BCJ 4385, Workplace Security 1 UNIT II STUDY GUIDE Threats and Legal Aspects to Security Course Learning Outcomes for Unit II Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to: 1. Evaluate threats to safety and security within the private, corporate, and local level. 2. Analyze the legal issues present within the private security profession and the court of law. 3. Outline various crime causation theories and how this impacts workplace security. Unit Lesson General Overview Have you ever entered an area or a building and immediately felt as if you were in imminent danger? Do you remember that feeling you get in your chest and gut when you almost slip and fall on the wet tile floor in your house? Alternatively, have you entered a building and felt like you were trying to enter an armory? Have you ever been stopped in an arena or airport or even a shopping mall and asked to provide your bag for searching? You’ve probably answered yes to at least one of these questions. We have all, whether we realize it or not, experienced threats to our safety and security and benefited from the legal aspects of safety that help provide ethical standards and expectations for the maintenance of safety. Threats to safety and security can be intentional or unintentional and, as such, have numerous sources. These sources range from accidents and human error, to natural and environmental disasters, to civil disorder and crime. For example, identity theft is a major concern since much of the commerce transactions are now done online. Oftentimes the theft is a result of human error, such as not shredding documents that contain personal information or not using a secure web browser to conduct transactions. Human error is also exhibited when employees do not properly handle merchandise, resulting in its theft, damage, or lack of repair. Natural disasters are said to be a direct result of “the forces of nature.” We often see natural disasters in the form of forest fires, earthquakes, and tsunamis. On the other hand environmental disasters are the result of hazardous materials being released into the environment. These types of disasters are the result of some type of hazardous materials being released in larger amounts into the environment (e.g., oil spill, leakage of nuclear reactors). Fire and environmental disasters are examples of how the sources of the threats to security and safety can be hard to identify and/or intertwined. A fire can be started by lightning, it can result from human error that causes a spark (e.g., a loose metal chain being dragged across concrete at high speeds), or it can result from intentional criminal behavior, in which an arsonists sets a fire to cause widespread damage. An environmental disaster, such as an oil spill, may have resulted from an accident, such as two ships colliding or some mechanical failure. Environmental disasters can also be the result of companies ...