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Civil Unrest continues to be a major dilemma facing businesses as we move into 2021. The threat to innocent employees and customers is a continued reality in a politically unstable United States of America.  Every business regardless of size should have a Corporate Crisis Response Plan, Emergency Response Plan and/or Business Continuity Plan.  In my experience, most organizations do not have any plan in place, or the plans are severely outdated. Existing plans are more than likely weather/natural disaster related and fail to prepare for the current potential for continued civil unrest. 

While there are several types of plans businesses can utilize to prepare for emergency situations, this article will focus on those enterprises which do not have any Emergency Operations Plan or Crisis plan. This article is being prepared for those small to medium size company’s who may only have hours or minutes to make critical business decisions. 

Civil unrest situations are unpredictable and can escalate very quickly into life threatening events.  If the organization has advance warning of a civil disturbance initiate a remote work plan, do not send employees into these situations.  There is severe liability should an employee be injured, and the organization had advance warning and opted to compel attendance. 

  1. Protecting People

Protection of your people (associates /customers/vendors) should be your utmost concern.   No one should be placed in harms way at anytime during a civil unrest event.  Associates should not be sent to “check-on” the business or be onsite to “ride-out” the unrest.  If rioters or looters can breach the perimeter and enter the business, the people inside will most certainly be outnumbered, potentially by armed and violent individuals.  If you or your employees can safely evacuate at the onset of civil unrest, do so immediately. 

If employees are in the business and unable to evacuate during a civil unrest event the following should occur:

  1. For those on-site, close, and secure the business.  Being in the business is safer than trying to evacuate through the riot and unrest.  Lock doors, drop security gates, draw blinds, or window coverings if available and establish an immediate evacuation route if needed (backdoor, receiving gate, etc.).  Turn off lights which would be visible to the public outside. 
  2. Locate a secure room/area in the business in which employees can shelter in place.  Try to locate an interior room which will provide the greatest protection against rocks, bottles, gunfire, fireworks, and glass shards. Stay away from glass windows and make sure the area provides cover from projectiles.  
  3. Advise employees to have water, a fire extinguisher, first aid kit and access to communication as they may be sheltered for several hours until the area is secured.  Advise not to watch or observe the disturbance if they cannot do so safely. 
  4. Immediately notify law enforcement and advise the location is occupied. Provide a physical address, number of employees/persons present, and any severe medical conditions of those present to the dispatcher.  Employees will be instructed to shelter in place until the area can be secured.  Make sure law enforcement is aware of the location in the business employees/persons are being sheltered in place.
  5. It is important that employees do not engage the rioters/looters, display anger or hostility against those engaged in the disturbance.  This behavior will entice the crowd to focus energy against the business and those inside. 
  6. Establish a designated communications tree, one point of contact on-site, one management point of contact to communicate with those onsite.  This will ensure continuity of information by all involved.  A separate employee or manager (not on site) should be monitoring the situation via news reports, social media, viewing remote cameras if available and providing updates to management.
  7. The goal and mission, protection of the lives of your employees.  Communicate regularly with law enforcement to receive and share information regarding the current conditions of those sheltered in place.  Law enforcement will also be able to provide direction regarding safe evacuation routes and possible extraction when safe to do so. 
  • Protecting Property

In many cases businesses may receive advance notice via law enforcement, social media or the news of a potential civil disturbances or protests.  As history reflects, many times these disturbances begin as peaceful protests, turn into unlawful assemblies, and escalate into riot situations. If your organization receives advance warning, an immediate risk assessment should be conducted.  This high-level assessment is designed to determine vulnerabilities and risks from a physical, informational, and technical perspective. Keep in mind, the advance warning could be from minutes to several hours, so management needs to prioritize the response as a pre-exercised plan may not exist. 

  1. A physical assessment would include a large glass store-front and taking steps to remediate entry by boarding up those entry points.  
  2. Removal of cash, expensive property such as laptop computers, tablets and other valuables which may make your operation an attractive target to looters and rioters.  Advance posting of signs that all valuables have been removed may push prospective looters away from your business.
  3. If time allows back-up business data and move to an off-site location.  This would include downloading servers, business documents, employee, and financial records. 
  4. Contact the gas company and temporarily suspend service. If time is of the essence, turn the main gas supply off to the business. Leave water service in place for fire suppression and electrical services on for security (burglar) alarm systems and CCTV. 
  5. Do not attempt to protect property against looters on your own.  In many states, it is illegal to use force or deadly physical force to protect property.  
  6. Contact your insurer to determine the organization is adequately insured against acts of theft, arson, and other destruction of property.

It is unquestionably clear these situations are extremely stressful for business owners and management.  It is difficult to observe livelihoods destroyed by the actions of rioters and looters.  The focus should be to mitigate the loss of life or serious injuries to innocent persons associated with the business.  Further to limit the loss and destruction of property by minimizing the attractiveness to the business by rioters and looters. It is imperative company’s regardless of size have plans in place to respond to these situations.  While business cannot prevent these events from occurring, they can certainly mitigate the financial losses by having a pre-exercised plan in place.  If your organization does not have an Emergency Response Plan, Corporate Crisis Response Plan or Business Continuity Plan please contact Dennis Thomas at Discovery Investigative Services to assist in the design and development of a plan based on your business needs.  Mr. Thomas can be reached at (www.discoveryinvestigativesvc.com) or by email at discoveryinvestigativesvc@gmail.com. 

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Dennis Thomas

If you would like a review of suspicious financial transactions please contact Dennis Thomas at Discovery Investigative Services (www.discoveryinvestigativesvc.com) or by email at discoveryinvestigativesvc@gmail.com. DENNIS R. THOMAS currently is employed as a Corporate Security Executive for a global hospitality and entertainment company with revenues exceeding 3.5 billion annually and employing over 55,000 associates worldwide. In this role Mr. Thomas is responsible for Investigations, Executive Protection and Training. Mr. Thomas is President of Discovery Investigative Services based in East Amherst, New York. Mr. Thomas is a New York State Licensed Private Investigator and Certified New York State Peace Officer. Mr. Thomas has over 25 years’ experience in corporate and financial white collar crime investigations. Mr. Thomas was recognized by FBI Director Robert Mueller for Exceptional Service in the Public Interest for his role in investigating a high-profile jewelry burglary crew responsible for stealing over 8 million dollars in a 13-month period. Mr. Thomas was named Property Crime Investigator of the Year by the International Association of Property Crime Investigators (IAPCI). Mr. Thomas co-authored the book “Bribery and Corruption, The View from Under the Table”. Mr. Thomas was an instructor for FBI Major Theft Unit Conferences and is a regular speaker at Law Enforcement and Investigative conferences across North America. Mr. Thomas is a member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS), The Jewelers Security Alliance (JSA) and served on the National Board of Directors for the Coalition of Law Enforcement and Retail (CLEAR). Mr. Thomas currently serves on the board of directors of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) Western New York Chapter. Mr. Thomas is also a sworn Erie County (NY) Sheriffs Deputy assigned to the Scientific Reserve Unit. Mr. Thomas holds a bachelor’s degree in Business and Economics from the State University of New York and a Master’s Degree in Economic Crime and Fraud Management from Utica College.

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