something fishy about Walter Reed "not a drill" to "just a drill" non-shooting.

[Squid]

https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2018/11/incident-reported-around-walter-reed-grounds/slide/1/

Even the most overreaching horse's ass of a LEO tends to be respectful of an important hospital which is probably full of important people in the middle of important surgeries and what-not.

I'm pretty sure a top tier location like Walter Reed (where IIRC the POTUS goes to the doctors) is the sort of post where you get your training etc BEFORE getting assigned. Like how a Fire Dept will have those weird "stair case to nowhere" training things, so they don't have to do practice fires in real office buildings.

Just doesn't seem like right place for some Chief of Security clown to go "I'm bored....lets scare the crap out of all those uppity surgeons and nurses and see what happens".

I'm a big fan of live unannounced testing of guards onsite, but needs to be very carefully considered so as not to go haywire if someone reacts unexpectedly....including people NOT PART OF YOUR LITTLE OPERATION....like people at a hospital.

[Soper]

I see this as something you would do. No training. No pre plan, no testing body. Just a security guard thinking he knows how to run things.

Yep. Right up your alley.

[Squid]

I'll do stuff like leave the outside janitor's closet door unlocked, with big note pasted inside, to check if they are doing "door shaking" all the way in back.

If its a night lobby post I'll do crank calls to see how they react. Always a fave! Payback is a bitch, though.

Main thing is such tests must be CONTAINED and not effect client or public.

[Condo Guard]

You can do a table top exercise if needed. Not as effective, but better than nothing. Hospitals are tough because they're open 24 hours a day. When I did my disaster training we did it at a storage facility at night, but had volunteers come in to play the victims. It was pretty good - we saw in real time problems that would occur in an emergency.

Testing guards is a tough one. The problem with leaving stuff unlocked is what if someone other than the guard gets there first? I did one exercise where I would leave a playing card or poker chip in a place they should be checking. Guard that collected the most got a prize, i.e. free coffee or a pastry. Everybody seemed OK with it, but I remember one or two of the S/Os felt it was "demeaning" and "childish."

Crank calls? Not going to touch that one. Surprise inspections are good if there is a problem. We noticed one time car prowls seemed to occur more often on one guy's patrol shift. I showed up on site dressed in all black (I was wearing a Hidden Agenda jacket and had my ID ready in case someone called PD). I spotted the problem immediately - guy was so busy trying to drive around quickly and get his patrol in, he wasn't looking at anything. At one point his headlight actually shined on me with my back turned - he didn't even slow down or turn on the alley light...

[Squid]

You can do a table top exercise if needed. Not as effective, but better than nothing. Hospitals are tough because they're open 24 hours a day. When I did my disaster training we did it at a storage facility at night, but had volunteers come in to play the victims. It was pretty good - we saw in real time problems that would occur in an emergency.

Testing guards is a tough one. The problem with leaving stuff unlocked is what if someone other than the guard gets there first? I did one exercise where I would leave a playing card or poker chip in a place they should be checking. Guard that collected the most got a prize, i.e. free coffee or a pastry. Everybody seemed OK with it, but I remember one or two of the S/Os felt it was "demeaning" and "childish."

Crank calls? Not going to touch that one. Surprise inspections are good if there is a problem. We noticed one time car prowls seemed to occur more often on one guy's patrol shift. I showed up on site dressed in all black (I was wearing a Hidden Agenda jacket and had my ID ready in case someone called PD). I spotted the problem immediately - guy was so busy trying to drive around quickly and get his patrol in, he wasn't looking at anything. At one point his headlight actually shined on me with my back turned - he didn't even slow down or turn on the alley light...

At big condo project that got burned down (again) due to guards sleeping and arson, one guard strenuously objected to having a supervisor doing unannounced post-checks. "If you don't TRUST ME to do the job maybe I should just quit". He was young ex-military and clearly one of boss's faves. He didn't get fired or anything. Not sure if he was on post for last big fire, but the COMPANY was, with increased manpower. I'm wondering about the INSURANCE and why ain't they demanding another security company after two epic fails and I'm guessing about $20million payouts each time.

As far as "mass shooter at hospital", how is a drill gonna know where a mass shooter is gonna be at? Seems best you could do is have all personal know the layout, CCTV, pinch points and keys and automatic doors, and have decent personal, AND have a Real Time list of other employees that might be helpful. Its a military hospital so you'd have ex-badasses in admin, janitorial, etc..