Month/Year of Graduation

5-2018

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science (B.S.)

Department

<--Please Select Department-->

First Advisor

Patrick O'Neil

Abstract

Churches are a soft target for people with malicious intentions. They are filled with a large amount of people, including large groups of children and elderly folk. Religions also encourage people to be friendlier towards outsiders, which could result in the church goers lowering their defenses and being more vulnerable to attacks. Church security teams are also primarily composed of volunteers, which means there is limited experience in security protocol and that could lead to limited incentive to perform security tasks thoroughly. Churches are a crucial part of the spiritual wellness of a community. All these factors make churches a viable target for terrorist attacks, kidnappings, thefts, or other malicious acts.

This capstone evaluates the safety of churches in the Omaha area. This is done by meeting and interviewing church leaders, commencing a walkthrough assessment of the church, and providing recommendations to churches based in their needs. The common safety deficiencies are compiled and provide a list of areas of improvement throughout the Omaha area. The largest area of concern would be a general lack of safety plans being implemented in Omaha Churches. Based on the information obtained in this project, other churches can identify common problems and use recommendations from other churches to benefit their own safety.

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