On Q Professional Investigations

“The Texas Legislature has passed the Church Security Protection Act aimed at allowing churches to provide their own security through members of their congregations.

In a special report, Angel San Juan found that Texas is one of just three states — Oklahoma and Florida are the other two — that restricts church members from providing their own security.

Under Texas law, a church would have to establish itself as a security company and be licensed by the state or hire a company that is licensed by the state, which can be an expensive undertaking.

But violating the law can also be costly with fines up to thousands of dollars.

That’s what led a group here in Southeast Texas lead the charge to change the law.”

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“School district police officers here completed a months-long drone training program at Sanchez Elementary on Friday.

This spring, Drone Pilot Inc., a Central Texas training firm, taught four officers from the McAllen Independent School District Police Department on the usage of drones. The 100-hour training, which began in February, went through various real-life scenarios.

Friday, the officers had their final exam on completing would-be scenarios of search and rescue. Their drone skills were tested on finding a missing child/endangered adult and identifying an unknown object, a skill that could help diffuse a bomb scare. Another mission was going through hazardous materials like an ammonia leak from a car.
Gene Robinson, vice president, co-founder and flight team director of Drone Pilot, said the officers learned to problem solve and jointly worked together in their missions.

“They (officers) will use the skills that we taught them, go out and try to solve,” Robinson said.
The drones will be used for faster response times and be used for investigative purposes to hold aerial views of parking lots, reconstruct collisions, look for evidence/crime scenes, and assess structural damage to buildings after a natural disaster or arson and most commonly, locate intruders in and around campuses.

“This training will be good for the public to keep them safe,” McAllen ISD Police Sgt. Charles Eric Treviño said. “When you look at it at ground level, it doesn’t look the same when you take it at aerial photographs. It’s different.”

“It’ll take minutes versus possible hours bringing an agency to check it out,” Treviño added about response times.

The drone training was divided into three phases. The introductory section covered legal issues and copyright information. Section two, covered the proper usage of equipment and regulations with recording and documenting the missions on logbooks. The final section was team cooperation and following proper procedures before beginning a mission.
Government use of aerial drones became much easier when the Federal Aviation Administration flipped the switch on new regulations last year, prompting some law enforcement agencies to adopt the technology.

The San Marcos Police Department has purchased a drone that will be used for investigations into vehicle crashes involving serious injury or death.

Before the FAA created new regulations last summer, the Austin Fire Department had already been operating drones to monitor and respond to wildfires for more than a year under a rare exemption that made it one of the first public safety agencies in the country allowed to use drones.”

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“On the last day of school at Mount Paran Christian School in Cobb County, Georgia, a group of 2nd-graders couldn’t wait to show their admiration for their beloved school security guard, Jonathan Broaxnax.

The students crossed the street to shower Broaxnax with hugs and high-fives, a heartwarming moment caught on the school’s security camera.

“I’ve got to tell you, it made me feel so good,” Broaxnax, 63, told ABC News. “Not only because they did that, but because it’s what this school is all about. It’s a Christian school and they instill that into these kids.”

The military veteran, who now works for the Chesley Brown International security company, said the children’s kind gesture was particularly special for him in light of the recent attack on a concert in Manchester, England, where many children were in attendance.

“They’re young but they’re seeing it on TV and they wonder ‘Why?’ and ‘What the heck is going on?’ and ‘Can that happen to me at my little school?,’” he explained. “They were saying things like, ‘Thank you for protecting us, thank you so much Mr. Jonathan, thank you for keeping us safe.’ You can’t hear the sound on the video, but that was what they were actually saying. Oh man I tell you — if the video ran just a little bit longer, you would see me run inside and cry.”

Broadnax said out of all the jobs he’s had in his life, working with these kids is by far the most fulfilling.

“I’ve been in the military for 22 years, I’ve been to the Gulf War, I got out of the military and started to work in the prison system in Texas,” he recalled. “I worked there for about five or six years and then I got into security. Out of all of that, this is the most fulfilling job I have ever had. Easily.”

This isn’t the first time the students and faculty have showered Broadnax with admiration and affection. He said they were pivotal in helping him through the darkest moment of his life: the death of his son two years ago.”

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“A pair of quick-thinking security guards at a Solihull shopping centre helped to evacuate terrified residents after a fire tore through the roof of a nearby tower block.

The fearless guards at Chelmsley Wood Shopping Centre were on patrol when they spotted the flames and smoke coming from the top of the building in nearby Moorend Avenue.

As shoppers watched the drama in horror, the brave duo sprinted across to the block, which is managed by Solihull Community Housing (SCH) and alerted the concierge to the danger.

The plucky twosome, who would not be named, swiftly took to the stairs and banged on the doors of the flats in the 10 storey building.

Residents told the Birmingham Mail they had been unaware of the blaze which could be seen for miles away after the fire took hold at around 1.45pm.

Twenty-five firefighters tackled the incident and gave oxygen therapy to one man who was injured.

Residents from the top two floors were evacuated.

One of the security guards said: “There didn’t seem to be a fire alarm in the block.
“We tried to find one so that we could actually hit a panic button.
“My colleague went to the top floor and I started on the fifth so we worked it between us.
“We were there for about five to 10 minutes but it seemed longer.
“We didn’t think about it, we just went in to help. Then the fire brigade took over.”
Liberty Chester, who has a four year old daughter Lacie, said she didn’t feel safe.
“I’m just glad Lacie wasn’t there,” she said.
“If she had been she would not have gone back into the flat.
The 24-year-old added: “It was the security guards from the shopping centre who saw the smoke and ran over to tell us.
“They tried to find the fire alarm but couldn’t.
“Then they began banging on all the doors to tell us.
“We were waiting outside for maybe half an hour to 45 minutes.
“We weren’t told anything. Nobody knew what was going on.”

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“Police assisted security officers and made several arrests with various charges on May 13 and May 14 at the Livingston Mall.

The first call from the Livingston Mall was about person being held in the parking lot by security for potentially being in possession of stolen property, according to police.

Upon police arrival, it was revealed that the individual possessed multiple items stolen from six different stores at the Livingston Mall. Subsequent to investigation, Robert Braswell, 33, of East Orange was arrested and charged with receiving stolen property and was released on his own recognizance pending court action.

The next afternoon, police received a call from both Lord & Taylor security and Livingston Mall security, whom were attempting to take an individual into custody who may have previously passed bad checks. Upon arrival, the female was fighting with security officers, according to police.

Ultimately, Latesha Shavers, 35, of Perth Amboy, was charged with assault and resisting arrest. Police said she had also been under investigation by Lord & Taylor security the previous week for passing bad checks.

Shavers was subsequently charged by Livingston police for passing bad checks and theft by deception on an incident that occurred on May 7. Following these charges, she was remanded to the Essex County Jail.”

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“Barona Resort and Casino security guards alerted San Diego County Sheriff’s Department deputies to an international counterfeiting operation.
Deputies arrested Lien Do, Hao Nguyen, and Ben Ven Pham on Christmas Day last year.
They found $300,000 worth of counterfeit chips in the suspects’ car.
“It appears that what they were seeking to do was convert those chips into cash and to walk out the casino with the cash,” said Prosecutor Daniel Shim.
The defendants were charged with multiple felonies, including grand theft, burglary, forgery and possession of counterfeit marks.
“When the sheriff’s department searched their home in Garden Grove, they found about $2 million in casino labels,” Shim said. “During Mr. Pham’s interview, he indicated he received those chips from Vietnam.”
Two of the defendants plead guilty to lesser charges and are serving one-year jail terms. Charges against a third defendant were dropped and he returned to Vietnam.
“The Sheriff’s department did a great job in investigating this case. They did a very thorough investigation,” Shim said.
The criminal investigation expanded to at least six other casinos in Southern California, several of which are located in San Diego.
It remains unclear if any of the fake chips were actually used in any of those casinos.
“It is still unknown if the operation had any ties to organized crimes,” Shim said.”

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“A private investigator’s days are often filled with uneventful surveillance and dead ends, but that’s only part of the job. On occasion, PIs may land in hot water and must rely on their communication and negotiation skills to get them out of it.

It takes talent, poise, and honed interpersonal skills to talk an enraged spouse out of swinging at you. Physical weapons are not always available, so we use what we do have in our arsenal—words, empathy, and emotional intelligence—to de-escalate a volatile situation.

Operating effectively under stress is a must-have skill in this line of work. No amount of training can prevent us from feeling fear in extreme situations. But we can learn to mitigate the stress symptoms, and even harness them—to laser-focus our energies on solving the problem at hand.

The Adrenaline Rush

In stressful conditions, our adrenal glands secrete a hormone to prepare the body for “fight or flight.” That shot of adrenaline can feel like a head rush: Your heart races. You breathe faster and deeper. You feel a surge of energy, heightened awareness, or even a suppressed pain response. And under extreme stress, you may experience tunnel vision, auditory exclusion (temporary hearing impairment), or a sense that time has slowed.

Some people seek out that rush (in its milder forms) as a welcome distraction from the more tedious aspects of investigative work. But when the job brings us into contact with unpredictable people and dangerous places, that physiological fight or flight response isn’t just a bungee-jump in the park anymore; it’s a survival mechanism.

The flip side is that those same symptoms that prepare us to deal with danger can also cloud judgement and make clear thinking a challenge.”

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“New York City NY May 15 2017 Teach NYS, a project of the Orthodox Union, encourages yeshivas to apply for New York City Local Law 2, the nonpublic school security guard program. The deadline is May 15, 2017.
To qualify for the program, a nonpublic school must have 300 or more pre-K-12 students in the 2017-2018 school year. The applications are complete on the NYC HHS Accelerator System and every school with the qualifying criteria gets accepted into the program.
Local Law 2, which was sponsored by Councilman David Greenfield, provides at least one private security officer for nonpublic schools with 300 or more students. With additional guards added for more students, yeshivas and day schools have found this program to provide a critical enhancement to security in these times of need.
Teach NYS led the fight for this program in 2015 and 2016 and continues to work to help schools take advantage of the opportunity. To date, there are nearly 80 yeshivas taking advantage of this program. Currently enrolled yeshivas don’t have to reapply by May 15th.”

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The images are disturbing: cargo trucks plowing into crowds of people enjoying holiday street festivals and markets.

In recent years, these terrorist attacks have happened often — mostly in European countries — leaving dozens of people dead and hundreds injured.

Now, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration wants truck rental agencies to be more vigilant in efforts to prevent these attacks, releasing a report this week that outlines the increased threat of such incidents.

The report, titled “Vehicle ramming attacks: Threat landscape, indicators and countermeasures,” notes that in the last three years, at least 173 people have been killed and more than 700 wounded in 17 ramming attacks around the world. Within the six-page report, the TSA urges truck companies to report suspicious activity — for example, would-be renters asking about altering a truck — to law enforcement officials.

Moreover, the report warns that no community, “large or small, rural or urban, is immune to attacks of this kind by organized or ‘lone wolf’” attackers.

“Terrorist organizations overseas have advocated conducting vehicle ramming attacks — using modified or unmodified motor vehicles — against crowds, buildings and other vehicles,” the TSA writes in the report. “Such attacks could target locations where large numbers of people congregate, including parades and other celebratory gatherings, sporting events, entertainment venues or shopping centers.”

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