Legal & Courts March 23, 2021 9:46:04 pm

King Soopers shooting only adds pressure for private security

By Dan Mika

BOULDER — No one can say for certain if having a security guard would have changed the events at the Table Mesa King Soopers on Monday afternoon, when a gunman entered the store and allegedly opened fire in an act that left nine civilians and a police officer dead.

However, the latest mass shooting in the U.S. could spur more security across the Front Range’s shopping centers and compound stress on an industry that was already trying to operate in the most stressful time in recent memory.

Paul Ballenger, CEO of Denver-based private security provider Invicta Group, said his industry as a whole has seen steady increases in demand over the past several months.

First came the pandemic, where guards went from trying to prevent shoplifting or loitering at storefronts to being key enforcers for mask and social-distancing rules. Although medical experts almost universally agree that wearing a mask in public spaces reduces the spread of COVID-19, guards have been harassed, assaulted and even shot dead while trying to enforce the mandates.

As 2020 went on, the tension ratcheted up. The resurgence of Black Lives Matter protests spurred by the death of George Floyd, a bitter presidential election and the eventual insurrection at the U.S. Capitol have all led companies and groups to seek private security as more of an everyday part of doing business.

“It’s definitely added a layer of challenges to sometimes an already challenging line of work for sure, I would say more so than I’ve ever seen,” he said.

Ballenger’s company has also taken on multiple requests from retailers, faith groups and other public-facing enterprises to train employees on how to manage an active-shooter situation. However, demand for that training has increased over the last four or five years as places of worship became more-common targets for attacks, such as the 2018 shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue that left 11 congregants dead and six wounded.

Chris Villalpano, CEO of Code 4 Security Services LLC in Fort Collins, said retailers across his hometown of El Paso, Texas, added recurring security at their stores after the 2019 shootings at a Walmart in the city. He expects that grocers and other public-facing businesses in the area will reconsider their security in light of the shooting.

He said the standard for private security guards likely won’t change, even though both armed and unarmed guards are trained for responding to a shooter. Their primary skill set, he argues, will remain in customer service.

“Security officers that we hire are typically people who want to provide a service to people, they want to help, and they’re usually really good at that,” he said. “… I don’t think that will change significantly.”

But what could change is how often businesses and groups will request armed security, especially in a progressive city such as Boulder. Just 10 days before the shooting, a state judge struck down the city’s 2-year-old ban on assault-style weapons and large-capacity magazines.

The state as a whole is also wrangling with the so-called “red-flag” law that went into effect at the beginning of 2020, which would allow officers to confiscate a person’s firearms and ban them from acquiring one for a year if a petition by a law-enforcement officer or family member is approved by a judge.

Several county sheriffs in the state have said they will not enforce red-flag orders in their borders, and multiple counties have declared themselves “Second Amendment Sanctuaries” in protest to the law.

Ballenger said his company has provided security several times in Boulder, and there’s been apprehension among customers about having armed guards at job sites in that community compared with larger cities.

“I think for some places like Boulder, it’s a bit of an anomaly to have armed security. You don’t see it as much,” he said. “And so I certainly think that some organizations, and again, this is just my opinion, I’m not speaking for anyone else, but I’m sure some people would take a second look at it and say, ‘You know what, maybe it’s time we take a look at that and have a trained person, just in case.’”