CHRISTCHURCH
Post-mosque attacks – a new security climate Two months on from the Christchurch mosque attacks, NZSM gains insights from Phil Murphy, Sales Manager South Island for Gallagher, and Gary Morrison, NZSA CEO, in relation to the post-15/03 security context. Security, at its most fundamental level, is a feeling. It’s a feeling – or a sense – of safety; an absence of fear. It is our individual sense of security that – when in sufficient measure – enables us to each go about our daily lives with a degree of confidence that our individual wellbeing faces no imminent threat.
Several weeks after the Christchurch mosque attacks, it is evident that people’s sense of safety – in Christchurch, in our Muslim community, and across New Zealand – has, to varying degrees, been dealt a blow. In this sense, New Zealand’s security climate has changed. “No one thought the New Zealand Police would lock a major city down for four hours – this is not New Zealand and it’s certainly not the South Island way, but it’s happened and perhaps it shows just how easy it can be for anyone to be able to just wander into a site and cause such misery,” commented Gallagher’s Christchurch-based Sales Manager, Phil Murphy. For many people of various faiths across the country, places of worship have become localities of fear. “Following the tragic mosque attacks in Christchurch, there has been a high degree of anxiety and concern from faith leaders across the community,” the NZSA’s Gary Morrison told NZSM. “Whilst the Police have provided a highly visible presence, there has been an awareness that the level of support
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cannot be maintained on an on-going basis and that over coming months police resources will need to be deployed into other areas.” Spike in enquiries Phil, like many throughout the security industry, has noted an increase in enquiries following the attacks. “Information is key; people want updates ASAP, they want immediate notification of an event, but most importantly they want to be able to walk onto a site or sit at school or in an office and feel safe - to know that someone can’t just roll in through the front gates at will and cause chaos.” Far from being Christchurch-centric, enquiries have been coming in from other geographies and from a variety of organisations. “There have been reviews
from all types of entities and all over the South Island”, Phil explained. “This is a major event that has prompted people to ask questions and look at their own systems and procedures.” And the types of enquiries have been wide-ranging: “What are our lock down procedures for this type of event? How does our system work ? Do we even have one? How are we controlling who should or should not be on our site? How do we manage visitors to the site? When did we last test our systems? We never thought about peoples access and movements on a site until now – How do we tell our staff there is an event? How do we alert key people or emergency services of an event? How do we account for staff being able to get off a site - or be in a safe zone?”
June/July 2019
