AST Digital Magazine October 2017 Digital-Oct | Page 29

Volume 17
October 2017 Edition
3 Ways Turnstiles Can Reduce Active Shooter Risks
Guest Editorial by Mike McGovern, Regional Sales Manager,
Automatic Systems
As security professionals, we know that much thought and
preparation must go into both preventing and responding to
these incidents in ways that reduce harm and save lives. Au-
tomatic Systems America is a Proud Sponsor of the 2017
‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Program
Active Shooter Incident Planning and
Risk Abatement are among the most dis-
cussed topics lately in the news and in
our security professional circles – large-
ly due to the all-too-frequent deadly inci-
dents in our lives and work as security
professionals.
A properly designed and implemented entrance
control system – usually involving some form
of pedestrian entrance control such as optical
turnstiles, mechanical turnstiles, or portals – can
have a major role in the deterrence of such an
occurrence.
It seems that at least once every month another
shooting incident is being reported somewhere,
in the USA, Canada, anywhere in the world.
(A gunman in a UPS uniform killed three people and wound-
ed two others before turning his weapon on himself at a facil-
ity in San Francisco, police said. Courtesy of NBC News and
YouTube. Posted on Jun 14, 2017)
No commercial, public, private, or government
entity is immune from the threat, and we know
that security leaders, government leaders, and
others are continuously looking for ways to bet-
ter prepare for the unthinkable event.
As security professionals, we know that much
thought and preparation must go into both pre-
venting and responding to these incidents in
ways that reduce harm and save lives.
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