Create Safety In Your Sanctuary With A Church Security Plan

Although the concept of the church as a safe place, a sanctuary, is probably as old as religion itself, the need for a detailed church security plan can feel wrong to some people. A church is meant to be a welcoming place, not a fortress. Unfortunately, every church faces real risks, and a security plan is essential to ensuring that your congregation and staff can feel secure.

A church safety plan is a set of protocols that layout how your church leaders and volunteers should respond to emergencies and threats such as a fire, theft, medical crisis, active shooter, or even extreme weather.

One of the first steps is to designate the members of your church security team. It can include paid staff and volunteers, but it should be based on clear requirements for service, including passing a background check. Then this team can collaborate with church management, local law enforcement, and emergency services to establish the proper protocol for each scenario.

Visibility is essential when laying out your security plan and implementing it. Modern tools and digital systems can allow you to discreetly deploy equipment without making people feel overly watched. Although, surveillance is an important form of accountability and can prove necessary when dealing with claims of misconduct.

You will likely need a control room to monitor video feeds and manage critical systems.

Examine the floorplan of your church and identify the most important areas to cover with security cameras. Consider ways to optimize visual coverage and subtlety. Nobody enjoys feeling watched, especially in a vulnerable place such as a church.

Obviously, most churches proactively invite people from all walks of life to participate in services, so a comprehensive access control system would be counterproductive. On the other hand, staff offices, rooms for nursing mothers, and rooms housing valuable artifacts or equipment should be protected with controlled access.

An emergency phone isn’t a visually appealing piece of equipment, even if you place it strategically in the lobby or some other easy-to-reach spot. Emergency phones are a critical way to help your congregations and security team respond to issues quickly. Even though everyone has a cell phone these days, you still want to have a backup option.

Some churches maintain open doors 24/7, while others rely on a weekly cadence of events and office hours. Whatever your church decides should match your values. Even so, intrusion alarms can be beneficial for protecting sensitive rooms and side exits. You want to alert the security team to identify unauthorized access without alarming your congregation without cause.

Use separate wifi networks so that staff and critical systems can stay isolated from the normal flow of visitors and members who may ask to connect to the internet while at church. It also ensures that your network won’t get bogged down at peak service times.

You don’t need to review your privacy policies at every service, but you do need to review them periodically and publish relevant policies for everyone to read. This helps everyone respond faster and more calmly in the event of a crisis.

These are already a building code requirement for most buildings that host large groups of people. It is more considerate if you look for additional ways to guide foot traffic clearly and easily in case of emergency.

You may have rare cause to use a public address system, but when you need it, there’s no substitute. It’s also good to maintain it separately from the musical equipment you may already have connected to amplifiers and speakers.

I.e. Smart Systems has deep experience in building security systems to protect vulnerable people, including hospitals and schools. Whatever church security plan you put in place, it’s a good idea to have it reviewed by an outside party and to regularly train your staff on the proper response for each anticipated scenario. We can help you strike the right balance between security and comfort for your congregation.

i.e.Smart Systems is a Houston, TX based technology integration partner that specializes in design and installation of audio/visual technology and structured cabling. For more than three decades, our team of in-house experts has partnered with business owners, architectural firms, general contractors, construction managers, real estate developers, and designers in the Houston market, to deliver reliable, scalable solutions that align with their unique goals.