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Codename: Safe Children

by Jason Russell
November/December 2018
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Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/codename-safe-children/5024434/

What does a child care teacher have in common with a Secret Service agent? Much more than immediately meets the eye. Child care workers and Secret Service agents are at their core, protectors, and this responsibility for keeping people other than themselves safe is what drives both groups.

I see the connection every day as the founder of Secure Education Consultants (SEC), a security consulting agency operated by former U.S. Secret Service agents, which aims to improve the security of child care centers across the country.

I founded SEC because I discovered that most child care centers are drastically underprepared for emergencies and critical incidents. This lack of preparation is no fault of operators or program directors, but rather a lack of expertise and process management. My wife, Kelly, owns Milestones Child Development Centers with four locations in Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo, Michigan. After the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012, I felt compelled to look more closely at Milestones’ security plans. What I discovered frightened me.

While on the surface the planning and preparation looked adequate, a closer examination revealed significant weaknesses that I could not ignore. Using the lens of a Secret Service agent, I identified gaps in the center’s physical security ...

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