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“Budgets and priorities means the police can’t be present at events to the extent they used to be,<br />
but sites are safely run, and policed with a small p, by security teams like AP,” Andrew Stevens,<br />
Director of Strategic Development at the company, says.<br />
“The UK festival model is untested since Paris, but it’s built on fantastic communication and liaison.<br />
If there’s heightened risk anywhere, we all know about it.<br />
“The confidence of security/stewards at an event is paramount,” Stevens adds. “If we feel a<br />
genuine need for more staff or more resources, we can’t be shy about asking for it and organisers,<br />
in my experience, are always ready to listen.”<br />
Safe from harm<br />
The horrors of the Paris attacks last year will put the security model<br />
at live events under closer scrutiny than ever in season 2016.<br />
Event Industry News looks beyond the barricades.<br />
Whether this country remains a part of the European Union or not, experts believe threats and<br />
disruption to major events will be the ‘new normal’, across the continent. And there’s a bigger than<br />
ever onus on festival organisers to make their audiences feel safe.<br />
According to the National Police Chiefs Counsel (NPCC), pre-austerity, ‘The Police have no general<br />
duty to preserve public safety at any public event, except where there are imminent or likely threats<br />
to life’. So it costs organisers to have even the thinnest blue line. However, Operation Gothic, an<br />
intelligence-sharing initiative developed by the police and focused on festivals and events, has<br />
been a significant step towards rebalancing that equation since it was introduced in 2013.<br />
Gothic is a means to manage and maintain a structured contacts network for event facilitators,<br />
including police, partners and industry, through:<br />
• gathering, developing, actioning and analysing information and intelligence for sharing with each<br />
event host and key partners<br />
• activating early warning mechanisms in respect of high-risk emerging issues<br />
• producing regular bulletins and risk profiles (i.e. artist, fan base etc) for use by police, venues,<br />
security and event organisers.<br />
While counter terrorism guidance was already in the public domain, the police fielded a weight of<br />
enquiries from event organisers post-Paris. So the system and the tactics were revised, inviting<br />
organisers and venue managers to engagement sessions across the country in May, one telling<br />
example.<br />
“The decision to review was made very quickly after the attacks,” a spokesperson tells Event<br />
Industry News. “[Gothic] is not perfect yet. It’s a new, voluntary operation, managed by just a few<br />
enthusiastic officers, but it’s a channel for us to share information with event organisers. They get<br />
[the news] we get. It’s sanitised, for obvious reasons, but hopefully useful. If any specific information<br />
emerges, we would pass that on. Gothic is not about us plugging holes in [an organiser’s] plans.”<br />
Any real threat to the public, however, following all due consultation and consideration, would stop<br />
an event in its tracks.<br />
The force then is strong, but resolutely background, in the field of live events. So, post-Bataclan<br />
particularly, how much should organisers be doing/can they afford to be doing, to reassure<br />
ticketbuyers they are in safe(r) hands across the fenceline, proven in the face of real adversity?<br />
The police service will not advocate any direct alternatives to its own presence on site, but they do<br />
exist. Seventy five per cent of TSG Policing’s deployments are made up of experienced ex-cops,<br />
for example. Could that be a solution for season 2016 events?<br />
“All agencies need to understand their limitations and play to their strengths,” David Boswell,<br />
Founder/Managing Director of TSG, tells this magazine. “Event security companies provide the<br />
requisite resources to manage day to day security/crowd management requirements, controlling<br />
ingress and egress, for instance, manning check points, searching bags and conducting general<br />
observations.” The capacity to react to high-level incidents falls outside the remit and expectations<br />
of conventional security. That, Boswell insists, is where TSG fits in, with its well-trained, fully<br />
equipped officers, married to expert command and control teams.<br />
“Operation Gothic is a brilliant off-site intelligence sharing platform, so event organisers and<br />
security firms can better prepare, but neither can provide trained professionals with the experience,<br />
and the ability, to deal with higher level incidents,” Boswell says. “In my opinion, event organisers<br />
should ensure they have a specialist resource in place, be it the police, TSG, or both, to manage<br />
specific threats, risks and occurrences.”<br />
Cost is always a key driver for event organisers and crisis doesn’t spawn new cash streams. So,<br />
if you’re convinced by the pitch, how do you pay for team TSG without a brutal, Osborne-style<br />
budget review?<br />
“There will always be additional costs for additional services,” Boswell says. “What TSG can<br />
guarantee, is where SPS is currently paid for, we will generate significant savings. And, where TSG<br />
is brought in as an addition to the overall event safety plan, we keep costs to a minimum.”<br />
The event season proper starts at Cheltenham Festival, mid-March; then the gates begin to open<br />
to thousands of events, big and small, mainstream and boutique, across the country. Unaware<br />
perhaps of all the measures in place behind the scenes, festivalgoers in 2016, convinced by the<br />
lineup and managing the price, are sure to pay closer attention to the security effort they can see.<br />
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