ASIS INTERNATIONAL HOUSTON CHAPTER

MEETING MINUTES: JULY 28, 2004

The luncheon meeting was held at the Renaissance Hotel. Chapter Chairman Mike Crocker CPP presided. 68 members and guests attended.

Opening prayer and Pledge: Mike Crocker; followed by the introduction of guests and new members.

Committee Activities:

Newsletter: The June issue has been mailed and is on the web site.

Treasurer: the report was distributed. The treasury reflects the donation to UHD from the Golf Tournament.

Certifications:

PSP: class is on-going
CPP: Tom Smith, with Allied Security at Baybrook Mall, passed the exam. Books and study guides are available to members.
The Cross Scholarship is being awarded to Rod McCullough (Guardsmark)

Houses of Worship: Lewis Eakins; Two churches have requested surveys over the next two months. An article highlighting the program will be published shortly in the Stafford Area Newspaper.

Web Page: We need one $250 sponsorship. Please contact Mike Crocker CPP if you or your company can support this important communication tool.

Corporate Roundtable: Charles Hutchinson; the members of this committee met with Judge Jay Kimbrough, regarding the impact of HB 1769 on the ability of corporate security to effectively initiate sensitive investigation. His prior experience with the TPSB and his current role in Homeland Security provided important insight.

Seminars: Mike Mason CPP announced the annual Houston-ASIS Security Seminar will be held November 3 & 4 at the University of Houston Hilton (main campus). He also reminded us to support National Night Out on August 3.

Membership: Kevin Galloway; the local membership directory is on the web site. There is a form attached to enter the information you choose to provide.

L.E. Award: We awarded two plaques (for a single incident) to HPD Officers Melody Prichard and Chad Nichols. At the time of the incident, both officers were “rookies” with seven months’ experience. Their supervisor, Lt. David Pena, accompanied them to the luncheon.

On January 12, 2004, Officer Melody Pritchard and Officer Chad Nichols responded to a suicide-in-progress call. When they arrived, a man approached them and explained that his ex-wife had locked herself in an apartment and threatened to harm herself and their child. There were three other children hiding in the bedroom of the apartment. Officer Nichols attempted to find a safe entry point while Officer Pritchard obtained personal information about the woman. When Officer Pritchard learned that the woman’s first name was the same as hers, she decided to use the information to establish credibility and trust.

As Officer Pritchard spoke through the kitchen window, the woman could be seen holding a large knife in one hand and a small baby in the other. Officer Prichard now found herself in the role of a hostage negotiator and worked to diffuse the deadly situation. Finally, the woman agreed to pass her baby through the window to Officer Pritchard. Once the baby was safe, the woman became irrational and began slicing flesh from her wrist. Realizing that time was crucial, Officer Nichols broke through the front door of the apartment and wrestled the knife from the woman’s grasp. EMS arrived and transported the woman to the hospital where she was treated for her injuries and psychologically evaluated.

Each officer was awarded a plaque in appreciation of their professional response and successful resolution to a potentially deadly situation.

SPEAKER: Bill H. Strother, CPP

Corporate Director of Security, Weingarten Realty Investors, Houston

TOPIC: NFPA 730: Proposed premise security guidelines

Mr. Strother is a long-standing member of the International Shopping Center Association. In July 2000, he was approached to become a member of a 22 member task force to help draft premise security guidelines for the NFPA. It involved a 12-18 month commitment that has currently reached four years.

The NFPA is a leading advocate for public safety and currently has 75,000 members. Since 1896 they have produced 300 fire, electrical and life safety codes for industry standards. In July 2000 the newly formed Technical Security Committee was provided a scope for the development of a security standard. The ISO (Insurance Security Office) has provided sponsorship of this standard. The ISO provides the leading source of information on risk in all fields by compiling statistics and selling the information, primarily to the insurance industry.

There are four document levels produced by the NFPA.

Code: the most restrictive and enforceable.
Standard: similar to a code but not enforced by city/state/police. Uses the word “shall” in its language.
Recommended Practice: the same as a standard, but uses the word “should” instead of “shall”.
Guide: every day language, makes suggestions instead of requirements

The original scope presented to the Committee was very broad. The Committee chose to limit the scope to the installation, inspection and maintenance of electronic security devices as a guide, but the Standards Council rejected that proposal, insisting on an occupation-based security standard. The Committee voted to limit the scope three times, but eventually through an appeal to the Board of Directors (with an attorney) was directed to write a standard or the committee would be disbanded. The NFPA tried to compromise and make it a “recommended practice” rather than a standard, but there is truly no difference in the language except using the word “should” versus “shall. The eventual intention is to create a Code. The Committee voted to stay and try and contain the direction of the proposal. In the last 18 months, the NFPA has increased the number of voting members to the Committee in an effort to swing the vote.

Currently there are 22 defined chapters of occupancy such as schools, health care facilities, lodging, restaurants, apartment buildings, retail establishments, office buildings and special events. The NFPA’s intention is to expand the occupancies and include other disciplines such as prisons and chemical plants.

The Committee is concerned with several issues:

That the NFPA, which is fire protection agency, is writing codes for security, which is outside their boundary. These standards are too restrictive and do not provide the flexibility to address different security applications for different facilities. Crime statistics, size of facility, location of facility, type of facility all have different applications and one standard will not reflect this diversity.
The insurance industry will then set rates based on the quality of the facility’s threat analysis. If you miss one of their criteria, they could reject the claim.
The NFPA representative confirmed that this standard would produce a new source of revenue for their organization. It also creates more statistics, which the ISO can sell to insurance companies, who set the rates.
The proposal should be a guide that is written by a security group or agency, such as ASIS, that specialize in that field. The NFPA feels an ASIS document should supplement their documents as a “tool”.

The proposal is open to public comment through October 2004. It then will be presented in its final format to the NFPA, and if accepted, the Guide will be released in May 2005. The cost of the guide will be around $50-60. Once accepted as a guide, it then can be subject to review and become a Code. Any NFPA member can vote and the final outcome may be affected by that vote. Mr. Strother encourages security professionals to become knowledgeable of the issues and participate, either for or against, during the approval process.

Mr. Strother was awarded a plaque in appreciation of his time and presentation. Keith Budd CPP, AIM Funds, also provided a tote bag as an additional gift.

The next meeting is on August 25^th. Please NOTE: the meeting location will change for this month only to the AIG American General building, speaker TBA.