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Protecting People and Property During Times of Crisis
 People today are all too
familiar with large-scale destruction, whether it's from manmade terror or natural phenomenon.
Disasters such as 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina brought major cities to their knees and threw their
citizens into instant chaos.
Sometimes a disaster can band people together, causing virtual strangers to do
whatever it takes to help one another survive. But there's also a dark side to disaster, one we
have become all too familiar with lately. There are people who take advantage of others during
a crisis by stealing, raping, murdering, or instilling fear into the general population.
Sometimes these people are forced to commit criminal acts out of desperation or self-preservation,
while other times, they do it out of spite, greed or anger. Whatever the reason, security
during a disaster is required to protect both people and property.
That's where disaster security comes in. When everyone else is running away,
extraordinary people are needed to stay and provide a safe environment during both disaster
and recovery. This is not a job for just anyone, though. It's a task for people who have the
training to quickly make important decisions and who thrive off of high-adrenaline
situations.
The officers providing a secure environment during a disaster need to be able
to hit the ground running, and the decisions they make can have serious consequences. "This
isn't a time to put a rookie in the field," says Walt Roberts, founder of Able Security, one
of the few companies that specialize in disaster security. "Our security specialists have
military and law enforcement backgrounds. This means they can handle all types of
security-related issues, including everything from guarding against looters to protecting
people who have vital emergency functions."
Disaster security is needed almost as soon as a catastrophic event occurs,
but this is complicated by the fact that most disasters are unplanned. After Hurricane
Katrina hit New Orleans, Able Security had people on the ground within 15 hours, even with
no access by air.
When the Army Corps of Engineers couldn't get pumps into the Superdome
because people were shooting at the engineers, Able Security gave them the protection they
needed to do their job. When President Bush flew into New Orleans to survey the damage,
disaster security personnel helped to secure the perimeter. When the police were overwhelmed
with rescue operations, private retailers hired disaster security specialists to guard
against looting.
 According to Roberts,
"New Orleans didn't need just a couple people, they needed a whole security detail of officers
providing a safe environment. We were able to send 120 disaster security professionals within
days, and we'll keep most of them there through the end of the year. Lionel Jerome Wise, the
Chief of Security and Law Enforcement for the Army Corps of Engineers in New Orleans, praised
our security protection tactics and personnel in a recent letter. He said he had never worked
with a more dedicated security company in all of his years of government service."
When disaster strikes, normal rules don't apply. Disaster security
specialists have the training, the background, and the capacity to secure large areas,
allowing others to do what they do best: rescue, restore and rebuild.
Able Security specializes in providing a secure environment during
disaster. They provide disaster security personnel worldwide. For more information, contact
Walt Roberts at
469-533-3331.
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