Control Rooms: security’s heart

When out on patrol or performing other security duties, officers are vulnerable to unprovoked attacks from intruders or vandals. They might also have an accident on site, or be taken seriously ill. Whichever scenario is played out, the central Control Room is a vital link in protecting our officer team and, by extension, the client. Customers’ premises must be protected, but as contractors we must also offer a lifeline to that most valuable of assets: the trained, professional security officer.

When we first established Sector Security, it was decided that a dedicated Control Room supported by CCTV monitoring would be essential to the company’s development. In time we have shunned the automatic logging, recording or redirecting of calls, believing that a person on the end of a telephone line is preferable to any of our clients being forced into ‘talking to a machine’.

The new CCTV systems we recently installed as part of a major upgrade (and which enabled us to earn another Gold Award following rigorous National Security Inspectorate checks) are only one part of the Control Room function. It really is a major co-ordinating centre. From here, we’re able to plan and arrange site patrols, or open and lock buildings at the clients’ request. Importantly, we can also offer those same services to other security companies who, for whatever reason, are unable to support their own Control Room.

Protection is two-way

Companies in the private security sector need to become more professional, and rid themselves – and the industry – of the poor image that has stalked them for too long.

When a company develops, it is not just about employing one individual to sit as a Night Watchman and ‘protect’ a client’s site. Anyone who believes this to be the case is living in cloud cuckoo land. The changes now being kick-started by the Security Industry Authority (and those promised by the Working Time Directive) will certainly mean existing companies thinking long and hard about how they are going to function in the future.

As a company, we expect much from our officers, and thus ensure that they're trained to an extremely high standard before they’re allowed out on active duty. In return, it follows that an officer allocated to a given site should be confident that their own safety is of paramount importance to his or her employer.

We support the operation of a 24-hour Control Room team to make sure that hourly contact is made throughout someone’s shift. That degree of personal contact is essential. In this way, the officers are not isolated and have the opportunity to talk with our central controllers at scheduled intervals.

In practice, they can receive any snippets of news, alert the Control Room staff of anything unusual or causing concern on site and indicate if they are feeling ill.

The trained Control Room operators are also able to monitor officers’ status by listening to their voice and identifying any irregularities in tone and/or speech. Mobile patrols will then be despatched to site if an emergency situation is either in progress or on the horizon.

During that visit, the mobile officer would accompany the site officer on a tour of the premises, making observations regarding current security provision and engaging in ‘social’ conversation, which can be (and often is) a major comfort for lone workers.

Indeed, we’re able to refer to many occasions where a failed, scheduled ‘check call’ to the Sector Security Services Control Room has resulted in emergency measures being instigated to ensure the safety of our officer and the integrity of the client’s premises.

We support the operation of a 24-hour Control Room team to make sure that hourly contact is made throughout someone’s shift. That degree of personal contact is essential. In this way, the officers are not isolated and have the opportunity to talk with our central controllers at intervals

Cases prove the point

Only recently, a missed ‘check call’ from one particular site resulted in a local mobile officer being redeployed to investigate. On arrival, the officer disturbed a group of youths trying to break through the perimeter defences of a property after they’d disabled the telephone lines. Unfortunately, the youths made a quick exit, but mobile communications were instigated and the safety of the on-site officer assured. The client suffered no losses.

A second documented incident was rather different in nature, as the officer involved was having a tough time in his personal life. He was a good officer, and had always been reliable and stable in his work. Certainly, his integrity had never been called to account.

However, on the night in question, he told the Control Room operators that he was going through a rough patch and would be glad when it was “all sorted out”. It may be classed as going beyond their Duty of Care, but the Control Room operators decided that, in addition to an hourly ‘check call’, they would call every 30 minutes to make sure that everything was in order.

Later in the night, the officer failed to answer one of these additional calls and a supervisor in the area was asked to visit the site. On arrival, the supervisor couldn’t raise a response from the officer and, following a complete tour of the premises, couldn’t locate him. Back-up was called in, and mobile officers sent to the site as cover while every effort was made to find the officer. The police were also alerted and, two hours later, the officer was found.

To relieve a “pounding headache”, he had taken paracetamol tablets and accidentally overdosed on them. In a confused state, he’d started to walk towards his mother’s home, which was some ten miles away. His mother had passed away three years prior to this incident occurring. The officer was stopped by one of our mobile patrols who questioned him and then gave him a lift home. An officer stayed with the man and his wife until a doctor was in attendance and caring for him professionally.

Security and safety in unison

Without a central Control Room and the ability to monitor work ‘in the field’, and the resources to respond promptly in support of officers on site, both of these incidents could have had far worse consequences for the individuals concerned than they actually did.

Providing a 24-hour Control Room is a vital part of our organisation’s strategy. The welfare of our officers is a vital component of our Health and Safety regime. The two coalesce. We’ve now established branch offices in Leeds and Manchester, and continue to expand across the northern region.

As that expansion continues, the Control Room will continue to act as an essential support for clients and officers in all cases.