Security awareness for women

From my perspective, I’ve always been of the firm opinion that any training programme worth its salt harbours valuable lessons that we can apply to our own home life. Never has this held more weight for me than in the case of the security awareness programme for female members of staff.

The security industry has taught me a great deal these past few years, and as a result I’d considered myself to be a somewhat more alert individual. Then I decided to sell my house and subsequently discovered a different reality.

Picture the scene. It was a beautiful summer’s day. The trees reflected sparkling sunshine, and the birds were happily twittering away. I had a day off and life was looking very good indeed. The estate agent telephoned to say that there was someone desperately keen to view the property. A cash buyer who was chain free and wanted to come round right away. Happy days indeed!

Any of Security Management Today’s readers who’ve had to sell their house will no doubt share my loathing of having to show people around, so when the chap arrived I said he could go upstairs and have a look on his own. When he was done, I’d be in the garden. Believe me, I’m cringing as I write this!

Time passed, and I began to hear running water. I went back inside the house and turned an ear to the upstairs landing. No. He couldn’t be, could he? I ran upstairs and shoved open the bathroom door. To my absolute amazement this chap (whom I’d allowed to roam freely in what was still my home, remember) had decided to run himself a bath, and was already in the process of undressing before he got into it!

Replication on a daily basis

I can imagine what you’re thinking. Silly woman. Who else would allow a complete stranger to have free reign in their home?

The problem is that this is happening everywhere up and down the country on a daily basis. Estate agents strapped for staff who cannot accommodate every viewing. House sellers who just can’t arrange – for whatever reason – to have someone there with them when a prospective buyer turns up. And then there’s people like me who think it’s normal, so it must be OK.

Everyone remembers the horrific Suzy Lamplugh episode, but how have matters changed since then? I decided to investigate…

I arranged to see one of the local estate agent operations. Two girls, in fact, in their early twenties. They claimed that they simply didn’t have the resources to afford them the luxury of accompanied visits, and so they regularly entered properties with men they didn’t know from Adam.

As far as I was concerned matters had to be altered, and I was taking no more risks. On my return to work, I arranged to see a police contact of mine with the aim of specifically discussing crimes against women. In the wake of the Suzy Lamplugh tragedy, estate agents have barely changed their working practices. They still continue to take huge risks with their employees, all in pursuit of ‘the fee’. Astonishing to say the very least.

In the wake of the Suzy Lamplugh tragedy, estate agents have barely changed their working practices. They still continue to take huge risks with their employees, all in pursuit of ‘the fee’. Astonishing to say the very least

In addition, I learned all about the specific nature of crimes perpetrated against women, and how the nature of those crimes has changed since the 1980s. Most of us now carry a mobile phone which helps in keeping us safe and in contact with the wider world, but the contradiction is that those same phones also make women a target.

Changing behaviour patterns

There was certainly a huge amount of information to absorb. The more time I spent talking to specialists in the police service, the more I’d go home and change my patterns of behaviour. I started to engage the central locking system every time I got into the car. I raided my handbag, and only carried around what I really needed that day. I would behave in my home town exactly as I would if I were going to London, and took the utmost precautions to prevent opportunist thieves.

One thing was for sure: I was never going to challenge an assailant for a lipstick and a few pound coins!

My boss and I discussed the work that I’d done around the UK and decided to design a training/awareness programme that would allow me to share my own new-found beliefs with all of Chubb’s female members of staff. Word spread pretty quickly, and before I knew it, I was delivering the educational programme all over the country to clients and their female population of workers.

The videos on this subject were a little antiquated and didn’t address crimes against women that take place in today’s society. Thus you can imagine my excitement when SITO agreed to work with me and film a new video aimed squarely at educating women on security awareness.

What price peace of mind?

This is not a tired old imitation of a video arts production. Rather, it’s a dynamic and vital piece of work that includes information which every woman should know. The video also works as a tremendous confidence builder and not as a scaremongering exercise, which so many productions of this ilk have been in days gone by.

I’ll be showing the video to all of my female friends and relations, and telling everyone I work with to do the same. It will only take some minor changes in their habits to allow the women that you know to live, travel, work and socialise in complete safety. They deserve to see this video. So do all security managers, male and female.

After all, what price do you want to place on peace of mind?