Thank a security officer and security updates

20 Oct 2024

Body camera usage expands Oct. 21, armed security staff slated for February

By: Andrew Frey, Director of Environmental Services, Patient Transport, Security, Security Systems and Parking

Oct. 13 to 19 was Security Week at Salem Health! If you see an officer, thank them for their service. We have an amazing team, and we are all so thankful for their hard work every day.

Continuous improvement

As a Lean organization, continuous improvement is an integral part of our culture. The security team is no exception, seeking to continuously improve the safety for our staff, patients and visitors. The following is an update on our continued improvement work and changes you will see soon:

Weapons detection 

Salem Health is grateful for our contracted screening staff. They provided much needed labor as we sought to quickly bring up our weapons screening stations at all our locations. This work has stabilized, and we are transitioning the contracted staff to employed. Weapons screening positions have been posted. The transition will take several months as staff are hired and onboarded. Thank you to our contracted staff for the great job they have done over the past many months.

Expanding body camera usage

The security staff has been wearing body cameras for several months. Currently, the cameras are activated only when an officer draws the taser. Starting Monday, Oct. 21, we will allow our security officers to manually activate their cameras when approaching a subject exhibiting agitated or aggressive behaviors. Officers will, if time allows, announce they are activating their camera. This change was a recommendation by our national security consultant and requested by many security officers. Some of the reasons for expanding body worn camera usage include: 

1. Quality assurance debriefings and risk management as many portions of our campus are not covered by fixed camera views or when covered by a fixed camera there is no audio;
2. Improved transparency and accountability by capturing first person audio and a true narrative of an incident; and
3. The mere presence of a camera often results de-escalation of the situation.

Armed security staff

In the June 2 Common Ground, we announced the addition of armed security to the Salem Hospital campus. We are on track for a February 2025 go-live as policies have been written, equipment selected, training program drafted and job qualifications/descriptions approved.