What's in a Name? The Sun City Anthem Security Patrol
The July board meeting agenda proposed to change the name of the Sun City Anthem Security Patrol, leaving out the word "Security." That proposal did not sit well with the Security Patrol membership, who had recently voted overwhelmingly to retain their name. Several Security Patrol members took to the podium to voice their opposition and concern over the need to make such a change. Former board officer and Security Patrol founder Bob Berman also made a plea, while providing some historical perspective, questioning the need to make any change and bemoaning the adverse consequences to the community. You can read Bob's statement to the board here.
Some spoke on the adverse effect to the community of diminishing the safety aspects to the important roll played by the Security Patrol. Others spoke of adverse morale implications for the membership, noting that several had voiced their plans to quit if the name was changed. That in turn would reduce community coverage and patrol frequency. The ability of the Security Patrol to make up for any loss in membership would be severely hampered.
There seemed to be some consensus that the board had failed to properly inform the community of any real need to make this proposed change. Based on my limited understanding, the board had been advised by their insurance carrier to change the name to avoid the possibility of a lawsuit since our volunteers have no policing authority and homeowners may be misinformed on their duties. As we have learned, homeowners can sue over just about anything that peaks their ego. This goes to the issue of the community and the volunteers being properly infomed about the mission and scope of the Security Patrol. The argument is that if everyone is properly informed and conduct conforms to that shared understanding of duty and mission, there should no need to delete "Security" from the name. In other words, this should be an education issue rather than a cause to justify a name change.
Notwithstanding any education efforts to resolve the issue, the board is expected to proceed with the change following their decision to postpone a final decision until next month after a Town Hall meeting on the subject is held on Thursday, 12 August at or about 5:30 p.m.
For a discussion of some related issues dealing with legal issues in private policing, read this intersting article by a former police Chicago police officer and now a professor, Dr. James Pastor.
Ron Johnson, 24 July 2010