Safety Improvements
RIVERSIDE (CNS) – The Board of Supervisors Tuesday authorized the Riverside County Executive Office to hire two firms at a total cost of $900,000 to assess and address identifiable security threats to employees and make facilities safer for day-to-day operations.
In a 5-0 vote without comment, the board signed off on the agreements with Salinas-based Aanko Technologies Inc. and Wilsonville, Oregon-based Foresight Security Consulting Inc. Each compact will be in effect for three years at a “not-to-exceed” price of $450,000 apiece.
“In recent past, some departments within the county have experienced threats made against facilities and employees,” according to an Executive Office statement posted to the board’s agenda. “These incidents have ranged from threats directed at individual employees to damaging county property and equipment. This growing concern has underscored the urgent need to evaluate the safety and security of the public buildings, parking facilities and employee workspaces.”
According to the agency, “expert threat assessment services” are needed — over and above the law enforcement input already available through the sheriff’s department — to handle all of the required evaluations and modifications.
“It is crucial for the county to adopt a comprehensive and coordinated approach to security,” the EO stated.
No specific examples were cited of employees endangered on the job or while going to and from county-owned and operated buildings, nor did the supervisors request that Assistant Executive Officer for Public Safety Michelle Paradise provide any.
According to the agreement with Aanko Technologies, the company will provide a thorough assessment of the configurations of county facilities to scope out entrances, perimeters, parking lots and other physical locations where changes might enhance security.
Aanko will also be responsible for improving the county’s background check system for employees, examining how visitors are screened, setting up emergency drills and “incident response protocols,” as well as establishing self-defense training programs and internal reporting mechanisms to mitigate potential threats within the county workforce.
Documents indicated Foresight Security Consulting’s tasks will somewhat overlap Aanko’s with a few redundant assignments, while also changing “badge access control systems,” which have surfaced recently as a problem, highlighted in an Office of Auditor-Controller report that showed some terminated employees have continued to enjoy use of their building badges after their dismissals.
Foresight’s personnel will also be focused on narrower “workplace impacts” from domestic abuse and sexual harassment, offering training to employees on how to achieve resolutions.
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