RiskXtraSeptember2018

Opinion: Mind Your Own Business
to ascertain its viability was to put it to the test.
By partnering with the Police and Security
Group Initiative, Sussex Police and a major
retailer, a pilot scheme deployed community
guards across Brighton & Hove and nearby
areas working in tandem with the Sussex
Warden initiative deployed by SWL Security, in
turn ensuring all major Sussex conurbations
received a community security resource.
Community Guarding uses existing Security
Industry Authority (SIA)-accredited personnel to
act as High Street security to support the local
retail community, displacing criminality from
not only retail premises, but also from local
central business districts. This is achieved
through a two-tier security resource – a
traditional static presence in high risk stores
supplemented by high visibility patrolling in
areas agreed by local police that supports their
own stated initiatives.
In addition, the pilot sought to conduct
evidential capture, support criminal and civil
justice processes and report on the presence of
known criminals to police and the business
community in order to prevent offending.
Six community security officers spent the first
two weeks of the pilot undertaking engagement
with local businesses and supported local
policing operations with a view to project
launch at the Brighton Pride event. They
maintained a high visibility presence in areas
known to be at elevated risk and there was a
positive reaction from members of the public,
who were pleased to see an extra resource
being deployed in the community.
The team also built a good relationship with
other local security firms, the Brighton & Hove
Business Crime Reduction Partnership and local
police to share intelligence between the
organisations. Their activities also included
talking to members of the homeless community
to offer help by putting them in contact with
volunteer agencies working with Brighton City
Council, which could then assist with food,
benefits and housing issues.
Keep talking
Local businesses in the patrol vicinity away
from the major retailer who funded the initial
proof of concept could request support from
community officers by contacting staff at Mitec,
the Mitie Control Room located near Belfast.
These deployments were supported locally by
the use of the Business Crime Reduction
Partnership radio link such that businesses
could communicate effectively.
The community guards assisted in arrests,
searching offenders and diffusing volatile
situations, rendering First Aid and carrying out
welfare checks, gathering intelligence and
evidence of crimes and generally helping
members of the public.
Since the start of the pilot, the community
guards have reported over 1,500 incidents and
450 crimes, conducted 800 rough sleeper
enquiries and detained 59 individuals until
police officers could attend the scene. In a twomonth
period in 2017, among many other
activities, the community guards arrested a
man with five outstanding warrants, supported
a vulnerable female who had escaped from
hospital and intervened in a road rage incident
that developed into a physical altercation.
Setting the standard
Due to the pilot project’s success, the NBCS
and its partners are confident the same model
could be developed and rolled out across the
country. As well as the many benefits that it
offers retailers and law enforcement agencies,
it also represents a valuable opportunity for the
security industry – and the security guarding
sector in particular – to elevate its position and
create a new type of highly-trained, skilled and
service-driven operative.
There’s a vicious circle at play, whereby
customers don’t value guarding services highly
enough and are not willing to pay higher fees.
This means that the sector struggles to attract
high quality individuals from a diminishing pool
of talent due to the low rates of pay that
operatives receive, which then renders the
security industry an unattractive career choice.
To address this issue, work is underway to
establish a set of operational standards via
appropriate bodies like the SIA and the NPCC.
It’s hoped that the development of a nationally
recognised and accredited enhanced security
standard for individuals will raise the credibility
of the private security industry.
It has been mooted that this standard should
include areas such as statement writing,
evidential capture and continuity, the use of
body-worn video, initial responder First Aid
training, an understanding of civil powers,
dealing with vulnerable people, technology
awareness and its use, Community Safety
Accreditation Scheme powers, Project Griffin
awareness and, importantly, corporate
accreditation through the SIA’s own Approved
Contractor Scheme.
Daniel Hardy:
Managing Director at the
National Business Crime
Solution (NBCS)
*Mind Your Own Business is the
space where the NBCS examines
current and often key-critical
business crime issues directly
affecting today’s companies. The
thoughts and opinions expressed
here are intended to generate
debate and discussion among
practitioners within the
professional security and risk
management sectors. If you would
like to make comment on the
views outlined, please send an
e-mail to: brian.sims@risk-uk.com
**The NBCS is a ‘Not-for-Profit’
initiative that enables the effective
sharing of appropriate data
between the police service, crime
reduction agencies and the
business community to reduce
crime and risks posed to all. By
providing a central repository
where business crime data is
submitted, shared and analysed,
the NBCS is able to gather the
necessary intelligence and support
to more effectively detect, prevent
and, subsequently, respond to
crimes affecting the UK’s business
community. For further information
access the website at:
www.nationalbusinesscrime
solution.com
“The British Retail Consortium’s 2017 Retail Crime Survey
reported that the total direct cost of crime has risen 6%
year-on-year to just over £700 million, while the direct cost
of customer theft has grown by £65 million”
15
www.riskxtra.com>