With the recent spate of theater shootings, including one just this week, there is an urgent need for increased movie theater security strategies, nationwide. The Movie Theater Shooting Map above from Best.QuantaMovie doesn’t even include all the shootings since May 2015. Unfortunately, there should be (at least) four more red dots on that map.
At Soteria Safety by Design, we have a few tips for theater owners to make everyone safer. While we can’t guarantee 100% safety, taking these minimal steps will help to protect the general public from the next theater shooting or act of violence.
For theater owners, not protecting the public could have large human (as well as financial) liability costs. In the wake of the 2012 The Dark Knight Rises, Aurora, Colorado massacre, there are 20 lawsuits (for 40 victims) against the theater owner, Cinemark, winding through the courts. According to The Denver Post, “there are May 2016 and July 2016 trial dates for some of the civil suits, which generally allege that Cinemark had inadequate security.”
But do movie patrons actually want higher security? As Variety reports:
Despite the recent shooting at a Louisiana screening of “Trainwreck,” Americans still believe movie theaters are among the safest public places. Three quarters of moviegoers say they feel extremely or very safe in a theater, according to a new study from research firm C4.
Although they feel secure, there are certain security measures that customers support. Nearly a third of moviegoers believe that bags and purses should be checked for weapons before people go into a theater, and 34% believe that lobbies should have armed security personnel and a metal detector. Fourteen percent of respondents pushed for armed security in each theater, the report found.
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Although a substantial portion of moviegoers seemed to want to tighten safety measures, they balked at paying more to help cover the additional costs of installing metal detectors and posting guards. Only 13% of respondents said they would pay $3 more for tickets in order to get those additional security features.
Analysts argued that the box office fallout from the shootings was minimal, and C4’s research seemed to confirm that assessment. In a follow-up study of 124 moviegoers, 85% reported that the shooting in Louisiana will have no impact on their theater habits.
Respondents ranked movie theaters after airports, which boast guards and metal detectors as the third safest spaces, behind their homes and workplaces, and ahead of their cars, stores or malls, churches and concerts. That could change, [Ben Spergel, executive vice president of consumer insights at C4] noted, and another tragedy may amplify the calls for more preventative steps.
According to Time, the biggest issue is, of course, money:
It’s not just customers balking at the costs of extra security — theaters are, too. While metal detectors can be purchased for a few thousand dollars, the cost of operating a security checkpoint with trained personnel can run between $250,000 and $1,000,000 depending on the size of the theater, not to mention the potential for creating long lines and customer frustration, according to the The Hollywood Reporter. There’s always the chance that big movie studios could share the costs of extra security with theater chains to protect their business model, but it’s unclear how likely an outcome that might be.
After the latest attack, the primary exhibitor trade group, the National Association of Theatre Owners, issued a terse statement stating “Whether it is in churches, schools, malls, theaters or other public places, people have the right to go about their lives in peace and safety. The safety of our guests and employees is, and always will be, our industry’s highest priority.”
Unfortunately, this is the first statement of any kind the trade group has made about theater violence and it offers no public safety guidelines whatsoever. We need to act.
This is where Soteria comes in. Not every theater needs to spend $3,500-$7,000 per metal detector. Magnetometers can be expensive to use and maintain. Several theaters are hiring off-duty police as armed guards, yet armed guards are expensive.
None of these options are as cost effective as training your staff and changing some procedures within the theater.
The Soteria Group can help train your theater staff. You don’t always have (or want) the employee ninjas to try to apprehend an attacker. In many cases, a word of warning can give authorities enough time to act before the violence starts. As one security expert told TheWrap:
“Movie theaters should be training their staff in how to deal with these types of situations,” security expert and retired New Orleans Police Department SWAT commander Mike Cahn told TheWrap. “If I’m a ticket taker and I see a man carrying two bags and he seems despondent, that should raise a red flag, especially so soon after the attack in Louisiana.”
Such vigilance has to become the rule. We need to increase the sense of public spaces such as movie theaters as harder targets. Stadiums and amusement parks now routinely perform bag checks before someone can enter them, all it takes is a table or two at the entry point and trained staff members to quickly shine a light in a bag or purse. Movie patrons would get used to this new regime would soon leave the big bags at home to help streamline the process.
After The Dark Knight Rises massacre, major theater chains such as AMC banned people from entering with masks or costumes.
There are also a few things theater owners can do to monitor the current free flow of patrons throughout the open areas of the theaters. We can help you with more secure best practices depending on the specific layout of your theater.
Please contact Soteria Group to make your public spaces more secure. You’re just one trained staff member away from preventing the next attack.