The fourth Quarter 2016 IFPO newsletter is posted. The newsletter is available to IFPO members only. Here is a preview of one of the great articles.

Developing a Culture of Security

By Lawrence J. Fennelly, CHS III, CPOI, CSSI & Marianna A. Perry, M.S., CPP

Will it be easy to develop a culture of security in your organization? The answer to this question is . . . “it depends.” To have a culture of security in your organization depends upon whether or not you have total support from upper management. In the security industry, this is frequently called buy-in, but it is really much more than that. You have to have management participation as well as buy-in. Buy-in and participation are not the same thing. Employees of the organization need to see management actively participating and engaged in the security program. For a security program to be successful, no one is exempt from following security procedures, regardless of their title or role in the organization. Ensure that your organization does not have the “us” and “them” mentality or that management is “allowed” to disregard security procedures out of a sense of entitlement. When there is a culture of security, security belongs to everyone in the organization and everyone in the organization is an active participant.

Another critical component of developing a positive security culture is using metrics to measure the effectiveness of employee security awareness training. When effectiveness is measured, successes can be celebrated and areas that need improvement can be identified. How will you know if an employee recognized a suspicious person or incident, reduced risk or prevented a loss? Measuring your program will help management justify the cost of the security awareness program.

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