The OCSA Training Program

 

Since this is the beginning of a new training year it is a good time to recount a little of the history of the Oklahoma Church Security Association.

The Oklahoma Church Security Association was born out of a single set of events over a decade ago. I was still practicing law. My best business client was a deacon at his church. A very dangerous man had threatened to kill not only his own family but also the pastor of the church and anyone else who got in his way. The man was mentally unstable, very capable of making good on his threats and a fugitive from justice. The man was known to be in the area but law enforcement had unsuccessfully been trying to apprehend him for months.

My client was a successful businessman and a former US Air Force security specialist. He knew what his church needed. And, as was his habit, he retained me to make it happen. The vice president he chose to run operations was a retired Tulsa Police Officer who was then head of security for one of Tulsa’s major institutions. I was chief counsel and administrator.

The first thing I did was research. The question was, “What kind of people do we need to hire?” The results were shocking. The skill set required to properly protect a pastor and a congregation were much more like those required of Federal Air Marshals, Bureau of Diplomatic Security Agents and Secret Service Agents than those of ordinary policemen. We knew that wasn’t going to happen so we began recruiting from the Tulsa Police Department.

The typical TPD candidate had a Bachelor’s Degree, often in Criminal Justice or Police Science, meaning that they had already spent four years studying the academic side of the job before spending a year in the TPD Police Academy and field training program. I was advised to look for men out of specific divisions who did actual police work and to avoid candidates from support services who, while technically sworn officers, were just moonlighting as private security with their badge.

The situation that gave birth to that threat at my client’s church eventually went away as did that church’s motivation to maintain such a security program. I wrote a book about my experience forming the company and went on the speaking circuit promoting it. What I found was a shocking lack of knowledge about the security needs of churches and a tendency to treat church security programs, when there was one, like any other hit or miss, amateur managed and manned church project. The Oklahoma Church Security Association was born out of this situation.

The first three directors of the OCSA were myself, a medically disabled former US Army Airborne trooper who was pastor of a local church and served as leader in his denomination and another local pastor who was a medically disabled 28 year police veteran from one of America’s most dangerous cities. The retired Airborne trooper had a terminal degree black belt, had grown up in a law enforcement family and regularly practiced skills almost identical to church security in his employment for the state. He was also a very experienced educator. The retired police officer had the appropriate academic qualifications but was also a graduate of the FBI Academy with nearly two decades experience as a SWAT team leader and instructor.

The OCSA was formed for two missions. First to provide church leadership access to highly qualified, proven experts who could advise churches concerning their security needs and second to provide high quality security training by truly qualified instructors … all at no charge. With the advice of these first directors I wrote the one year curriculum the OCSA now uses.

The OCSA training requirements parallel the Oklahoma State security guard licensing requirements which require 40 classroom hours for unarmed guards (the equivalent of greeter-ushers in our program nomenclature) and 63 hours for armed guards (the equivalent of armed protectors in our program nomenclature). Of course, our instructional content is geared toward church needs rather than commercial establishments. The Oklahoma State security training requirements are not designed to produce effective security guards but rather to provide a minimum threshold for new security employees who will then be placed in their employer’s in house training program to learn the actual skills needed for the job.

The legal status of volunteer church security in Oklahoma is ambiguous at best and there is no sign that there is the political will either by the churches or elected officials to change it. Sooner or later this situation may result in disastrous consequences for a church security volunteer who has to use force to protect his flock. The number one line of questioning the prosecution will pursue will be the level of the volunteer’s training.

If the church and the volunteer follow the OCSA program they will be able to present solid factual evidence that despite the ambiguities in Oklahoma law their volunteers had completed approximately the same number of classroom hours under qualified instructors required for a state security license and had fired the same minimum handgun qualification required of Oklahoma police officers. Not just committee meetings, bible studies, pancake breakfasts and “retreats” but solid classroom instruction by highly qualified instructors. While the OCSA cannot and does not claim to offer any sort of certification this body of evidence of documented training would place the volunteer in a much better place legally than a concealed carry permit and excuses. It could give a willing jury a plausible reason to refute the prosecution’s claim of negligence in training and preparation.

The major complaint we hear about the OCSA program is that it takes too large a time commitment. Far too many people expect their church security program to follow the model of their church in general. It all starts with a “decision” (salvation) followed by an outward commitment (baptism) and then participation (often minimal) of some sort (church attendance, serving on committees, attending bible studies, programs, etc.) Measurable, objective standards beyond showing up are minimal. Unfortunately, security unlike spiritual matters has immediately measurable standards and dire immediate consequences if the team is called upon to serve and those standards are not met.

The Oklahoma Church Security Association program is built upon a discipleship model. We seek to develop discipleship relationships with the students in this area of service. We choose instructors who actually have something to teach. All are qualified instructors in the real world with real world experience in their area of expertise not just the church. And most of the instructors are also men who have been set aside for leadership and service by their community of faith. Consequently, they have both martial skills to share and spiritual depth.

The OCSA accepts approximately fifty new people per year from approximately five new churches for this training program. For more information respond to this email or call Bill Kumpe at 918-381-9792.