Windom Security case study

How Windom Security is assisting law enforcement to secure communities

"We have a policy that every guard will wear an Axon body camera. They have been a lifesaver in several situations for us and our clients."

– Dylan Vicha, CEO

The Mission

Windom Security, a Phoenix-based private security provider, is focused on providing intelligent and effective security services to the community.Windom CEO, Dylan Vicha, is focused on providing private security solutions, but also prioritizes a focus on assisting law enforcement to enable them to spend more time on high-risk concerns.

Law Enforcement often gets bogged down where there is low liability work that is a burden - often in high density population areas where there are many calls for service but little violence. Windom's aim is to help service many of these low-risk community calls to free up Law Enforcement to spend more time focusing on critical issues.

The Challenge

One of the challenges in collaboration between private security and law enforcement has been a lack of appropriate training that enables security firms to effectively assist public safety agencies. Knowledge of key areas such as de-escalation training, gang and drug trafficking recognition and suspicious acitivity indicators are often not covered in security training.

Another major gap is the ability to effectively share data between private security and law enforcement to ensure a clear picture and accurate accounting of events.

The Solution

Windom is changing the way security guards are trained, moving from the typical monitoring and patrol basics to a focus on identifying and preventing threats to help make communities safer.

Windom leverages the basic training requirements of the Department of Public Safety, the Peace Officer Standards and Training Board, and Military Recruit Basic Training and combines them to create a private security basic training program that raised the bar in minimum standards. The video gathered by body- worn cameras that all Windom guards are equipped with is a valuable tool that they regularly use to show real-world scenarios during training that enables guards to better understand the do's and dont's of critical situations they are likely to encounter.

The Axon incident management system is providing a seamless way for Windom to automatically capture important situations and easily share that data with law enforcement on the Axon platform.

Transparency

The added transparency provided by body-worn cameras has been a huge advantage for Windom. They are seeing benefits in being able to quickly gain an accurate accounting of events and quickly dispel or verify any claims. Reviewing crystal clear video of what happened is allowing them to quickly put any customer or public concerns to rest and is also providing coaching opportunities for providing guards feedback on areas of improvement and also best practices that should be followed across the organization.

Data Sharing

Windom is currently partnering with Tempe PD in downtown Tempe to provide extra eyes and ears during busy weekend hours. Guards are working directly for Tempe PD to spot any trouble spots before they turn into incidents and be able to provide an accurate accounting of any situations that do escalate. When Windom Guards encounter an incident, they start recording with their body cameras to capture the truth of the moment. Having the footage of the event as it happens provides a clear accounting of the incident so he said,she said scenarios are no longer an issue. Being able to easily share video and audio data on the Axon platform is making it simple for Windom to work with local law enforcement to provide complete transparency and reduce the time spent filing and prosecuting cases.

Improved Training

Windom prides themselves on providing some of the best training in the industry. With a focus on providing a large tool belt of capabilities and knowledge to their officers, their intense training program equips guards to deal with a multitude of situations and also understand how to prevent potential problems from escalating.

One of the ways they are offering best-in-class training is through sharing recordings of good and bad incidents that are encountered to show what to do and what not to do. Real footage for training provides a more impactful way to show how to stay out of danger on the job and how to more effectively interact with the public.

Improved training through the use of real-world scenarios, is allowing Windom to more quickly and efficiently train guards, thereby preventing and reducing the number of dangerous situations encountered by staff.

Looking for solutions?

Interested in learning more about how
Axon can improve your security operations?

Contact the Axon team today at

axon.com/security.

Having real footage for training provides a more effective way to quickly upskill guards.

– Dylan Vicha, CEO (embed image to the right)