Soft Targets and Crowded Places (ST-CP)—hotels, movie theaters, nightclubs, school buses, shopping malls, ski/ride resorts, and summer camps—is a comprehensive insightful analysis of where we’ve been, where we’re at, and where we need to go, as it pertains to incidents, described as all those horrible ruthless acts of violence that have happened in America lately, including mass shootings, that have ripped our country apart with no foreseeable end in sight. From “Columbine” to “Sandy Hook” to “Parkland;” from “Pulse” to “Route 91 Harvest” to “Thousand Oaks;” and all those before, in between, and after; the bloodshed has been nothing short of horrendous. Before delving into the core content of the book it takes a close look at several perpetrators of previous high-profile incidents so readers can better understand what makes them tick and the results are nothing short of fascinating. While these mental autopsies are both factual and useful, they read like juicy crime dramas, probing the minds of perpetrators of incidents past for solutions to prevent future incidents. Even those with considerable insightfulness about the perpetrators of incidents will be in awe of their mindsets from long before they pulled the trigger to just minutes before they opened fire. The book definitively pinpoints the significant progress we’ve made responding to incidents and provides readers with solid hope that the perpetrators of incidents, our somewhat newfound domestic enemies, responsible for spilling far too much blood on American soil can be defeated—because surprisingly we’ve very recently been there and done just that. The book takes a long hard look at the solutions we’ve already applied to prevent incidents, some of them nothing more than band aids and others nothing short of all-inclusive. The book analyzes some traditional solutions, both those that have been implemented and those which need to have been completed yesterday, and it suggests a variety of exceedingly novel solutions that will astound you. The book doesn’t dwell in the past but takes lessons from it, while looking closely at our future, at those last bastions of freedom and openness—the so called Soft Targets and Crowded Places (ST-CP)—hotels, movie theaters, nightclubs, school buses, shopping malls, ski/ride resorts, and summer camps. The book conducts a microscopic examination of the vulnerabilities of seven categories of Soft Targets and Crowded Places (ST-CP) in America—hotels, movie theaters, nightclubs, school buses, shopping malls, ski/ride resorts, and summer camps—and what we can and so desperately need to do to harden them. The author gives the softest of the Soft Targets and Crowded Places (ST-CP), the virgin and highly vulnerable ski/ride resorts, the closest scrutiny, and the best solutions. For the naysayers that contend all is well with these seven categories of venues, a careful examination of many like venues, using New England as a well-justified microcosm, prove them unfailingly wrong. The book is a blueprint, a primer, a way forward for those at the helm of all the Soft Targets and Crowded Places (ST-CP)—hotels, movie theaters, nightclubs, school buses, shopping malls, ski/ride resorts, and summer camps—and a fascinating account for any reader into these high risk venues. Will these soft target venues that are the stomping grounds—past and present—for most of us, be places we’ll steer clear of in the future? It’s quickly becoming apparent that will be the case. The deciding factors of where we go won’t be the traditional things like proximity and offerings of destinations—it’s going be are they safe—and the consequence of venues deemed unsafe will thwart business profitability. Finally, the book includes a fascinating case study with the centerpiece being the mass shooting at a “San Ysidro McDonald’s” which, among other startling facts, makes it abundantly clear that the often leveled charge that “Trump” incites violence is nothing but pure hogwash.

Soultions from Soft Targets and Crowded Places (ST-CP).