ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Security Isn’t Always the Answer

To conduct business in an open society, and to run an open institution within it, carries inherent day-to-day risk. The Fairview Developmental Center in Costa Mesa has prided itself on thriving as a major center for the state’s mentally retarded. It has done so without imposing severe security measures on its community of staff and patients.

This facility, the second-largest of its kind in California, had plans in the works to install a new security system, plans prompted largely by concern about protecting staff members from patients.

Ironically, the violence on Tuesday came from the staff itself, when, according to police, Michael Rahming, a painter with a history of work problems, opened fire. One supervisor died and two others were wounded.

Rahming’s troubles with management were no secret. He had filed a number of grievances alleging racial discrimination, and he once conducted a tirade in the paint shop break room, the scene of Tuesday’s shootings. Administrators reportedly were so concerned about his erratic behavior that they had a psychiatric evaluation done, and a determination was made that he was fit to continue in his job.

But in the end, what happened in Costa Mesa and what happened twice recently in San Diego County are reminders that no warning signals, and few calculated responses, can guarantee deterrence to one determined, troubled soul. As one expert observed, one of the few things that can be said with certainty about such outbursts is that they are very hard to predict.

Putting pistols in the hands of the now-unarmed security force of Fairview Developmental Center hardly would guarantee a higher level of safety, although obviously some benefit can be derived from better security overall. If, as some psychiatrists suggest, disgruntled workers telegraph a plea for help, better employee-communication programs surely can be useful. But ultimately, free institutions have to resign themselves to operating with a certain amount of uncertainty. Even if, at times, there’s a painful price indeed for openness.