Global Security, Privacy, & Risk Management

Piracy and the Armed Detterent- Lloyds List… & dogs… September 1, 2011

There is a very well written piece on the use of armed guards.  Without rehashing the entire article, the author disputes those who claim that armed guards are resulting in an increasing level of violence from pirates.  It is a great piece and worth the read.  In contradiction to the naysayers and in support of the piece mentioned above, I would go so far as to say that it is the increasing violence of pirates that is necessitating the use of armed guards on ships.  Security companies would love nothing more than to flash a big toothy grin and the international sign of friendship at pirates to make them scamper away.  The unfortunate reality is that the pirates are escalating their attacks and ships are being forced to use armed guards.

Yesterday I was in the pet store buying some food for my new Rottweiler puppy Bo. Bo had never been on a leash and I was attempting to train him.  A woman working at the store struck up a conversation and I was explaining that I had to put one of my dogs down recently when after 11 years she had become so unpredictable that we could not trust her around children, people or pets.  The dog had already attacked and severely injured three dogs by the time the decision was made to put her down.  While I was deeply saddened it was the only responsible option.  It was simply her nature to be aggressive.  What struck me was the woman’s response to the story and to the idea of leashes.  She actually tried to convince me that leashes were the cause of dog bites and attacks and that if we would do away with leashes the incidence of dog bites would go down. She was an advocate for allowing all dogs to run free!  I told her I felt it was irresponsible to allow a 130lb dog to run free among children and others.  At the end of the day, no matter how well trained, a dog, is a dog, is a dog.

This is the same attitude that permeates the blogosphere where people claim that it is the shipping companies, which by arming their ships, are causing the violence.  This is complete nonsense.  The pirates are violent and it is their actions that result in the need for shipping companies to arm themselves.  Not the other way around…