Wackenhut Failed To Provide Security Vests To Holocaust Museum Guards

WASHINGTON — A union official says he asked for protective vests for guards at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum two years ago, but they never got them.

Guard Stephen T. Johns was shot to death Wednesday when an 88-year-old gunman opened fire in the museum. The gunman was critically injured but no one else was hurt.

An official with the union that represents the guards says he pushed for protective vests after a man made threatening remarks to guards several years ago.

Union district director Assane Faye says the company that employs the guards never issued the vests.

Johns worked for Wackenhut Security, which says he was shot in the upper left torso. The company would say only that all officers were wearing appropriate equipment as specified in their contract.

Comments

[Joe ComputerRepairs]

To the clown who says we "need more gun control", how would that have helped if the bad guy came in with a knife instead? What next, " kitchen knife control" ? He had not even gotten to the metal detector yet. The gun control advocates should shut their faces and not show their ignorance.

[eltorro]

Perhaps Wackenhut can do a Development Analysis into the Safety of its Employees. THis is a quote form their website:
Safety is more than part of Wackenhut’s integrated security services - it is one of the company’s core values. Wackenhut greatly values the health and safety of all of its employees and has developed a distinguished safety program to ensure that basic safety behaviors are incorporated into the daily routines of all employees. It is for this reason that Wackenhut has a distinguished safety program which is managed by a full-time Director of Safety.

Our safety goal is to uphold the Principles of Safety fostered by our company and our customers in order to promote a healthy and safe work environment

[eltorro]

Wackenhut was bought by a Danish corporation a few years back & yet it is responsible for contracts in US Government Buildings on Federal Property. Does anyone see anything wrong with this? Like we are OUTSOURCING our jobs to foreign companies. Why is this possible? Where is the outrage? How come now Republicans are talking about it?

[BillMelater]

Wackenhut iis another of these huge corporations that doesn't give a hoot about their employees.

[poster1122]

The question about private vs. public being responsible seems a little silly here. In the public sector, your average police officer patrolling the street (even in cities with high crime rates) aren't normally wearing vests. Neither are those FBI agents who deal with criminals. They seem only to be worn when going into a situation where a firefight is expected.

So, here's a question: If companies should provide a vest as part of the uniform for a security guard, doesn't it also make sense that every police over in every patrol car, every motorcycle also have a vest on? Think about the number of incidents over the years where some psycho gets stopped and shoots the officer stopping him.

[BlackWidowPilot]

In my experience its a department by department judgement call. Where I grew up in the Bay Area, even the police officers in "Sleepy Hollow" areas wore their vests as a matter of departmental policy, as a matter of course.

Vests are not perfect protection; they cannot stop a high velocity bullet such as is fired by an assault rifle. Neither can they protect the wearer against bullets striking unprotected areas such as the head or leg (where the femoral artery can be severed). But they can improve the chances of an officer's survival if they're hit in an area covered by the vest; the officer may be downed, stunned, bruised, maybe even a broken rib or two, but they're *alive* to talk about it later.

Vests work by distributing the force of the impact of a bullet over the area of the vest. This can frequently be enough to prevent any penetration.

Private security companies are on the other hand notorious for skimping on officer equipment, training standards, pay, working conditions, and the quality of people they recruit. They are all about their profit margins.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[Hirnlego]

Its like insurance for health care. Profit before coverage.

[neocon666]

And that in a nutshell, is why privatizing everything for fear of "big government" isn't such a great idea in every case. I'll bet anything that the people at the top of that securty firm make enought to outfit everyone in the company who needs a bulletproof vest out of their own pocket.

[nirek]

Unless the vest were the very best, I doubt that it could save him from a rifle shot near point blank.

[hypnus]

Brunn used a 22-caliber rifle - a good vest would have stopped that bullet, even at close range. Why wouldn't you give a guard who is armed a vest? By arming him you are expecting possible deadly force may be used against him. Maybe it's cheaper just to hire a new guard.

[JimBozo]

It was a dinky .22 caliber slug! If the guards had been equipped with extra-thick sweatshirts he might have survived. I exaggerate, of course, but still. Considering that the typical terrorist would be armed with a 9mm pistol or an AK-47 rifle, the lack of bulletproof vests is criminal on the part of Wackenhut.
And yes, a police issue vest would have stopped either of those cartridges, even at close range. That's why cops wear them.

[AtticusinPa]

It was a .22. Even at close range, thats not very powerful, is it? Any LEOs want to chime in on the effectiveness of a vest against a .22 rifle?

[LHoney]

I thought it was a shotgun?

[plzchuteme]

If everybody who worked for the museum made a living wage and had benefits, the guards would also . By contracting it out, you have no responsibility for what the guards earn or what benefits they may receive. You also don't have to do the same verification and background checks, especially for those who carry weapons. It is onerous for a Human Resource Dept. for just a few employees. I think there is also bonding involved, and a supply of replacement personnel for those times when additional guards are needed or to replace in case of sickness. There are logical reasons for contracting this out; the problem being that so many contractors do such a lousy job, and don't always attract the best employees because they treat them so poorly, and in this case, outfit them poorly.

[Morganster]

Actually this is pretty common in the security industry. Unless the company is contracted to do money pickups, their employees are not given vests.

An unfortunate practice, in order to save $200 to $400 a human life was lost.

[pueblocolorado]

Oh, curse those pesky unions. Always concerned for the workers!

Wackenhut will get whacked with a big lawsuit on that one...unle­ss the conservatives can stop it with some "tort reform", frivalous (sp?) lawsuit lobbying push. That poor guard's family.

[hulagirrrl]

Geeesh, I would have never thought of the guards wearing vests, because I just do not want to believe we live in this crazy world. My condolences to the family.

[mapleaforever]

Yup, privatize everything. Employees, shmemployees -- let's make some moolah.

[poster1122]

I hate to tell you this, but I'm pretty sure the guards at the local FBI building aren't wearing vests either. Hell, even our police don't wear vests usually when on patrol. So the uniform is pretty much in line with the public sector.

[getalong]

If I were asked a week ago if tax money should be spent on giving security guards at a museum bullet proof vests, I would think it was unnecessary. I don't blame anyone for that decision. It was a reasonable one.

We need to do our best to ensure a reasonable level of safety and security, but lets not go overboard.

Besides, let's not forget what the REAL problem is: Gun control!

The problem isn't lack of bullet proof vests, it's lack of gun control.

[mapleaforever]

OK, but after p!ss!ng up that rope for awhile, how about those vests in the meantime?

[getalong]

No. It's an unreasonable fear to guard against.

These are not soldiers fighting in Iraq, their security guards to a museum.

We can't live our lives in fear and prepare for every possible contingency.
Cheny wanted to do that, and while I agree some reasonable measures need to be met, we should not go to extremes.

I know providing vests does not seem extreme, but if you figure in the chances of the threat, it really is.

[breakingpoint]

more proof (like Blackwater) that private businesses do a better job than government