Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Oh, goody. Gate guards with guns.
I knew there was some way to make South Florida living more dicey than it already is. And apparently, the good folks at PGA National, that sprawling complex of country-club living in Palm Beach Gardens, have come up with a surefire – well maybe that’s not the right word – way to reassure the local citizenry.
“In efforts to increase our security force in PGA National, Wackenhut has started replacing our unarmed security officers (USO) with armed security officers (Custom Protection Officer) at gatehouses,” the Director of Security Keith Echols wrote in a community newsletter. “This change, we believe, will discourage criminals from targeting PGA National. Also, I hope the change is a warm welcome home for the returning Snow birds.”
Yes, welcome snowbirds. And make sure you keep both hands over your head as you wave.
Echols followed up that first announcement of the switch to armed gate guards with a December update that included announcing that Wackenhut had changed its name to G4S Security Solutions.
Sounds like a good move. Because as long as you’re going to give guns to gate guards, eliminating a word that sounds awfully close to “wacky” and replacing it with “secure” is a wise bit of wordsmithing.
Although, I’m not certain what sort of gunplay at the gate would be expected from an extremely tenuous officer of the law.
As the newsletter states, the rare home burglary that occurs there happens during the day, “when your community is busiest with landscapers, contractors, and deliveries, etc.”
Theoretically, these would be people who would have been waved into the community, whether or not the guard at the gate had a gun or not. So I’m not sure what an armed gate guard would achieve, other than greatly reducing the possibility that some criminal would be breaking into the gate house itself.
I talked to Echols, but he said he couldn’t comment on security there.
Fortunately, an anonymous resident of the Marlwood Estates section of PGA National was more effusive about this new secure existence:
“You can be darn sure I’m feeling all warm, fuzzy and protected now, knowing a loaded pistol rests on the hip of the uniformed gunslinger who’s waving me home from a hard day’s work or who’s fixing the gate that won’t lift for Mr. Snowbird in the rented Hyundai ahead.
“In fact, I can sleep much better now that I know our technologically-advanced armed rangers can nail that octogenarian snowbird in a heartbeat should he give any lip about being in the wrong lane, or in a moment’s notice, wipe out a family of four and their threatening groceries for mistaken identity on a dark, moonless night.”
Well, I prefer not to think of the collateral damage. It’s better to look on the bright side: That maybe these armed gate guards will actually stop a criminal. And with any luck, the thief who meets his demise for swiping a cellphone from an unlocked car or the bicycle from an open garage, won’t turn out to be the teenager living down the street.
In the meantime, if you’re visiting PGA National, I’d try to look as much as possible like a snowbird. And as you roll up to the gate, make sure you reach nice and slow for that ID in your pocket.
~frank_cerabino@pbpost.com
Article source: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/cerabino-pga-national-arms-guards—at-the-gatehouse-1157226.html?cxtype=ynews_rss
Category: Cell Phone Security