The following is a brief overview of what our program consist of:

• Has terrorism changed my legal responsibilities as a property owner?
• What are my legal obligations for my property?
• What should I expect of my security program?

Synopsis

Consideration:

To determine if private security needs have changed after the events of 9-11 and the subsequent increased concern of terrorism.

Security Objectives:

• Protection of people
• Protection of property/fixed assets
• Deterrence against crime
• Emergency response
• Hazard detection
• Employee/tenant/customer morale-sense of security
• Protection against terrorism
• Lawsuit avoidance/containment

Security Responsibilities:

A premises owner has a non-delegable duty to 1) discover that criminal or negligent conditions exist on his or her property; and 2) to either give sufficient warning of such conditions if they exist so that visitors can take reasonable precautions to avoid harm, or, to remove the threat of danger from such conditions.

Regarding security specifically, a premises owner does not have a duty to ensure the safety of his or her visitors, but rather to exercise ordinary care to maintain his or her premises so that it may be used safely by visitors.

What is �ordinary care�?
The ordinary care that is necessary for your property depends on local circumstances and boils down to one key question:   Has there been criminal or other suspicious activity on or near the premises that would alert the premises owner that criminal activity is foreseeable on the premises?

If so, the premises owner has a duty to either reasonably protect from that harm or warn invitees. Considering terrorism�s impact, the question may be:  Has there been a change to foreseeable third-party criminal activity on or near your premises that is terrorist-related?

To assess legal liability, the question to ask is:   What reasonable steps can or should be property owner take to either warn or remove the threat of such activity?

• Know your property and its security needs
• Rationally understand the terrorist threat directed at your property.
• Acknowledge what is a reasonable response.
• Determine whether you a �primary� or �trophy� terrorist target, a �secondary� target, or simply subject to possible collateral damage.

Security Recommendations:

With respect of �soft targets� such as offices, retail establishments, hotels, etc. a security expert was recently quoted in an article in Time Magazine�s February 24, 2003 edition, saying, �Little has been done; little can be done to safeguard against terrorism."

While property owners cannot be expected to protect against terrorism, property owners can ensure that their buildings and staff are prepared to handle emergencies. Following are key security recommendations for every property owner.

• Emphasize disaster planning and training - both for immediate response
to an emergency and for your own internal operations resumption.
• Remember quality counts - will your security team measure up in the most dire of circumstances?
• Establish a complete security team - every individual on your premises has a role.
• Practice effective and legal profiling - key on behaviors rather than simply physical characteristics.
• Establish effective operational and communications links with law enforcement agencies - the flow needs to go both ways.
• Conduct background checks - know everyone who is regularly on your property.

• Terrorism and the Legal Liability
• Business Terrorism
• Terrorism NO SIMPLE SOLUTION TO A COMPLEX PROBLEM