Aurora killings force theater owners to evaluate security, pricing


Written by Phil on July 26, 2012 in Crisis Management and Crisis Communication, disaster preparedness.

Movie theaters across the country are hiring extra off-duty police officers and security guards in the wake of the killing of 12 people Friday in a theater in Aurora.

It’s a logical and maybe reassuring step, but it is unclear whether guards will remain part of the routine after news coverage of the killings fades.

Two things are clear, security experts say: One, movie theaters should be made more secure, permanently. And two, theaters may not be able to afford it.

However security manifests in movie theaters, for now it will be a big topic of discussion among theater owners.

“Where do you balance profitability with responsibility? That’s what it is — balance,” said Philip Jan Rothstein, the president of Rothstein Associates, a crisis-management consultancy in Connecticut. “Do you have a security guard, a camera, an alarm at every exit? Do you have a surveillance system? What kinds of controls are justifiable? What controls are realistic?

“It’s a trade-off between privacy and comfort.”

See Aurora killings force theater owners to evaluate security, pricing by Douglas Brown for the Denver Post.

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