessment process to really identify
gaps or weaknesses and safety and security and then hopefully
provide them with some recommendations on ways to sure those
areas up that are kind of you know, understanding of
their budget, their culture. You know, churches don't want to
be closed, right, they don't want to have their doors locked.
That's kind of the opposite of the point. So we
(01:38):
try to figure out ways to increase their safety and
security without you know, changing who they are and making
them you know, maximum security prisons.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
And that's and I you know, I know where I
go to church, it's the same thing. We've had to
increase security over the years, and I've helped with that,
and I know, actually you have helped with the school
and the church that I attend. But you know, what,
what what what are people saying to you? You know, personally,
I mean this, this has got to be from a
CEO or from a company that is trying to protect
their people, or a church as the pastor what are
their major concerns in how do they go about doing
(02:08):
this and help protecting themselves.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yeah, I think the leadership and all these organizations feels
a responsibility, right these people are coming to you, whether
it's a workplace or a you know, a school or
a church, you know, really figuring out, okay, what are
some steps that we can take that aren't an overreaction
but are kind of more on the proactive side. And
I think the organizations that we hear from obviously are
(02:31):
trying to be proactive, or else they probably wouldn't be
reaching out to begin with. So it really is, you know,
about looking at the organization and determining what's possible. For example,
a church, in a lot of times what we'll do
is is stand up kind of a safety ministry. So
volunteers who whether they're armed or unarmed, can really serve
as kind of a safety and security function. So if
(02:52):
there's an emergency, understanding how do we evacuate people, how
do we alert, how do we communicate you know, some
understanding of the policies and procedures to be able to
hopefully make people safe should something happen. And a lot
of it's just being about you know, situational awareness and observation.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Well, that's I was going to ask you. So, I mean,
we don't have to become so fearful that we know
we're not going to let it paralyze us. But it's
really having a plan, which we know from you know,
our law enforcement background. If you have a plan and
you're trained, you can react. And so do you go
in and work with them and to make it work
like you said, it's not intrusive, and do you go
in and set up you know, different facilities, but also
(03:31):
educate you know, the not armed and unarmed and what
to even just observe what do they look for and
that type of thing.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Yeah, so we kind of use an assessed plan train model.
So first we have to know kind of what what's
your reality, what's possible? Then set you know, good processes,
policies and procedures, whether that's how we let people in
where you know, all the pieces that go into the
organization in terms of allowing adoperate so you know, entries, exits,
(03:58):
those types of things, and then train people how to respond.
I think the reason there's so much fear when it
comes to emergencies is because we don't really know if
we're if we would be prepared to respond, you know,
when when the bad thing happens, and during emergencies, you know,
human beings don't rise to the occasion. We sink to
the level of our training. So I think the area
(04:18):
where we really try to focus people on is when
you're prepared, you are going to feel less panicked, right,
You're going to you're going to feel like you you
may never have the emergency, but should have happened, you'll
you'll have some idea what to do. And I think
that's where we try to focus people's attention.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
And I think you've seen instance across the country that
that maybe not one of your clients or whatever, but that
people have reacted. Right, there was one here in Michigan
where you know, one of the parishioners actually reacted and
was able to take out the threat. And then obviously
the most recent one here in Michigan, you know, law
enforcement was there quickly and handled it. Are you seeing
an increase because of what you and other companies like
you do in response and the ability to protect themselves.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Yeah, I think overall we're seeing you know, it used
to be what we would see with like an active
shooter situation. It was kind of be a two to
one ratio where you'd see, however many fatalities you saw,
you'd usually see double the number of injured. It seems
to be more of a four to one ratio, which
I think obviously, any fatalities is too many. But I
think people's ability to respond quicker, even some of the public.
(05:19):
You know, of information that's out there, the run high,
fight and the things like that, We're becoming more and
more aware. Training is becoming more and more common. So
I think despite the fact that we are seeing kind
of an increase in overall incidents, I think people are
becoming better prepared to respond and hopefully that's going to continue, you.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Know, and we can train all we want, and obviously
that's hard to do, right when you have so many
people and who's going to be here every week for
church and sometimes you know you don't have that. What
other is technology playing a role and what types of
technology and that you know, obviously there's a lot out there.
It's a big industry and I understand that, and you know,
we want people to be careful what they look at.
But what do you when you comes to technology, what
are your recommendations and how do you you look at
(06:00):
that and play that role, take that role?
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Well, I think it really depends on what the organization
is trying to accomplish in kind of how they're using
their technology. But we are seeing.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Uh oh, did we lose Jason there on the call?
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Hello Jason, Yeah, I'm here.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
We lost you for a second. And so we were
talking about technology and how that has a role in it.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Yeah, we are seeing an increase in like artificial intelligence,
so whether it's weapon detection or you know, those types
of things playing a role kind of as a force multiplier.
You know, it's so whether it's your cameras or your
access control. So they're a little bit more active in
terms of how they're they're participating in safety and security.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Yeah, so I've heard you say it before. It's a
layered approach, right. You must have the assessment, you must
know your facility, your guest, your what's going on, and
then you must also you know, look at layers of
different things you can do because there's obviously the threats
are ever changing, right, I mean, you know with different
types of weapons, what are you know if you're if
you were if we have people listening right now, what
(07:04):
would you recommend for places of worship, businesses and things
like that, what do you recommend they do and to
prepare and reach out to people.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Well, I think the first thing is always have an assessment, right,
whether it's internal or whether you bring somebody in, before
you can know what the treatment is for whatever the issue,
you know what the solutions are. You have to know
what the problem is. So always starting with that diagnosis
of an assessment and then really using that assessment to
guide kind of how you're going to fix those issues.
(07:34):
So you try to prioritize, you know, the weaknesses or
the gaps, look at your budget, look at your ability
to operate, and then determine, okay, how are we going
to tackle these issues. And many times obviously we'll do
an assessment. Will take years for them to fix all
the issues, but at least having a plan in place
helps them kind of over time be able to fix
(07:54):
things ensure up their safety and security.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
All right, Jason, we have with about thirty seconds left,
you know what, we switch to school a little bit, right,
So schools obviously we know is you know, we always
want to protect and we've had issues, and we get
the budget passed and there's some things in there where
they want to put s ros in the schools. But
you know, I understand law enforce the departments don't have
enough staffing, so what can schools do you know, technology
employ others to come in and help protect their schools
(08:17):
with about thirty.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Seconds, Yeah, so we you know, we employ a lot
of retired arms staff, so you're getting the same experience
level as a as a S foreign officer, but they
just you know, not aren't wearing the uniform, but they
still have a lot of the experience. So that seems
to be the main thing is you're seeing a difficulty
in law enforcement agency is being able to get enough officers.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Well, Jason, you know we really appreciate what you do
and protecting everybody, not just schools and everything, and please
keep up the good work and thanks for joining the show. Today.
You are listening to Michigan's Big Show starring Michael Patrick Shields.
And again my name is Scott Ellis filling in for
MPs today.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
This is Chris buck with Michigan Reimagined podcast. And when
it comes to managing your finances and planning for your future,
I suggest you contact my friends at Wagoner Financial whether
you're just getting started, getting ready to retire, or anywhere
in between, Wagoner Financial can help you make smart financial decisions.
Don't navigate a complex problem on your own. Wagoner as
the expertise to help you feel confident that you're making
the right financial choices. Contact an advisor by calling five
(09:23):
one seven eight five three three three sixty seven, or
visit their website at Wagoner Hyphenfinancial dot com.
Speaker 4 (09:29):
Our path to a top ten state is only as
strong as our strength of commitment. It's time to compete
to win. When we do better by our kids, invest
in people, accelerate our economy, and get the fundamentals right,
we will feel a powerful win in our sales that
will move Michigan over. That's a top ten state. Business
(09:50):
Leaders for Michigan is the state's business Roundtable. We're committed
to make Michigan more competitive. Time to be bold, Michigan.
It's time to compete to.
Speaker 5 (10:00):
When it comes to healthcare costs, we often focus on
one thing, our insurance premiums. But what if we're only
seeing part of the picture. The truth is our health
insurance costs reside downstream at the end of the cost equation.
But to really understand what's driving up costs, we need
to look upstream to the healthcare system itself. Upstream, there
are costs like the price is charged by hospitals and doctors,
(10:23):
and the cost of prescription drugs, healthcare administration, and technology.
These costs flow downstream directly into your health insurance premium.
That's why Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is advocating
for a system wide solution to address the rising cost
of healthcare. Blue Cross knows that healthcare is personal, needs
to work for everyone, and affordability matters, and that starts
(10:47):
with shedding light on the entire cost equation from upstream
costs to downstream premiums. Want to learn more, visit miiblue
daily dot com slash affordability
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