Regardless of your political position everyone should have serious concerns about what is going on in the United States. Multiple cities have seen nightly sustained violence some for over 2 months straight. Violent crime rates are rising by double digits and there doesn’t seem to be any end in sight. This doesn’t just affect your security in the workplace, it affects security in every aspect of your day to day life.
Thing you say or like on social media can lead to personal attacks, terminations from your job or worse doxing (search for and publish private or identifying information about (a particular individual) on the Internet, typically with malicious intent.) which can lead to your personal information being published putting you and your family at risk.
If we reflect on the past few months safty has declined and civil unrest has escalated rapidly. As a society we went from peaceful protest, to looting and riots, to violent removal of statues to defund the police to continued nightly riots with increased physical violence against police, private citizens and property damage. Imagine where we can be in the next few months with no end in sight.
Although the current situation may seem partisan the hard truth is after the election the possibility that none of this will go away is very real. In fact, after the election it could get much worse.
After the election there are realistically only two outcomes; Donald Trump will win, or Joe Biden will.
Let’s first imagine Donald Trump wins. If this is the case, then the rioters and their supporters (and by supporters, I mean those who fund and manage the Antifa movement) will likely become even more outraged and trigger more riots in more cities. This will be on a scale yet to be seen. Couple that with the defunding of the police departments movement which many city and state leaders have already implemented. This will cripple and paralyze cities ultimately endangering all of their citizens.
Now let’s imagine Joe Biden wins. Members of his political team have already expressed the need to defund the police (or reallocate resources) on a grand scale. This will embolden the criminal element thus again endangering citizens.
What also hasn’t been discussed is the role Covid-19 has had on the current unrest. There are several areas that Covid-19 has helped with the current turbulence.
First people are out of work. This in itself has several subsets of effects. Individuals can’t work even if they wanted to in some cities. Also, people are more or less being paid to protest, demonstrate and riot due to receiving unemployment benefits plus the enhanced federal unemployment aid. In many instances this pay is higher than their normal wages, so they have no incentive to return to work.
Second because of CDC recommendations that individuals wear masks this allows them to feel that they can operate with impunity. In hundreds if not thousands of criminal acts it’s impossible to identify who the perpetrators are. Without the threat of real consequences, they become more and more emboldened.
Lastly the financial impact on cities and states could become unrepairable. According to an article in the New York Times
“ Small businesses account for 44 percent of all U.S. economic activity” They also sited Yelp stating “ Nearly 66,000 businesses have folded since March 1, according to data from Yelp, which provides a platform for local businesses to advertise their services and has been tracking announcements of closings posted on its site. From June 15 to June 29, the most recent period for which data is available, businesses were closing permanently at a higher rate than in the previous three months, Yelp found.”
This will inevitably cause desperation in society since many will have lost their jobs permanently and do not have other employment options. This will also cause great strain on government services since tax revenues will have dried up yet the demand for services will accelerate. Some could argue this is the goal following the Cloward-Piven strategy.
When I first started in security industry the best practice was to not sell fear. In today’s environment it would be negligent to not be honest and yet that honesty can seem like fear mongering. The point is that we have to take responsibility for our own safety. If we do not acknowledge the current situation then we can easily become victims. Sheriffs in some areas have already warned they can not help you if you are in trouble. If they can't help you who can? The answer is YOU if you have right mindset.
Be safe, stay informed, stay vigilant and watch out for one another.