Comprehensive Security Plan for the Maryland Public Safety Education and Training Center

Security Plan for the Maryland Public Safety Education and Training Center

This paper will focus on a security plan designated for the Maryland Public Safety Education and Training Center. Here emphasis will be given on many things including facility assets that require protection, various threats which are directed towards the assets and the probability of loss. It is important to note that there are many complexes and facilities associated with the main training center and any plan offered should be a standard blueprint that can be applied at any of the facilities and all of them should be able to get interconnected with each other. Therefore, it is the purpose of this paper to focus on that blueprint.

Introduction with brief overview

The Maryland Public Safety Education and Training Center is situated in Sykesville, Maryland. The facility is generally divided in two main centers which totals to about seven hundred acres in area. The main facility is closely situated alongside Drivers Training Facility (DTF) and Firearms Training Facility (FTF). The main facility includes classrooms, driving simulator station and staff offices. The Academic and Administrative Complex (AAC) is associated with the Maryland state hospital and it includes computer labs, food preparation area, classrooms, video broadcasting and graphic arts studio, dining hall and maintenance shops. Two residential dorms are associated with the AAC that include a physical training center. The PT center here includes a standard basketball gym, offices, classrooms, swimming pool and weight training areas. Outside grounds have an obstacle course and a running track.

It is therefore in the best interest of this paper to give out the blueprint of a security plan which includes all the basic details that can be applied to every department mentioned above. This blueprint will hold many details such as budget issues, details about protective systems and access control, external building security, details about perimeter protection and a note on other related controls.

It is important to mention here that any security plan must meet up with the existing security threats that are faced by any organization and much of these threats come up from the existing cyber networks which includes hacking, virus attacks and so on. Therefore any security planner must emphasize greatly on the technological aspect of the security and put up a team of I.T experts to deal with such threats.

2. Organizational Security Plan

2.1 Basic controls

The basic physical controls generally include those items which are less advanced as compared to the other controls but they are still very effective as a unit of security. Regardless of what other sorts of controls would be used, the basic security mechanism will always have its relative importance for the business owners for many risky areas such as offices, equipment, labs, bathrooms or the dining areas. The most common type of controls include the usual keys and lock system, lighting, fencing for the outside and guards to serve on protective duty. In our case scenario, the basic controls are needed to be more efficient across the Drivers Training Facility and Firearms Training Facility areas which are near the Academic Center.

These basic systems are most efficient in dealing with threats such as physical plant intrusion, any sort of property damage either to the exterior or interior of the organization and also towards the personal security of the center itself with includes any sort of property loss, damage to the property, physical assault to any personnel working at the property and so on. Any usage of proper equipment is primarily more likely to keep the premises of the center secure. It is often seen that the traditional keys and locks could actually keep the organization much secure since the usage of locks would make it lengthy for any intruder to gain proper access to the premises of the protected area.

While the organization makes its basic security more difficult to be cracked by the intruders, it tends to make it easier for the firm itself to notice if anything is going wrong since the intruders are always looking for an easy point of access which should make their intrusion unseen by the security system.

The basic controls are known to be less costly as compared to the more complicated online security and other systems and they can be easily applied to any large areas, in our case it can be also applied at the main training center alongside the Academic and Administrative Complex, the residential dorms and other relative areas. The basic security apparatus is known to set up the stage for more advanced exterior and interior security mechanism. Keys and locks could be used internally but they can also be applied on fencing, here it should also be mentioned that lighting is a type of system that can be applied at various locations either interior or exterior and could target areas like dark corners, alley ways and parking lots.

Lighting is known to prevent many petty criminal activities such as break-ins or vandalism. It greatly increases the risk for the intruder to be seen by a security personnel or any other individual. The usage of fencing can make it much more difficult for any intruder to gain access and it is often responsible for lower levels of theft in organizations. Proper fencing includes barbed wire placed on top of the fences as well as electrical fences which can severely shock the intruders. These types of practices tend to scare the intruders in general and even make them forfeit their overall plan of intruding just by inspecting the security apparatus.

Regardless of the technology which is used at the organization, the presence of facility guards is known to be a basic security control mechanism which tends to greatly aid other physical security systems like alarms, sensors and other relative devices since guards on duty are foremost in taking action and taking care of any intrusion first hand. Some security staff can also take the assistance of the law enforcement agencies if their services are required and can neutralize the threat facing the organization in a much more efficient manner.

2.2 Perimeter protection

The center can have many different perimeters which can work together and in effect make the security model better. It can include the protection of personnel working at the center, technology and business information and the visitors to the center. In this sense the usage of computing technology has become more and more popular, here the center's database would contain the information of all the perimeters that are supposed to keep away the intruders like hackers from attaining any information. The basic controls are known to aid in the security efforts provided by the perimeters. Perimeter protection includes mechanisms such as security dogs, badges, smart cards and technical controls.

Perimeter protection are often applied in terms of layers to protect any organization, the usage of several layers assisting each other can make it extremely difficult for any unauthorized personnel to take hold of any information or data related to the organization and keep the working personnel at relative ease regarding the worries of security threats. The outside perimeter might use different sorts of characteristics for badges. On the perimeter gates the on-duty guards might ask for the mentioned identification units before allowing anyone proper access to the premises.

Smart cards tend to have information regarding individuals and also contain a special chip which is used for the identification of every individual. This sort of smart card can easily be placed at the ids and then be scanned at many different areas on the premises. Because of the many different levels regarding security threats the majority amount of smart cards might have only a limited amount of access.

Setting up a perimeter could easily mitigate and detect attacks, here any private database would use perimeters in order to control the overall ability to access the data as well as the database. The perimeter also includes protection mechanisms like anti-virus software or any hardware for computer database which can be used to track and catch threats before their occurrence. It can also be used to send the information to any other network. The perimeter protection could be applied both externally and internally.

It is important here to answer some important questions regarding the perimeter protection, firstly the question arises that should the whole perimeter protection system have one central command unit? The answer to this is yes, since any system is governed by a set of principles directed by a central authority therefore in the case of perimeter protection this authority is the central command unit. It is therefore the responsibility of the organization to put great emphasis on this command unit and make it as infallible as possible from any sorts of external and internal attacks.

Another important question often raised is regarding the smart cards, it consists of dealing with the validity of these cards and if they should be bounded by time or not? The answer to this is that they should always be bounded by time since any personnel working for the center is bound to be replaced sometime in the future or would be either promoted or demoted. Therefore the access privileges attained by that specific person could get into wrong hands if they are forever and if the smart cards are place in wrong hands after the personnel have left its post.

Often critics question regarding the levels of perimeter security, they tend to ask security professionals if they should keep multiple layers or single layer? The answer here is that multiple layers tend to give better protection as compared to a single layer.

2.3 Protective systems and access control

Access control is known to be a very common methodology to identify personnel before they enter their designated areas. Access point can be any gate, id verification, security check or any other way to protect any premises from harm. The protective systems at any organization require continuous assessment at regular intervals in order to be according to the latest changes and this factor of change should always be kept in mind for the sake of proper control. Access control and protective systems teach the personnel proper discipline and also put awareness in them regarding being caught while doing any improper conduct.

Surveillance is a very important factor as regard to protective systems and access control. It is known to give a huge boost to the existing security apparatus in place at the organization. The surveillance cameras can easily catch those things that any common guard may not catch during their respective patrols. Surveillance is good because it gives eyes to the security personnel all the time and can caught any criminal activity while it is being occurred, they also tend to make it more easier for the organization to cover a vast amount of area in an easy manner.

Another important benefit regarding surveillance is that it can record activities of places and that record can be kept by the organization forever. This information is very crucial for any organization since it can lead towards many hints or clues towards actual act of theft or burglary even before any such act is committed. These tapes can be analyzed by security experts to determine the proper course of action and can also assist the law enforcement agencies in great many ways.

Surveillance methodology also helps the firm to establish a proper emergency planning and response cell. This can be done when any emergency is detected first handedly and therefore any response given to that call of emergency is done in a short notice. The response cell often tends to respond quickly due to the efficiency of surveillance. A key point to note in this entire scenario is that any system regarding the monitoring of personnel as well as the overall environment should properly follow the guidelines set by the organization itself, here all the legal issues related to the site must be taken note of and any future planning with regards to the site should abide by the laws stated by the federal and state government.

The security systems have many functionalities which should be properly utilized in order to create more protection for products, personnel services and the organization as whole. Performing work in layers can greatly help in breaking down any business into several sections so that security is built according to more specified needs. It is also seen that a multi-layered system is better in organizing as well as in addressing different parts of security for the organization where this system is applied, it is easy for them to find a solution to any problem as compared to any single layered system.

Taking note of our chosen case, it is better to apply different layers at different departments of the public safety education and training center. Since there are so many different departments that are related to the main center and lie close to the premises of the main center therefore it is better to have a planned coordination among all of the departments so that any threat facing the whole organization is identified on time and any loss regarding malicious activities is dealt with quickly.

2.4 Budget related issues

A good security budget should be able to keep a proper track of finances since all things associated with the firm especially security has a price. Security budget is usually a small percentage of expenses as compared to the firm's total budget. Two main types of budget related to the security factor are the security capital and the security personnel budget. The security capital might include any services or products which are provided to our chosen center by other firms. It is also common to observe that a business could use outsourcing in order to obtain software, security, equipment and other related devices. Every one of these products or services would carry a price tag and will be a portion of the overall budget.