I read a very interesting article on TSA screening  and the SPOT program developed by Paul Ekman they are using in and effort to spot potential terrorist and or terrorist activity. The article “More on Airport Clairvoyance Machines” by Ed Brayton discusses the validity of the technique of using body language and facial expressions in our efforts to make airports and travel safer.

A ½ day Workplace Violence Prevention Seminar to help prevent instances of violence in your workplace. This public training seminar will provide tips to help you manage your risk and avoid liability for any incidents of violence that may occur. This seminar will be presented by employment law expert, Melissa Fleischer, Esq. and law enforcement security consultant, Fred Leland, Jr.

DATE: May 11, 2011

The Evolutionary Goals and Mission of Law Enforcement and Security Consulting, Violence Prevention Workshops is to make manifest the nature of conflict and violence within an organization and to discern a pattern for successful operations at preventing and resolving conflict and violence. To help generalize tactics and strategy to cope with unfolding events via the observation, orientation, decision and action cycles in an effort to establish a basis for a grand violence prevention strategy while building resilient violent free organizations.

I had the opportunity tonight to sit down with Mel Robbins on the NECN show Broadside with Jim Braude. The topic of discussion was on work place violence prevention strategies. Leveraging the lessons learned!

Employers have always had an obligation under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (the OHSA), to take all reasonable precautions to protect workers, a duty which is arguably already broad enough to encompass an obligation to protect workers from violence in the workplace. The recent amendments to the OHSA, which come into force June 15, 2010, confirm the extent of this duty, and also outline a number of specific steps employers must take in relation to violence and harassment at work.

Is he a terrorist? Is he linked to an Islamic extremist group? If he is linked, how could he be a member of the United States Military? How could he be right under our noses and no one know whether he was a terrorist planning an attack on those he knew and worked with? All these questions and more surface in the aftermath of the Foot Hood killings; questions that should be asked as part of our efforts to understand and do everything in our power to prevent future acts of violence from occurring.

Most of us spend our lives in the solitude of peaceful work and social environments, the way American life should be. Yet every so often someone decides to take out their frustrations on the world and commit an act of violence that appears random and shocking. Our everyday norm puts us in a complacent mindset, unaware of our surroundings and ignoring the signs and signals of danger nearby.

“Uncertainty has been called the greatest challenge to security.”~ Geerat J. Vermeij

None of us escapes conflict; it is part of our daily lives. So how do we become more effective at recognizing potential threatening situations and come up with a more positive outcome driven strategy and methods to preventing and resolving conflicts and violence?

How can we leverage the power of diversity, one of our greatest strengths, to fight crime and violence?

First, what is diversity? I found a definition from the University of Oregon that fits my view of what diversity means when it comes to people and conflict:

PORTLAND, Maine — A man who says he was prepared to kill at least two people attending an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in a church basement Monday morning was arrested by a Portland High School resource officer as he loaded a high-powered rifle outside the church.

Officer Stephen Black said he was locking the rear school doors, as he does every day at 8 a.m., when he saw Herbert Jones, 46, holding a rifle in a small paved area behind the school known as Freshman Alley. He said he then saw Jones, whose back was to him, loading rounds into the gun.