27-10final

Above, a ceremonial
guard on Whitehall
has his picture taken
by tourists. He’s more
photogenic than the
anti-ram bollards on
the pavement, but can
you put a value on the
guard, either for earning
the UK tourist income,
or protecting central
London?!
Below, a map showing
the ‘Student Safe Spot’
places in Bradford city
centre
Image courtesy of the
University of Bradford
42
Ways to show the
value of Security
It’s a question across security
management, and not just for
security managers - how to add
value? Mark Rowe considers.
Security is often described as an
insurance policy; or a grudge
purchase. It’s something taken
for granted, invisible, even; and only
wanted when something goes wrong,
something that you - non-security
people, including those in charge of
the budgets - don’t want to happen.
Hence a trend, or fashion, for manned
guarding to be part of a ‘bundle’
of other services, such as cleaning;
although those related services
may suffer from the same ‘grudge’
mentality; you only miss the clean
towels in the toilet, when they are not
there. One way round this has been
through law and regulation; to make
people have insurance for their car, as
a general life example, or to only hire
OCTOBER 2017 PROFESSIONAL SECURITY
door staff or contract security officers
with SIA licences. Likewise, the
Crime and Disorder Act 1998 required
local government to do something
about crime and disorder, such as
form a partnership with others, such
as the police and businesses. As with
any law or regulation, it’s only as
good as the enthusiasm and diligence
of the humans; hence it’s patchy. It’s
long been a gripe of national retailers
that they get a good return from some
crime and disorder partnerships, that
they pay to be a member of, and less
so from others.
Bradford beat
Partnerships that have done well, or
simply kept going, have often had
a few hard-working and inspired
people that make things happen
and with good contacts; they have
adapted as needs change; in a word,
they have given a good service, and
it’s easy to forget that security is a
service. City Centre Beat (CCB),
the crime partnership in Bradford,
dates from the 1990s. In its most
recent annual report, CCB chairman
Catherine Riley, manager of the
Kirkgate Shopping Centre in the
city, said: “During the past year
we have continued to enhance our
operating systems – pushing out our
state of the art digital radios to even
more members, a new and better
website and even a phone app for
our intranet member’s service. All
these measures ensure that our 170
members are fully up to date and able
to easily identify known criminals
and share intelligence on crime
related issues – and that’s no mean
feat with over 750 known criminals
on our database.” Her deputy is
Mirko Maric, the long-time security
manager at Kirkgate. Among those
on the partnership steering group are
Steve Penny, security manager of
The Broadway, a Westfield shopping
centre which opened in 2015. CCB
runs digital radios for retailers - shops
by day and pubs and clubs by night
- and a banning scheme for known
shop thieves; and weekly briefings;
as do any number of partnerships
in other towns. Members input data
about offenders using the DISC
software and from last year an app
from Littoralis. A Whatsapp group
means that scores of users can share
pieces of intelligence through their
mobile device, to warn or ask about
offenders, and thus reduce or prevent
crime against businesses. Which suits
everybody; the Bradford council
CCTV have use made of their service,
police have fewer crimes on their
books, and know more about city
centre offenders than they would
without the CCB - again, a common
feature of partnerships. The CCB
most recent annual report includes
a police officer’s details of how
CCB members helped by reporting
sightings of the city’s ‘most wanted’
- a burglar with warrants out against
him - so much so, that the officer had
his radio and two phones on the go. It
made an arrest possible.
Students, specials
Something new in recent years,
as elsewhere, has been the rise in
students in Bradford: from 2000
in 1966 to 17,000 now. Hence, as
anywhere, violence by and against
students, and harassment of young
women, which featured in our May
issue. CCB runs a ‘Student Safe Spot’
scheme. Steve Longbottom the CCB
manager regularly visits member
premises, such as hotels, shops and
public buildings. These have a round
yellow sticker to show that anyone
www.professionalsecurity.co.uk