Category: Personal Injury, Safety Judge the Deed (and, more importantly, what lead up to it), Not the Breed TASA ID: 2287 Calls often come in asking me to opine on the inherent dangerous nature of certain breeds (i.e., American Pit Bull Terrier or Rottweiler). Attorneys are often both surprised and annoyed when I tell them, “No.” Instead, I advise looking into the stewardship of the dog, whereupon neglect is usually found. Lack of responsibility towards a dog’s emotional, mental, and physical well-being, possibly combined with a dog’s inherent breed tendencies, are always the true culprit in dog bite cases. Read more
Category: Safety, School Safety/Violence Escalating Violence and Parental Litigation: The National Call for Student Safety Plans in School Districts and Universities TASA ID: 1646 If there is any university president or school superintendent in the nation who currently operates without formalized school safety plans in place (quite apart from the noticeable but ignored "thou-shalt-nots" festooned on campus walls, doors and fences), s/he needs to regard-as a wake-up scream-the thunderous allegations of negligence, child endangerment, foreseen traumatic event, breach of duty of care, sexual molestation, dereliction of duty, and reckless disregard hurled by a passing parade of aggrieved and angry parents. Read more
Category: School Safety/Violence Everything You Wanted to Know About School Safety but Were Sued First TASA ID: 1646 On June 14, 2013, the nation paused to pray and remember the unspeakably horrific shooting, a massacre that claimed 26 lives, on December 14, 2012, at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown Connecticut. Legions of the country's experts, including me, continue to engage in differential diagnoses and soul-searching for answers as to who and what went wrong. The cruel irony is that Sandy Hook Elementary School probably could not have done anything more, different or better, to protect its students, short of constructing a walled-in campus inside of which students would receive provisions and other necessities from the outside. Read more
Category: Security Are Safe Deposit Boxes on Their Way Out? TASA ID: 1018 "Safe deposit boxes are obsolete, soon to be history, fading away fast, loss leaders, relics from the past and on their way to oblivion." These are several of the negative and totally incorrect statements made recently in a news story published by a large New York business news publication. . . Read more
Category: Financial/Economic, Safety, Security Safe Deposit Boxes: Profit Center or Loss Leader? TASA ID: 1018 As a nationally recognized safe deposit box specialist, I am often asked what techniques could be put in place to transform this “loss leader” into a lucrative endeavor. My answer is always simple and concise: know your market, evaluate and train your department staff, and review your box rental rates, fees, programs and policies. Read more
