Department Of Homeland Security – There For You In The Retail Environment

By James R. Saulnier, CPP, Physical Security Manager, Sprint Corporate Security

When people think of the Department of Homeland Security, they most generally think of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, (ICE), preparation and response to natural disasters (FEMA), the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) or the National Terror Alert System (NTAS).  They hardly ever consider the significant advisory role this massive federal agency plays in securing retail shopping establishments, malls, and places of public assembly.  Recognizing that a large portion of the country’s critical infrastructure and public facilities are secured through proprietary or contract guard forces and the potential for increasing surveillance through the use of the general public’s eyes, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano announced the national public awareness effort “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign in July 2010.  The goal was to create a means of soliciting the private sector and citizens help to detect and prevent not only acts of terrorism, but also general criminal activity.  Modeled after the highly successful New York Metropolitan Transit Authority’s program, the concept is simple, yet effective.  With federal, state and local law enforcement budgets and resources stretched to the outer limits, training private sector security forces and the general public to recognize and report suspicious activity provides the public sector with invaluable intelligence data from which they can target patrols and interdiction efforts to more effectively use limited resources.  One only has to think back to May 2010 when two street vendors observed a car filling with smoke and alerted a NYPD Patrolman, to find value in the program.  The bomb, which had failed to fully detonate, was defused before it could cause damage or serious injury to Time Square’s large weekend crowds.  To further this effort, Secretary Napolitano and ASIS International announced a strategic relationship in the fall of 2011 to develop a stronger public-private sector relationship built around “If You See Something, Say Something”.  

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