Security Magazine – Peter Cavicchia II

Human Trafficking Is a Serious Security and Safety Issue That Needs More Attention

Human trafficking and exploitation is a pressing issue that isn’t always given the kind of open, mainstream discussion it deserves.

The U.S. Department of State reports that about 27.6 million people are victims of trafficking globally at any given time. A serious human rights abuse, human trafficking is a threat with both national and economic security dimensions. It impacts people domestically and around the world of all backgrounds, genders, ages, and nationalities.

As a security concern, it’s something that often remains in the shadows. Security Magazine recently featured a piece co-authored by Jan Edwards, president at Paving the Way Foundation, and Kevin Metcalf, director of the Human Trafficking Response Unit at the Office of the Oklahoma Attorney General, which highlights the very pressing security implications of this bleak, devastating crime.

Contrary to popular belief, trafficking rarely involves kidnapping. In fact, Metcalf and Edwards report that only 0.5% of these cases involve kidnappings. Instead, they typically center on the victim being manipulated and groomed, ultimately developing a sense of trust with the trafficker. That individual might mask the threat they pose under the guise of regular, legal work opportunities. Someone might be working as a janitor or a housekeeper, all while falling deeper into the web of the trafficker’s manipulations.

Given how prevalent human trafficking is, Edwards and Metcalf zero in on clear signs to look out for. This is something everyone from the security professional to the layperson should keep in mind. Here are some signs to be vigilant about:

• A display of anxious behavior: The victim of this crime might be acting fearful or highly nervous when there is otherwise no clear threat present.
• Combative behavior: Someone whose default response to regular day-to-day stimuli — think extreme mood swings between anger and or annoyance — could potentially be illustrating signs they are being controlled.
• Withdrawal from one’s surroundings: An individual who finds themselves isolating from family connections, work, friends, or activities they usually love participating in with no clear, apparent reason, might be displaying a bright red flag.
• Low levels of eye contact: If one is interacting with a child at a community center who is avoiding eye contact at all costs or a nail salon worker who keeps fastidiously avoiding a customer’s gaze, they might be signaling that they are in a situation where they are being controlled. Metcalf and Edwards stressed that this must be handled with great care and cultural sensitivity — one’s personal threshold for eye contact and engagement in their own culture might vary widely from another’s.
• Uneven distributions of power in public: Another clear sign is if one person seems to be under the control of another. If one is observing someone directing another’s actions in public, where a perceived power imbalance manifests itself in one individual acting in a subservient way to another, there might be a situation where control is being asserted in a toxic and dangerous way. For their full tips and suggestions for how to spot potential situations where human trafficking is present, read the article here. Being cognizant of the reality that this is a pressing security issue can make all the difference in another person’s safety.

The Future of Security: Melding Physical and Cyber Strategies

When discussing technological innovation and the continual evolution of the physical security landscape, it can be easy for one to focus on trends. There is the temptation to zero in on specific devices or brands and lose sight of the bigger picture.

How to Better Protect and Ensure Police Station Physical Security

During a time when physical security concerns are front and center, discussions around safety inevitably have to include law enforcement. Police and law enforcement officials — who are charged to keep everyone else safe — are inextricably linked to any effective physical security strategy. As a result, any modern and robust physical security policy has to also incorporate fortifying police stations and law enforcement offices.

Experts Predict Which Physical Security Developments Will Be Big in 2024

It’s now a new year and with that comes a reflection on what rests on the horizon. Security Magazine sat down with a range of security stakeholders who outlined what big physical security innovations and breakthroughs will be on everyone’s radars over the next 12 months.

Biden Administration Centers Severe Weather Response as Physical Security Issue

One aspect of physical safety and wellbeing that isn’t always prioritized is extreme weather. Lately, national headlines have been made of tornado warnings and extreme storms posing a serious safety hazard — from winter snowstorms to spring and summer flooding.

Cybersecurity is a Physical Security Priority

It is an era where threats to a firm’s security are increasingly sophisticated. Bad actors rely on a wide array of tools to threaten a company’s data and physical assets. Unfortunately, many businesses are still structured in a way where chief security officers, or CSOs, tackle threats through separate cyber and physical security channels. InContinue reading “Cybersecurity is a Physical Security Priority“

Companies Should Consider Third-Party Physical Security Risks

Often, discussions around third-party risks swirl around cybersecurity. However, physical security is very much a pressing concern risk management professionals and security leaders should consider when it comes to their relationships with vendors and partners. Recently, Prevalent, Inc., released the 2022 Third Party Risk Management (TPRM) Industry Study that examines current realities affecting third-party riskContinue reading “Companies Should Consider Third-Party Physical Security Risks”

From Workplace Violence to Hybrid Office Models — 5 Security Concerns

As the world continues to reopen and return to normal after two full years of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses are starting to adjust to a reality where physical security concerns are evolving somewhat from where they were back in 2019. With physical and cyber security so integrated, we are in an era where business leadersContinue reading “From Workplace Violence to Hybrid Office Models — 5 Security Concerns”