New academic security program takes proactive approach

WASHINGTON—Mark Logan, the assistant dean of the University of Phoenix's Security and Criminal Justice program, wants to make everyone comfortable where they live.

“Most criminal activity, as I know it, occurs indoors,” Logan, a veteran of the U.S. Dept. of Justice, told Security Systems News. People need to feel safe inside their homes and other people need to learn to help them feel that way, he said.

The new Center of Research Excellence (CORE) at the University of Phoenix, offering a bachelor's degree and focusing on the security, criminal justice and technology fields, will help with just that, he said.

CORE will produce scholarly materials, focus on current tends and work in partnership with industry associations, such as ASIS, to identify security solutions.

“That's what we're doing this for. We're looking for best practices for security professionals and law enforcement to minimize threats to public safety—and for research.

“We've been in a reactionary mode,” he said.

CORE hopes to lead an academic effort that will enable the anticipation and identify threats and proactively prevent them, Logan said.

He wants to join forces with other like-minded institutions; the program will seek partnerships.

“Not one entity can do everything. We need to be working together with the industry—with the use of technology and security—to collaborate to see what would be the best way forward,” Logan said.

He noted that partnering with industry groups, such as ASIS, will be beneficial.

The program will be “about developing leaders and where they can apply most immediately. These will be our thought leaders,” Logan said. “They are going to have to make spot-on decisions.”

Logan said he is drawing faculty for the program “from throughout the industry.”

“There is a practical application to what is taught in the classroom,” he said. “We are all security professionals.”

“The focus now is on prevention,” he reiterated. “We want to grow.”

Logan has nearly four decades of security and criminal justice expertise, including 27 years with the U.S. Dept. of Justice.