ST. CLAIR TWP. — The St. Clair Police Department, in collaboration with the Ohio Crime Prevention Association, will be holding a House of Worship safety, security and risk Management training on May 1 from 9 a.m.-3 p.m., in the Community Room at the St. Clair Township Administration Building, 15442 Pugh Rd., East Liverpool.

While the program originated for houses of worship the training is not restricted to just that and is good for non-profit community groups, businesses, law enforcement, security teams, clergy and faith-based leaders, ushers religion members, crime prevention practitioners and more.

St. Clair Police Chief Brian McKenzie said that he and officers Kelsey Hedrick and James Canon, are members of the OCPA and have been trying to bring this training into the area for the past two to three years.

McKenzie noted the reason they worked to get this training is churches, non-profits, community organizations and more are considered soft targets for people who want to do bad acts. He also noted that the training needs approximately 25-30 participants to make it a great experience for everyone involved.

McKenzie, Hedrick and Canon along with the possibility of other officers from the department will present for the training to answer questions participants may have.

McKenzie believes this training is important for the community and highly recommends it.

“With the times that we live in everybody has to take as much precaution as possible to have an environment that is safe. You need to be more self-aware of your surroundings,” he said. “When you talk about houses of worship or any soft target, people tend to just entirely focus on the reason that they are there, not their general surroundings and that’s what we are trying to do with this training with the OCPA is bring to light that these things are capable of happening anywhere especially soft targets.”

He is aware of local houses of worship who have police officers working them now and some local places who have their own internal security, highlighting the reality that potential threats are out there.

“I want to be clear, that this is not just for houses of worship,” McKenzie said noting that the training would also be touching on a lot of things for keeping houses and businesses safe, such as preventing easy access to your house and other things that would deter people from committing criminal acts.”

According to CPA president John DiPietro, the group began this kind of training back in 2009 after receiving a grant from the Office of Criminal Justice Services. it was created due to an crime uptick associated with houses of worship throughout Ohio. The organization started offering training all over Ohio. When a church shooting occurred in 2015 in Charleston, SC, the organization started receiving a phone calls. OCPA is now conducting five to seven trainings a year in Ohio and have now branched out of the state to offer the training.

A media release from the OCPA indicated that due to the locations, populations, and open-door mentality, houses of worship can be highly vulnerable to active assailant attacks. But leadership teams can take specific steps to minimize the risk of being involved in an active shooter event. It also noted that this training will cover not only the steps to minimize the active shooter risk, but also for surviving these types of incidents.

The training takes an all-hazard approach addressing more than just active shooter situations, but also property crime such as theft of funds, burglary, arson, vandalism and other crimes that can be committed against soft targets.

The training also addresses the vulnerability of staff members/clergy to occurrences of physical or personal abuse.

The training will also educate on topics such as protecting people and property, preventing accidents, injury and neglect, safeguarding against loss from crime and theft, protecting members/staff from lawsuits, abuse, liability and/or false claims.

Topics to be covered include active shooter/threat, concealed carry weapon consideration, crime prevention, risk management, critical incidents, physical security, all hazards approach for safety teams, CPTED (Crime Prevention through Environmental Design and organizational protocols for safety teams.

Fortunately, most of the crimes mentioned are preventable, according to the release. It also noted that FBI statistics show that it is the property crimes listed above that are the primary cause for houses of worship to lose nearly $500 million in lost funds and insurance costs.

Registration is required for the training and can be done online at www.ocpa-oh.org.

Cost for the training is $60 for OCPA members and $70 for non-members. It includes the training, reference manual and certificate. Payment can be made online during registration.

Additional information can be found on the website. For any questions, call 740-280- OCPA (6272)

kgarabrandt@mojonews.com