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Assault against a security
officer
By Jeff Moore
STATE BOARD VICE PRESIDENT, ASSIST
It has been my pleasure to be the chairperson of the Assault against a Security Officer committee for ASSIST. With a new year upon us, I report that the assault cases are slowing down. I would like to contribute this to the law passed in 2003; however, in reality, I know it is probably just a coincidence. We now have to look forward and ask ourselves what we can do to protect our officers and offer them better safety. In this article, I would like to give you some ideas.
I would like to discuss some training issues which could greatly reduce the risk of your security officers being assaulted.
Better trained security officers are more confident in how to handle themselves in the field when put into potentially dangerous situations.
At Blue Moon we have quarterly inhouse training with self defense instructor Sgt. John Deloach on �Verbal Judo and Self Defense Tactics.� This is a six-hour course and our officers complete the training with a higher awareness of self defense.
Verbal Judo is the art of using your mind, body and tone of voice to deescalate a situation and prevent it from turning into an altercation. Verbal judo teaches how to avoid volatile situations when dealing with agitated persons. By being calm, cool and collected, we can slowly gain control of most situations and make the end result a peaceful one which is a much better result than getting into a verbal argument or an altercation. This training also includes how your officers can and must defend themselves when all else fails.
The self defense portion of this training is designed to better prepare them for an attack and teaches them how to recognize when an attack is imminent. The self defense tactics taught provide your officers with the skills to better protect themselves. Just as police officers receive training for these types of conditions, I feel it is crucial for our security officers to receive the same.
The Assault against A Security Officer Law, Texas Penal Code 22.01b (1) (3), was passed in 2003 and made it a third degree felony to assault a security officer while in uniform, on duty and causing bodily injury.
Today there is still some misunderstanding over this new law and most of it is on our part. Many of the calls I now receive are security officers or company owners who are questioning why the third degree felony did not get charged when their security officers got shoved or pushed. There must be bodily injury for the third degree felony to be charged. Some examples of bodily injury that would fall under this law are red marks around the neck, bruises, lacerations, open wounds and broken bones. These types of injuries constitute bodily injury and would justify that third degree charges be filed.
It is up to every company owner, manager and supervisor to make sure that if your security officer is assaulted you do everything in your power to make sure the officer�s rights are protected and the criminal is prosecuted.
Again, it has been my pleasure to serve on this committee and I look forward to continuing my service to all of our ASSIST members as well as our non-members.
If you need to contact the �Assault against a Security Officer Committee,� e-mail me at
[email protected] or call me at (281) 332-1622.
Until next time, be careful and stay safe.
Jeff Moore
ASSIST State Board Vice President
Assault Against a Security Officer State Chairperson
LEAPS Houston, TX, Chairperson
ASSIST Gulf Coast Region Executive Vice President
Blue Moon Investigations Security & Protection
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