Protecting houses of worship in ever-changing landscape
NORTH TEXAS - What happened in Houston has North Texas churches reviewing their security plans and increasing their level of alert.
With a campus that includes five buildings over an area downtown that covers 2 million square feet, Robert Reeves has his work cut out for him as the new Executive Director of Operations for First Baptist Dallas.
But he's confident it's a secure place for its more than 16,000 members.
"First Baptist Dallas is safe for you to attend church," Reeves said.
Still, the shooting over the weekend at Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church in Houston has leaders here at First Baptist Dallas reviewing their own protocols.
"Really makes us take notice," said Reeves. "These incidences that occur are very alarming, obviously our prayers are with Lakewood."
Reeves, a 20-year veteran of the Irving Police Department, says his church and many other large ones have layers of security to protect the main sanctuary which the shooter was not able to get inside of on Sunday in Houston.
First Baptist Dallas says it has a robust security system and prohibits anyone except its authorized personnel from carrying weapons.
"We can't let our security be so lax that our churches are dangerous places to attend but we also can't make our churches be so strict that it restricts people from being able to come here and learn about God," Reeves said.
Deadly shootings at a church in White Settlement in 2019 and the massacre at one in Sutherland Springs in 2017 haven't changed the approach to security of many churches according to consultants.
"We still have a lot of churches that don't believe it will happen to them, which is unfortunate," said Anthony Willams with American Institute for Management Strategies.
Security consultants say large mega-churches are no more at risk of violent attacks than small ones. Each has what they call soft spots that make them vulnerable.
Williams is a retired Dallas officer who has trained security and crisis management at 750 churches over the last 10 years and explains what those soft spots are.
"It can be the physical environment of the church," Williams said. "It can be the number of people that they have in certain positions to help safeguard the church. Some of the vulnerabilities could be in the messages that are spoken at the churches that may draw the anger of the individual."
While two people were injured in the shooting at Lakewood Church, it's believed that number could have been much higher if not for the quick actions of its security force.
