Business Security Information

Before I start this article, I want to say this is strictly an opinion piece and may not be directly related to the emphasis of this site which is security for small and medium sized businesses.  I do think the basic premise of the article will be relevant to any business, not just a company that has ships on the high seas.

Back in July, I had read an article in Security Product magazine related to the modern day pirates from Somalia.  It was written soon after the rescue of Captain Phillips of the Maersk Alabama.  It discussed the issue of whether the crews of such ships should be armed so they can fight against such pirates.  The article went on to then discuss high tech, non-lethal weapons that are available to protect crews of these ships.  According to the article, the non-lethal weapons are meant to prevent boarding of the ships by pirates.  Some of the weapons noted included sound weapons (that project loud noise towards the pirates), water cannons, slippery gels and electric fences.  It was noted in the article that these types of non-lethal weapons provide a good defense.  Basically, the best offense is a good defense.

When you look at some of these non-lethal weapons, they appear to be be useful in protecting the ship from pirates.  I can also see, however, that if you strictly depend on these non-lethal weapons and do not allow the crews of these ships to be armed and defend themselves, in time the pirates will find a way around such devices.  As the author of the article stated, early warning of approaching pirates and taking evasive measures will help protect the crew of these ships against pirates more than any lethal or non-lethal weapon.  Also, protection measures against pirates should be multi-layered.  These principles I agree with, and I have written about the principle of defense (multi-layered security) in depth in previous articles, but the issue still comes down to the possible failure of these high tech measures .  All  businesses should have an emergency or contingency plan for when things fail or something bad happens.  This allows continuation of business during these times or at least allows you to get back to business as quickly as possible.  Even a ship crew that is alone out on the ocean needs an emergency or contingency plan.  What should the contingency plan be in this situation?

In my opinion, ship crews should be allowed to be armed as their contingency plan.  The actual decision whether or not to arm should be left up to the individual ship owners or companies, not some government or regulatory body.  If protection measures failed, and I needed to fight, I would want to fight with “superior firepower” and not a water cannon or other device.  Again, I think these devices have a place in the protection of a ship and its crew, but in the end when someone is shooting at me, I would rather have a weapon than a water hose.

Leave a comment letting me know your opinion regarding the subject.  If you were on the ship and pirates were trying to board the ship, how would you want to protect yourself?

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