Our Deepest Sympathies

We at Business Controls, Inc. give our condolences to the victims and families of those affected by the unfortunate tragedy at Virginia Tech in April.

Despite the fact that we are in the daily business of the prevention of violence on campuses and in the workplace, we share in the grief and shock over this senseless tragedy. As in any major tragedy, there are second-guessers with ideas as to what could have been done differently, or people who claimed that they knew the threat existed. Given our involvement with Columbine, and the countless workplace violence cases that we have been involved in, we know better than to play 'Monday Morning Quarterback' in these situations. We would like to emphasize how important it is for organizations and institutions to have access to information which may prevent incidences of violence. What was apparent coming out of Virginia Tech was that there were faculty and students who had concerns regarding the gunman, but there was no way for them to report their concerns and no way for the decision makers at Virginia Tech to see those concerns in a central repository. We encourage every organization to provide to their staff or students a reporting system where those concerns are documented and followed up on. Please visit MySafeCampus to learn more about the reporting system that BCI provides for colleges and universities and visit BCI's website to learn about the trainings, threat assessments, and investigations we conduct for organizations and institutions.

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It’s Spring Cleaning Time!

Spring cleaning is a seasonal desire to freshen up our surroundings after a long winter, put away the old, and bring out the new. This desire should extend to our business operations as well, to review and reconsider policies and procedures which may have “grown a few cobwebs” over the years. Particularly in light of the ever-increasing threats to public and personal safety and security, a good review of policies may be in order. Just having a written policy does not necessarily mean you are ready to handle challenges brought about by serious threats. Your policies are a vital tool in your management toolbox to provide guidance and support compliance efforts, as well as create frame of reference when addressing serious infractions or workplace misconduct.

Here are a few guidelines to consider:

• Consider any legal or regulatory boundaries for the subject of your policy. Include references within the policy to provide the proper framework (i.e. OSHA, ADA, HIPAA, etc.).

• State your expectations clearly. Write your policy in “plain English” to ensure full understanding. This is not the place to be vague or confusing.

• Publish your policy and make it easily accessible by all the affected parties (employees, customers, vendors, etc.).

• Review your policy routinely. Regulatory or operational changes may have rendered your policy ineffective or insufficient if you don’t keep it current.

• Define the consequences for lack of adherence to the policy. Tell your audience why the policy is important and what happens if it is not followed.

• Be reasonable. Expect reasonable people to behave in reasonable ways. If compliance is too difficult under normal or reasonable circumstances, then perhaps the policy is ineffective.

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Identity Theft: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

On Monday, April 23, 2007, The President’s Task Force on Identity Theft announced a plan focused on combating identity theft at the federal level. The Task Force was created in May of 2006 and consists of members of 17 federal agencies and is co-chaired by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Deborah Platt Majoras, Chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission. The strategic plan focuses on improving the effectiveness of identity theft prosecutions, strategies to enhance data protection and assistance for consumers and businesses. The plan has already been met with criticism that it will be an ineffective gesture that does not properly address the common misapplication of Social Security Numbers or the rampant problem of poor and inconsistent retail security across the country.

This comes on the heels of a finding on a government web site that 38,700 recipients of grants from the Agriculture Department have had their Social Security Numbers posted online since 1996 before they were recently found and removed. In addition, testimony in Congress on April 19 berated the 2002 Federal Information Security Management Act after the State Department received a failing grade for cyber security. In June of 2006, the State Department’s information networks were breached with the assistance of an email attachment. The following October, hackers found their way into the Commerce Department’s systems. With these breaches taking place, information security issues go beyond identity theft problems and may become national security problems.

Information security and identity theft continue to collect headlines, including the well-publicized discovery earlier this year involving TJX Co., Inc., parent of department stores TJ Maxx and Marshall’s, among others. Hackers were able to infiltrate TJX’s computer systems and steal over 45 million credit card numbers. This has been reported as the nation’s largest ever breach of personal data. With this, TJX went to the top of a growing list of companies who have had information stolen or compromised, including Choicepoint, Citigroup, DSW Shoes, and Boeing; and schools such as UCLA and the University of Texas.

Click here for more information on The President’s Task Force on Identity Theft, as well as for resources for identity theft issues.

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Propranolol – A Possible Treatment for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder?

Individuals who suffer from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (“PTSD”) do so because of real or perceived painful or traumatic experiences that are retained in the form of memories. PTSD can be one of the more intrusive and disruptive disorders to affect one’s life. But what if there was a way to “forget” our experiences and alter our memories? Should those who suffer traumatic events have the opportunity to lessen the impact of their experience, ultimately reducing the invasive psychological symptoms which can accompany traumatic stress? Dr. Roger Pitman, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School, “yes,” and he claims that knows how. Dr. Pitman’s answer to combating psychological trauma: the commonly prescribed drug propranolol.

Propranolol, a beta-blocker, is frequently used to help treat high blood pressure, and unofficially, to treat anxiety and stage fright. But what place does it have in the world of trauma? It helps to have a basic understanding of how traumatic memories are “created.” During a traumatic incident, such as a severe car crash, the emotional levels of those involved dramatically increase, triggering a release of stress hormones like adrenaline – this is the key. It is this surge of adrenaline, during and immediately following the incident, which researchers believe is the answer to why incidents of trauma are so strongly encoded into our brains and may then ultimately lead to the development of PTSD. It is the adrenaline component of this equation which has become the focus of Dr. Pitman and his research.

Propranolol acts by blocking the receptor sites for adrenaline, allowing the adrenaline to be present but preventing it from doing its job. Dr. Pitman’s thought is that if propranolol is given to victims of trauma, as soon as possible, the resulting surge of adrenaline would be prohibited from creating an excessively strong memory. Dr. James McGaugh, a leader in the neurobiology of learning and memory, states that, “the drug does not remove the memory – it just makes the memory more normal.”

The preliminary results of Dr. Pitman’s research appear to support his theory. Participants, all pulled from an emergency room following a traumatic incident, were either given propranolol or a placebo. Six months later, those given the propranolol exhibited significantly fewer PTSD symptoms than those given the placebo pill. Although this early data looks promising, it has sparked a heated debate between researchers and ethicists.

The President’s Council on Bioethics has condemned Dr. Pitman’s study, stating that our memories make us who we are and that “re-writing” memories pharmacologically…risks “undermining our true identity.” Dr. Jon Shaw, a PTSD expert, however, contends that propranolol simply “erases the acute emotionality of the situation so people can function.”

While the debate over propranolol’s use continues, the science community is moving forward. Researchers recognize that more work must be done before propranolol can be marketed as a tool in the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder, though the opportunities for research continue to expand. Dr. Pitman recently received funding, for next summer, to begin utilizing propranolol in the treatment of American soldiers returning from Afghanistan and Iraq.

Source in part, MedicineNet.com and Cbsnews.com.

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In the era of compliance, the reality is that organizations must be aware of more than just profits and loss. Corporations can be responsible for the actions of their employees, and the way in which organizations must respond to prosecution is subject to change. Take the McNulty and Thompson Memos; while both are designed to help prosecutors decide whether to bring charges again a corporation or individuals within that organization, the memos can also affect an organization’s attorney-client privilege, work product doctrine, and employee rights.

The Thompson Memo, which preceded McNulty’s “revised” follow-up, was put together by Attorney General Larry Thompson in 2003 and was consistent with President Bush’s direction to the Department of Justice leadership to focus on corporate fraud prosecutions in the aftermath of Enron and related corporate failures. Among other factors it tends to focus on whether a company would agree to waive the attorney-client privilege in regard to conversations had by its employees (Wall Street Journal, Dec 2006). This memo has been found to be unconstitutional based on the idea that it compelled corporations trying to avoid prosecution to waive their attorney client privilege and withhold payment of their employees’ attorneys’ fees. In essence, a company who refused to waive their rights would be subject to an indictment and few companies were willing to risk putting themselves out of business by refusing.

In an attempt to revise the Thompson Memo, U.S. Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty suggested that the wavier of attorney-client privilege should only be used in rare circumstances and the guidelines should adopt a “tiered approach” that could be checked and monitored at varying levels. The prosecutor must now obtain advanced written approval from the Deputy Attorney General in order to request a corporation to waive its attorney client privilege. The prosecutor must also “establish a legitimate need” by showing the likely prosecutorial benefit, as well as the absence of alternative means to obtain the information and the extent of voluntary disclosure already provided. Although McNulty set out to improve Thompson’s effort, it has already been accused of not going far enough to protect the attorney-client privilege, the work product doctrine, and employees’ rights.

Companies should be aware of the content in these memos for their own benefit as it is helpful to know what prosecutors would consider before taking legal action. However, those who feel strongly about the theories outlined should remain skeptical when the rights of individuals may be compromised for the advantage of the organization.

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