Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - September 19, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba S E A R C H R E A L E S TAT E F O R S A L E I N A N D A R O U N D W I N N I P E G , M A N I TO B A homes.winnip egfreepress.com New Homes • Resale Homes • Open Houses • News • Agents • Parade of Homes LISTINGS REAL ESTATE email: repics@winnipegfreepress.com or call: 204.697.7100 Wednesday, noon deadline Call now to place your Real Estate picture listing ad Life, Perfected in Tuxedo MOVE-IN READY PRIVATE TOURS AVAILABLE Call 431-668-5701 atelierleasing@mccor.ca AtelierLiving.ca • Concierge service for everyday ease • Fitness studio & residents’ lounge • Secure underground parking • Pet-friendly community • Steps from trails, boutiques, and dining Atelier Living brings modern elegance to Winnipeg’s most prestigious neighbourhood. 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U.S. companies are increasingly taking steps to fortify their offices in the wake of a pair of deadly shootings that targeted high-profile companies in bustling Manhattan, security experts say. Much like schools and houses of worship, they are going beyond visitor sign-ins and locked doors — tapping into a growing network of vendors sell- ing sophisticated monitoring systems, panic buttons and other items — to heighten preparedness and improve safety in the event of an attack. Security consultants and technol- ogists who offer threat assessments and new-generation metal detectors say they’re seeing more demand. Com- panies also are turning to surveillance systems that use artificial intelligence to detect weapons and identify loiter- ers, and they’re hiring consultants who scour social media and obscure corners of the internet for posts that may augur an attack. Schools, sports arenas and hospitals for years have adhered to elevated sec- urity protocols, partly driven by fears they could be subject of a terroristic attack or in response to shootings and patient violence. But corporate Amer- ica has largely taken a more provisional tact — bringing in security guards af- ter a high-profile incident, for example, and then phasing them out after a few weeks — often because of the expense, industry observers say. A number of companies tempor- arily hired more security after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thomp- son was gunned down on his way to an investor conference in December, ob- servers said. Thompson’s slaying and a July attack targeting National Football League of- fices in a well-secured New York office building prompted many companies to reassess what they’re willing to invest to reassure employees, their families or insurers that their workplaces are well-protected, industry experts say. “Reasonable costs today may not be the same tomorrow after you have an incident like this,” said John Torres, president of security and technology at global consultancy Guidepost Solutions. The two shootings underscored how prominent companies can be at risk, said Glen Kucera of Allied Universal, a global security and facility services company that deployed dozens of canine teams in New York over the summer. The man accused of shooting Thomp- son harboured resentment toward the U.S. health-care system, police said, but he did not target his own insurer. “He went after the biggest one,” Kucera said. In the July attack, authorities said the shooter believed he suffered from a degenerative brain disease and blamed the NFL for his struggles; he does not appear to have played football beyond high school. He left four people dead and wounded another before turning the gun on himself, police said. The building had safe rooms where tenants sought refuge, which may have piqued other companies’ interest, Lifri- eri said; he estimates safe-room quer- ies at his business have doubled since the July 28 shooting. Peter Evans, CEO of Xtract One Technologies, a company that makes weapons detection systems, said clients who were once just browsing the offer- ings are now contacting the company with intent: “We are going to deploy a solution before December. Can we run a demo with you?” Some workers have taken note. Key, a retired D.C. police captain, said he’s getting more sign-ups for the 15-person classes he leads for people who want to guard VIPs. Hiring a guard can cost US$150,000 or more a year, he said. “People are seeing what’s happened in the corporate landscape and they say, ‘I need to — I want to get into that profession.’” The number of security guards and security companies — as well as the slate of services such as consulting they offer — has “grown by leaps and bounds,” said Eddie Sorrells, presi- dent-elect of security association ASIS International and chief executive of DSI Security Services, a company that provides security officers, video mon- itoring and other services. There were 458 workplace homi- cides in the United States in 2023, 373 of which were shootings, according to government data. By comparison, there were 322 shootings a decade prior. About 28 per cent of U.S. public mass shootings — those that weren’t at pri- vate residences — took place in a work- place, according to a 2023 National Institute of Justice report that synthe- sized findings from dozens of publica- tions and research projects. Corporate spending on executive sec- urity has jumped markedly in recent months, according to business filings. The tech giant Intel spent US$248,900 on the “incremental cost of residential security” for its then-CEO in 2024, com- pared with US$1,500 spent on his resi- dential security in 2023, and US$1,700 in 2022, company records show. Even before the shootings, many companies were paying more attention to online threats and aggressive social media rhetoric that has increased in re- cent years, some security officials said. At Interfor International, an intel- ligence and security consulting firm, the volume of online threat monitor- ing work has tripled each year since 2020, according to chief executive Don Aviv. It scans chatrooms, social media and the deep or dark web for negative language about brands or executives and then tries to determine whether the threatening poster is “just some 11-year-old in a basement” or someone with a history of violence For commercial building landlords, state-of-the-art security can be a sell- ing point in attracting tenants, said Glenn Good, vice chair of the Build- ing Owners and Managers Association and principal of a San Francisco-based commercial real estate firm. They fre- quently look for upgrades. “We don’t sit back and wait for the next crisis like a shooting to determine how we ensure that our buildings are safe,” he said. Experts in school security — an in- dustry that’s grown markedly in recent years, partly fuelled by government grants — say the fear and demand sparked by a shooting can draw fly-by- night-operators hawking their technol- ogy as a fix-all solution. “I call (it) the shiny object syndrome,” said Kenneth Trump, who leads a firm called National School Safety and Sec- urity Services. Amy Klinger, with the Educator’s School Safety Network, says at times too much attention is paid to physical tools and active shooter response and not enough to training and preparation for more common disasters such as medical or severe weather events. “If you are going to bet the farm that a metal detector is the only thing you need to keep your school safe, you’re going to be wrong,” she said But many in corporate security say the industry will only continue to grow as questions about liability and po- tential lawsuits surface, and as states adopt various workplace safety laws. New technologies have already made security more advanced than old- school metal detectors — and far less of a hassle, they say. Evans shared a video of schoolchil- dren walking through one of his com- pany’s weapons-detection systems, a metal-detector-like structure wide enough to let multiple people pass through at a time. “I can walk through with a backpack, with a laptop, with a tablet, with a metal water bottle… and it won’t alert,” he said. Video surveillance has also evolved beyond a guard staring at a monitor‚ Sorrells said. AI can be used to send alerts: “That car has been in that park- ing lot for X amount of minutes or hours. Or someone is loitering around the back entrance,’” he said. Volt AI is one such tool. An employ- ee receives and reviews alert notifi- cations to filter out false alarms, said chief executive Dmitry Sokolowski. If a weapon is detected, the system will keep tracking the person even if they conceal the weapon. It can help provide their location for law enforcement, he said. “There’s been a lot of interest, and the interest just keeps growing.” — Washington Post SHANNON NAJMABADI SUPPLIED / ALLIED UNIVERSAL An Allied Universal canine works in New York. Demand for the services of gun-detecting canines was so high this summer in the city that one security firm brought in 100 extra teams. U.S. workplaces seek to tighten security ‘by leaps and bounds’ amid cases of high-profile violence ;