Jim Richards | |
Each year I set aside some time to consider what I’ve seen over the past year, not just in terms of bullet-resistant barriers, but in attitudes towards safety and security more generally. While many of the security industry trends I’ve talked about in the past are still very relevant, moving into this year, I think the big trend is responsibility. I see more organizations thinking more comprehensively about their responsibility to their staff, customers, clients, and communities—and what they need to do to keep those people safe on a daily basis.
In many cases, this means moving away from thinking in terms of silos and instead considering a systems approach to security, in which each element plays a role in safe and smooth operation.
Here are three physical security trends I expect will have a significant impact on how companies think about and invest in solutions this year.
Trend #1: Safer Schools and Corporate Headquarters
Every school must be a safe haven. Administrators know it, and have worked steadily to improve building safety and ballistic security for the past dozen years. But school security is a gargantuan task, and we’ve hardly scratched the surface.
There are about 130,000 K–12 schools in the United States. Most buildings are more than 25 years old, and almost 40% were built before 1970.
A huge portion haven't had a major renovation in almost 15 years, because funding, regulatory, and operating realities make comprehensive improvements prohibitively difficult.
On top of that, almost all schools run on similar schedules, which means potentially disruptive building projects—like creating a bullet-resistant secure vestibule at the single main entrance—have to happen either during a two-week winter break or a two- to three-month summer break.
Schools have to reach big modernization and maintenance goals through a frustrating series of incremental steps. We’ve installed secure vestibules and ballistic windows in thousands of schools, and we don’t expect that to slow down anytime soon. In fact, we’re doubling down with the introduction of new solutions to keep out active shooters and reinforce standard glass with forced entry protection without needing to update frames.
We’re seeing a similar uptick in corporate security. In the last year, corporate America experienced a rapid shift in threat profile, especially when it comes to the C-suite.
Just a few years ago, most people didn’t think twice about who was in the corner office. That has changed, and not in a good way. At the end of 2024, experts estimated that, on average, CEOs of major corporations faced around 260 direct threats per month. By early 2025, that number skyrocketed to 2,200 threats per month. In response, demand for executive protection has skyrocketed as well—and doesn’t show signs of coming down anytime soon.
Trend #2: The “Cyber-Physical Convergence” Has Arrived
For years, experts predicted that the convergence of cybersecurity and physical security was coming. This year, it’s finally arrived. People haven’t just acknowledged that cybersecurity and physical security might affect each other; they are taking steps and changing their organizational structure to better address the reality of intertwined physical systems and computer systems.
Doors are the clearest example.
The door is the fundamental element of building security. That door has a lockset, and if there is any sort of access control, that door is now tied to your computer network—as are the cameras, motion sensors, door and window sensors, automated door openers, life safety systems like smoke and heat detectors, mechanicals like HVAC, and more. Every new employee and staff member has to be onboarded into that system, given appropriate access and permissions, and issued their badge or token or code. In addition, plenty of vendors and visitors need access, like the overnight cleaning company, vending machine operator, and your regular UPS delivery person.
The IT department has become the logical and efficient place to coordinate every aspect of security management.
Does that mean we’re getting calls from IT about buying bulletproof doors?
No. We’re still primarily talking to the same people we always have: security directors, executives, contractors and architects. We recommend organizations coordinate with IT early on in the security decision-making process.
Otherwise, businesses run the risk of making expensive mistakes or creating delays when it turns out some seemingly minor component they’ve specified—such as a door strike or sensor—isn’t compatible with the rest of their IoT ecosystem.
Trend #3: Proactive Becomes the Default
In the past, most organizations approached security reactively. They didn’t invest in bullet-resistant windows or bulletproof barriers until after they suffered an incident or faced an immediate threat.
Over the last several years, I’ve seen an increase in organizations treating security proactively, and I think 2026 is the year that this will become the new norm.
In part, this is a shift in how decision makers think about their responsibility to the public. No one wants to be the CEO or COO or elected official who has to explain in the aftermath of a shooting why they chose not to upgrade the doors and access control system, or install ballistic windows and better outdoor lighting.
This shift is also driven by a measurable increase in frightening outbursts and incivility. In their 2025 whitepaper “Beyond Incivility: The Soaring Business Cost of America’s Deteriorating Civility,” the Security Executive Council (SEC) reported that the majority of U.S. workers find that “society has become uncivil.”
Each day workers experience around 200 million acts of incivility, ranging from belligerence to threats and actual violence. Around half of all Americans have these experiences in a given year. Almost 1 in 5 Americans admit to being the ones who lash out in this way. According to the SEC, “frustration and belligerence are becoming normalized” in America.
Meanwhile, according to the American Psychological Association (APA), as of 2024, loneliness and emotional disconnection have become “defining features of life in America.”
Many U.S. adults feel socially isolated, reporting that societal division is a significant source of stress in their lives. Nearly 7 in 10 adults in America reported needing more emotional support than they received last year. The people who felt most isolated and stressed also reported that they were more likely to lash out at those around them. It’s a vicious cycle.
Our Shared Priority is to Keep You Safe
There is at least one bright spot in these trends, and I don’t want that to get lost.
Along with documenting our worsening epidemic of frustration and isolation, the APA’s most recent survey also found that when asked what gave their lives meaning and purpose, 92% of adults said it was family and friends.
As we embark on a new year in which many are feeling a lot of uncertainty, let’s try to keep that front and center in our minds. Almost everyone you encounter is looking forward to getting home to their family and friends at the end of the day.
It is always my pleasure to use my decades of experience in the bullet-resistant glass and physical security industries to help make sure that happens.
If you have a project in mind, or are starting to think about improving physical and ballistic security in your building, don’t hesitate to contact us.
