In light of recent events in Florida, I thought was prudent to go over a few things on the topic of infant abduction. This is another area where you can constantly see room for improvement. In fact, most locations I've visited have some sort of RFID system in place and they leave it at that. Once you start asking staff members about operational procedure, what their duties are on a sustained basis as well as upon alarm and you get a lot of blank stares and responses like "our security folks get here very quickly".
At last check, I believe the US experiences around 10 cases of infant abduction a year. Not a tremendously high number by any means but it's definitely the kind of thing that occupies the "worst case scenario" in a lot of heads. And I'll be the first to admit that given the physical layout of most wards, make up of staff, operational tempo and budgetary constraints its the kind of risk that's very difficult to protect against. This is a far cry from a comprehensive how-to on the topic, but these are the kinds of things that I find spark interest and fuel improvements when they are considered.
1. Ward Operational Methods and Procedure: Just like everything else in security, all the gee-wiz technology stuff in the world can be useless without staff in sync with the overall plan. And yes - it's probably the most difficult part of any security plan to actually get moving. Security professionals tend to be very proficient in many things, but getting the average clinical employee on board with a security plan is usually not one of them. There is a lot of psychology involved in this - and I've found that most of us with military or law enforcement backgrounds have a hard time "herding cats". That's why I'm such a big supporter of work-groups. If you can form a group made up of stakeholders, you can usually develop security plans that fit the organization, and at the same time - identify and enlist the help of managers who can help get the damn thing off the ground. I can't count the times in this kind of setting I've had to just sit back, listen - and occasionally say something along the lines of "I'm just a security guy - so you folks come up with what works for you and I'll steer you in the right direction". You'd be surprised how well that ends up working and how effective the end result usually is.
So when it comes to infant abduction, the staff has to be involved from day one. Here's a few reasons why:
a. Any alarm system should have local enunciation. The staff needs to know what to do when that happens.
b. The most effective thing is always observant staff knowing what to do when they feel like somethings wrong.
c. Once an abduction occurs, each staff member should be executing their piece of an overall plan designed to locate the child and protect the ward from any further incident.
2. Physical Layout: Most of the time, we're looking at an existing ward where we have little room to change things in the layout. But the fact remains, sometimes the most effective way to increase security is to alter the physical layout in such a way that you can maximize your perimeter. The last thing anyone wants to do is go to the operations officer and suggest walls be moved, doors be adjusted or lobbies shifted. But at the end of the day, if that's the best solution than you've got to try. Sometimes if you can show the cost analysis of that up against what it would cost to mitigate the same threats through other means you may get the green light. Of course, it's always best to venture into this kind of undertaking with a high level of respect for the ward's aesthetics. We may not be the best at looking pretty but your efforts, and/or your concern will be appreciated.
3. RFID: At a minimum, make sure everything is adjusted in that sweet spot that minimizes false alarms but still operates correctly. The more false alarms there are, the less staff will care about the alarm going off. You also want to make sure that there is a solid procedure for tagging the infants with proper devices and good supervision on that procedure. One commonly overlooked area here is how the local enunciation specifically works and looks. It's easy to have sounders go off, strobes flash and a computer monitor somewhere show information but since you're going as far as to place sensors and program enunciates - why not give the staff useful information in the ways and locations they can use? Once that alarm goes off, you want the staff to know the details as soon as possible - no staff member should be without that information for more than a few seconds after the alarm is triggered. That means displays in the hallways, or evenSMS paging rolled into your system. Another way to accomplish this is to have the information given to the staff via PA system. Of course you want to use codes and internal verbiage but if it's possible, this is a great way to get the information out there.
4. Video Systems: Just like there are a ton of RFID systems out there, there are also a lot of video systems in place. Most of them record activity and a few of them have live views available (fewer still are monitored by console operators). These systems can be tied into the RFID system to display specific camera views or a sequence of views depending on the alarm details. For instance, if the alarm is triggered when a sensor goes past "door A" than the live views of the camera covering that door, plus the cameras covering all the avenues of exit from that door are displayed. Once the alarm hits - it's doubtful that someone stealing a baby will stick around the door too long - so it's important to get cameras covering the routes away from the ward as well. I'm a big fan of putting live views of the areas around penetration points up all over the ward. They are not giving people too much information on your system (just a few camera locations they can already see) and they can greatly help staff keep tabs on activity. They also remind folks that there is a decent system in place and they will be on camera if they try anything.
5. Access Control: It's never fun trying to have "Grampa Jack" check in and get a visitor badge when his only daughter gives birth to his first grandson, but a good access control policy and system is a must for infant wards. I try to use set-ups where the staff has the option of allowing free entrance / egress or switching to "card only" when needed. That's never easy once they have to go into a preemptive "lock down" and visitors are not used to using their cards but a little good signage goes a long way. Since you should only restrict egress in very specific cases I suggest always allowing free mechanical egress, but sound an alarm if egress occurs without a valid card (when access control is activated). By configuring it this way you can activate the system, close the doors and know when someone tries to enter/exit without a card. Many times systems like this stay in the "open" mode most of the time but are put in "lock down" by staff when there is a reason. It's handy to put "lock-down" buttons in a few key locations so that staff can access them quickly from wherever they are. Limit access to the ward to only essential staff members. I know you'll catch hell from environmental services and similar departments but it's for the best. Try to get "certified" crews from these departments with access to the infant wards so you can keep tighter tabs on it. Everyone has a sister, nephew or aunt that works at a hospital right? That's a pretty easy way to get an access card if you want it. Plus it's always a good idea to limit access to your critical areas as much as you can. Sometimes just keeping 80% of your organization out of an area is enough to significant mitigate risks.
6. Security Staff: They should automatically see as much information as possible on alarm, and have access to live views and system status all the time. If a console is in place than predetermined views should automatically come into sight when an alarm occurs. Every position should know what their role is in monitoring the system, fetching and distributing still images of suspects and manning the outer perimeter. It goes without saying that all staff should have secure radio communication butPDA's are also a real plus. In addition to live camera views you can also get staff still pictures of the suspects quickly through thePDA . Keep in mind that one of the first priorities is to stop the suspect from leaving the property. So, having security staff en route to key points on the perimeter is more important than getting up to the unit.
7. Everyone Else: You can send staff a text page as soon as the alarm occurs and follow up with further information as it comes. You can also have predetermined email lists set up where you can get out the still pictures and other information. Lots of people have smart phones now and once they know what's going on they can access their email or a secure intranet site to view suspect photos.
8. Go High End: I'll say it 'till I'm blue in the face - but look into using a wi-fi based tracking system. You can also use this for critical equipment and staff members. This also gives you the route the suspect is taking and who is nearby.
