Think About it -- Deadly Force Incident Study Update

Think About It Think About it -- Deadly Force Incident Study Update
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Faith Based Security Network

Oct 7, 2023

DFI 1999-2020.pdf

Being hostage to an angry gunman in 1996 changed the trajectory of my life. I considered myself a business professional in the realm of commercial construction up to that moment. Being the single wage earner with a wife and family, we needed reliable income. With a good job (and an entrepreneur on the side with a growing business), my focus was on a prosperous career.

That focus changed.

It wasn’t the instant turning of a switch; there were still things to finish in my day job. But something had changed in my calling and career path.

I needed to see what the risks were associated with churches and faith-based organizations. The more I researched, the more I saw one particular risk that nobody (at that time, in 1999) was talking about.

I was seeing serious violent incidents at church and para-church ministries. It challenged not only my career path, buy my personal theology (God will protect us) and comfort zones (stay with what you know).

I didn’t like security or want to do it. But it continued to draw me in. Applying construction practicality (clear guidelines, in the form of drawings and specifications, are needed to build with excellence), I began developing guidelines for a detailed study to conduct.

I was hearing of other studies emerging about “active shooters” and “hate crimes.” I understand why some study those sub-categories of violence. But to get too deep into a sub-category of violence leaves the critical measures of root problems ignored. It skews the logic of effective prevention and response.

So, in 1999 I laid out the inaugural perimeters of a study of deadly force incidents associated with faith-based organizations in the United States. If a potential or real homicide or suicide happened at a faith-based organization or was carried out by or against the senior pastor or leader of a ministry, I logged it and extracted applicable criteria from that incident.

Little did I know I was studying something I would again be involved in.

Think About it.

That study is now owned and published by the FBSN at https://www.fbsnamerica.com/deadly-force-study.

The team that manages that study have recently completed the data for the year 2020. So now, the data is extracted from 2,361 incidents that occurred in those 22 years.

Those 2,361 incidents resulted in 1,047 violent deaths. Go to the site to read all the other meaningful data.

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3

Lessons From the Farm (No. 1)

Having moved back to farm country (from where I continue to manage the Faith Based Security Network), there is also the reality of needed work to be done on the farm. Fortunately, there is not (yet) any cropland; the daily duties are centered around making sure the small cow herd is healthy and accounted for. It is rare that I can’t think of the applicability of some farm action to the realm of effective security operations. Such was the case this week when a neighbor called to see if I could help him out. Helping is just part of common rural hospitality. It’s called “neighboring.” When someone’s ox is in the ditch, you go help them. He owns no oxen, but he did have a few hundred acres of corn to get harvested in a narrow window of time. He needed to keep 3 semis continuously filled as drivers ran the harvested corn to the granaries. He had a 12-row combine working nonstop cutting the corn. The missing link was a man on a tractor to catch the freshly harvested corn out of the combine into a 750 bushel mobile grain cart, then transport that corn to the waiting semis. The inset picture shows the operation and equipment well. He set aside an hour to have one of his workers train me on the tractor and the mobile grain cart. After that I was all alone in a John Deere 8400, 4-wheel drive row-crop tractor. This wasn’t like driving Dad’s old 2-cylinder John Deeres 50 years ago. This $300,000 monster had a computerized cab more like a cockpit. At 30,000 pounds and 225 horsepower, it was bigger, more powerful and more expensive than any machine I’d ever operated. One hour of training. Think About it The great late Jeff Cooper said, “Owning a handgun doesn't make you armed any more than owning a guitar makes you a musician” (another version quoted him as, “Owning a pistol doesn't make you a pistoleer any more than owning a piano makes you a pianist”). A few hours operating powerful machinery doesn’t make one a farmer either. Is your training commensurate with the tools and the needed actions? How much is a life worth? If you think an hour might be a little light for training on a monster tractor, how much is too light for your tools of protecting life?