12 Feb Industry interview

Matthew M Porcelli, CPP, MSI, Security Management Specialist, spoke with Meshal  Aljohani, CPP, PSP, PCI, Security Operations Specialist.

Can you tell us about your journey in security and what interested you to work in this field?

My journey in the security industry was more of a calling rather than a profession.  To fully understand that calling, I began as an entry level security officer and worked my way up. In a short time, I moved up into security operations management overseeing clients from international airlines, corporate headquarters, executive protection details and everything in between along with managing 350 security officers/supervisors across 57 private and nationally diverse client portfolios.

Since 2017, I have been employed with Harvard Protection Services as a Security Manager overseeing the security operations for two class A corporate buildings along the Hudson River in New Jersey. Since my career in security started nearly 20 years ago, I have been blessed to be invited to speak and write at and for global security conferences and publications respectively on topics from security leadership and strategic risk and security crisis management.

What are the most critical components of an effective emergency preparedness plan, and how should organisations prioritise them?

Proactive and recurrent training and communication, without a doubt! Natural and manmade serious incidents or crises are an inevitability in the security and risk management sector. Training and communication, whether it be with a contract security team, in house security department or company-wide, must be done proactively and in advance of the serious incident or crisis. Also, keep your security and emergency response plans current and up to date. An Enterprise Security Risk Management (ESRM), model can help organisations productively and proactively plan for serious incidents or crises because it supports the organisation’s strategy and in turn presents the security and risk framework under more of an advisory capacity under those organisation’s objectives while drafting and implementing emergency management plans that can be tailored to the business model.

What role does risk assessment play in preparing for emergencies?

Risk assessments are crucial because they help paint a picture of what risks or threats, (natural or manmade), an organisation may be susceptible to and what steps must be taken to mitigate them. Just as any student is better prepared to sit for an examination the more time, they study, this applies the same principle when preparing for emergencies. Vulnerability assessments are also important for preparing for emergencies as they hone in on specific areas within the organisation, (i.e. cyber or physical infrastructure), that may be exploited at any stage of the serious incident or crisis.

What role does cross-departmental communication play in emergency response, and how can organisations ensure it remains effective under pressure?

Cross-departmental communication is imperative; however, it needs to be established prior to an emergency. First responders such as frontline security officers, for example, create an important visual for responding to emergency services, management and company stakeholders, but the information needs to be clear and concise amidst any chaos. This all begins with holding regular meetings and tabletop exercises and trainings with each leader of a particular department or vendor associated with the organisation’s crisis management team/plan. Moreover, there is a wealth of knowledge to be learned from other vendor services that often go unnoticed (i.e. maintenance, food service, engineering).

With evolving threats and technologies, what trends do you foresee shaping the future of emergency preparedness?

Threats never stay stagnant and are always evolving. One trend that will shape emergency preparedness’s future is the use of drones and other forms of robotics to gather data and assist their security and risk management counterparts in coming up with mitigation strategies to better protect organisations and individuals. For instance, while security personnel are identifying and gathering information about certain risks and vulnerabilities to better protect their organisations, drones and robotics could work in tandem to do the same in areas that humans could not safely occupy.

This feature appeared in issue 146 of Security Middle East magazine.