Scores of area pastors and church staff members filled the Texarkana, Texas, Police Department's training center Thursday to learn how to keep their congregations safe.
"Doing nothing is no longer an option for these violent events," Lt. Shawn Fitzgerald said. "We want to give you how best to protect your congregations. Today 75 percent of all churches don't have a security plan, and we would like to give you suggestions to help you provide a safe place toworship because criminals now want to cause intentional disaster in churches."
Officer Jeremy Sutton, who is also an ordained minister, spoke about proactive measures church leaders can take to try to minimize a shooting attack.
"Church security teams need to be a collection of church members who are either in law enforcement, or be former military service members. However, don't rely only on these members, because the responsibility for security needs to be spread among the congregation," Sutton said. "There also needs to be a willingness among the congregation to be trained and involved in security measures."
