April 2024 — An ‘Ocean 11’-style Heist in California and More Security News

There’s a lot going on in the world of physical risk and vulnerability; it’s nearly impossible to keep up with the latest news and developments. We’ll keep you informed with the best content to keep your organization safe and secure. Check out the top news and headlines from the past month.

In one of L.A.’s largest cash heists ever, burglars steal as much as $30 million from vault

From the L.A. Times: In one of the largest cash heists in Los Angeles history, thieves made off with as much as $30 million in an Easter Sunday burglary at a San Fernando Valley money storage facility, an L.A. police official said. The burglary occurred Easter Sunday night at a facility in Sylmar where cash from businesses across the region is handled and stored. The thieves were able to breach the building as well as the safe where the money was stored. The burglary was among the largest in city history when it comes to cash. Weeks later, it remains unsolved.

Our take: This theft was an obvious inside job; between the access point on the roof and the alarm’s failure to go off, all signs point to someone who was familiar with the building and the organization. We often talk about vetting your employees on this blog, but it’s also important to realize that sometimes your people might not be the problem; sometimes the people in their lives are the ones who will pressure a worker into a robbery. Make sure your employees know not to discuss your assets outside of work, and be wary of regular visitors to your site who don’t work for your company.

Man dies after setting himself on fire outside courthouse where Trump trial is being held

From NBC: A man who set himself on fire on Friday, April 19 outside the courthouse where former President Donald Trump's hush money trial is taking place has died. The man walked into the center of the park, shuffled around his clothes, opened a backpack and took out and threw numerous pamphlets on the ground. He then pulled out a canister, poured a liquid accelerant on himself, lit himself on fire, fell on a police barrier and then fell to the ground.

Our take: This is the second time this spring that someone has set themselves on fire as a public statement. The first was the 25 year old airman who lit himself on fire in front of the Israeli embassy, yelling “free Palestine.” Self-immolation is a fairly rare act, and it’s unusual that two such incidents have happened one after the other. It bears watching; usually incidents happen in clusters.

Prepare for California’s new workplace violence law

From Circadian Risk: This summer, a new law will go into effect in the state of California requiring nearly all California employers to adopt and implement a written Workplace Violence Prevention Plan.California Senate Bill (SB) No. 553 requires that employers have a workplace prevention plan in place by July 1, 2024. Employers are also required to keep a workplace violence incident log, provide training to employees regarding workplace violence, and keep records of identified and remediated risks.

Our take: To assist organizations in creating their own plans, the California Division of Occupational Health and Safety (Cal/OSHA) has provided a model plan. It’s tempting to simply download the template, fill in your own information and decide that you’ve checked a box for compliance. However, this is not a good idea. If you just do the bare minimum and there’s an incident, you will be held to as high a level of responsibility as if you had prepared a bespoke workforce violence plan.

Severe storms, some with ‘strong tornadoes,’ threaten more than 60 million

From Axios: A three-day severe weather outbreak threatens to bring damaging winds, large hail, flooding and strong tornadoes to a vast region in the Central U.S. The storms may peak on Saturday, when the threat area will extend from the Gulf Coast to Wisconsin and tornado danger may be highest.

Our take: Climate change has been causing increasingly extreme weather events. In the midwest, warm days have meant that tornadoes are arriving earlier than in previous years. This is a strong reminder that there are more weather-related risks now; just because a weather event hasn’t happened at your site doesn’t mean one won’t happen at your site in the future.

April Top Security Grants

2024 Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP): The Homeland Security Grant includes a suite of risk-based grants to assist state, local, tribal and territorial efforts in preventing, protecting against, mitigating, responding to and recovering from acts of terrorism and other threats. This grant provides grantees with the resources required for implementation of the National Preparedness System and working toward the National Preparedness Goal of a secure and resilient nation. Grant closes: June 24

2024 Port Security Grant Program (PSGP): The Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Port Security Grant Program (PSGP) is one of four grant programs that constitute DHS/FEMA's focus on transportation infrastructure security activities. These grant programs are part of a comprehensive set of measures authorized by Congress and implemented by the Administration to help strengthen the Nation's critical infrastructure against risks associated with potential terrorist attacks. The PSGP provides funds to state, local, and private sector maritime partners to support increased port-wide risk management and protect critical surface transportation infrastructure from acts of terrorism, major disasters, and other emergencies. Grant closes: June 24

Transit Security Grant Program (TSGP): The Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Transit Security Grant Program (TSGP) is one of four grant programs that constitute DHS/FEMA's focus on transportation infrastructure security activities. These grant programs are part of a comprehensive set of measures authorized by Congress and implemented by DHS to help strengthen the nation's critical infrastructure against risks associated with potential terrorist attacks. The TSGP provides funds to transit agencies to protect critical surface transportation infrastructure and the traveling public from acts of terrorism. Grant closes: June 24

About the Author

Daniel Young

Founder & Chief Innovation Officer

Daniel has been a security and risk advisor for more than 10 years, and is passionate about helping companies to better understand their risks to undesirable events on a daily basis. Dan previously served as the Regional Bioterrorism Coordinator for District 1 in Michigan, where he was instrumental in preparing communities for catastrophic incidents. He has also acted as the Private Security Liaison for the City of Lansing’s Critical Infrastructure Team, which identified and documented deficiencies in the city’s critical infrastructure.

He is a Co-Founder of the CSO Risk Council, a think tank of seasoned security professionals and thought leaders with extensive experience in managing the physical security and risks of large enterprises consisting of multiple sites and whose mission is to create a better process to develop and share innovative solutions and pertinent information with organizations to improve safety and security risk by providing a forum to discuss best practices and recommendations for specific risk scenarios and to network with other enterprise security professionals.