Employing over 6,000 people and boasting 320 retail tenants, the MetroCentre in Gateshead is one of Europe's largest and most impressive covered shopping malls. A safe and secure shopping environment is paramount, which is why Centre security manager Terry Atkinson wanted an integrated security solution. Contractor St James Security has been instrumental in helping to realise that objective.
Shopping centre retailing is constantly evolving, so too the role of contract security staff tasked with guarding in the commercial world. The modern security officer has to be much more than someone who wanders around a vast complex of malls and service yards, hoping that his or her very presence is enough to thwart the criminal.

Indeed, nowadays security officers are seen as an increasingly important element of a shopping centre's overall customer services activity – often acting as the 'public face' and first point of contact for both shoppers and retailers alike.

Nowhere is this more apparent than at Tyneside's MetroCentre. Presently owned by Capital Shopping Centres, the MetroCentre was built back in the mid-1980s and, on initial opening, was the biggest shopping centre of its kind in Europe. Today, the vast complex supports 320 tenants spread across a 135-acre site and boasts three-and-a-half miles of retail outlet 'frontage'.

No less than 6,000 people are employed there, making the MetroCentre something of a small town in its own right. Last year alone some 25 million people paid the mall a visit, bringing with them 15 million vehicles in the process.

A partnership approach
Evidently, ensuring a safe, secure and pleasant commercial environment for shoppers, staff and tenants is of paramount importance. In an effort to make this a reality, the MetroCentre's management team has been working in close partnership with Gateshead-based manned security company St James Security since October 1999 to complement its own in-house security teams and a multi-million pound investment in state-of-the-art security systems.

Following the competitive tender process in which St James Security won the contract from one of the UK's largest contractors, it was the determined goal to involve the workforce in a pro-active crime reduction strategy which would embrace the use of officer awareness and technological support. The basic challenge was to:

  • develop – by way of training – an effective and flexible workforce motivated towards reducing crime at all times;
  • install a Total Quality Management system to direct crime profiling, manpower deployment to optimise the positive targeting of criminals and the use of CCTV for observational support;
  • build effective partnerships between the MetroCentre management, Northumbria Police, on-site officers and tenants' own store security (whereby the effective sharing of intelligence would then lead to positive crime reduction);
  • improve efficiencies and make cost-saving reductions in manpower without compromising security provision.

The effective re-shaping of the security operation (a very close runner-up in the 'Best Integrated Security Solution' category at the 2002 Security Excellence Awards) has been achieved in a number of ways. Most important of all, there has been the instigation of a hands-on management approach, not only by the site-based contracts manager but with support from the St James Security management team whose members use their expertise as former police commanders to direct – alongside the MetroCentre managers – the daily and weekly target operations.

In addition, there has been a constant rotation of officer teams between overt and covert duties, which itself has helped in maintaining a tangible focus on crime-related issues. Additional training for officers in the use of CCTV through Control Room participation is a major factor at play, while deployment models have been set up to make sure those areas of the Centre not covered by CCTV are actively monitored by trained officers.

Crucial to the whole success of the security operation has been the regular briefing sessions between the police and security officers/tenants, who have identified known targets by description and photographs. In truth, a two-way intelligence system of sightings and offender activity has been co-ordinated by the St James Security Control Room officers, enabling both police and security officers to be jointly involved in target arrests.

Uniformed security officers are now instrumental in arrests, while 35 members of St James' MetroCentre security team are now fully-trained in scenes of crime preservation by Northumbria Police.

It is the wider role provided by St James Security officers which most impresses Terry Atkinson, one-time Northumbria Police chief inspector and now the MetroCentre's service and security manager, along with his colleagues Ron Woodman (general manager) and MetroCentre operations manager John Bell.

Bell told SMT: "The use of uniformed security officers in shopping centres to provide security only is diminishing. While security is still a very important factor, our need is for officers who have the flexibility, expertise and skills to be able to respond to a wide variety of incidents".

The effective re-shaping of the security operation has been achieved in a number of ways. Most important of all, there has been the instigation of a hands-on management approach, not only by the site-based contracts manager but with support from the St Ja

Bell added: "It's this ability to be flexible that has impressed us as far as St James Security is concerned. The company's officers are as much involved in customer services work as they are in security" – a flexibility that's massively important given their high profile at the MetroCentre.

The size of the security team at the Centre is currently in excess of 50 officers. All are trained to a very high standard by way of the recognised Security Industry Training Organisation courses. Training includes customer service and conflict resolution strands, while a high proportion of the St James Security team members are qualified in basic First Aid and know how to use defibrilator equipment if an emergency situation should arise.

Focusing on the customer
The St James management team has been careful to recruit officers who have a customer-facing or focused background. Many have worked with the public in various capacities, and all must possess the requisite communications and interpersonal skills to deal effectively with tens of thousands of visitors each day who flock to the MetroCentre.

The appearance of the officers depends on where they operate, representing a fine balance between the requirements of internal and external environments. For example, uniformed officers are tasked with providing a high visibility deterrent in external areas (such as the car parks), while inside the Centre they wear corporate blazers to present a much softer, customer-oriented image.

MetroCentre general manager Ron Woodman takes up the story. "We have been impressed by St James Security's willingness to be an integral part of our new Retail Crime Reduction Partnership, which involves the tenants, ourselves and the Northumbria Police," he stated. "The company also offered an impressive and intensive vetting procedure for new staff, and an extremely strict code of conduct for all its operatives."

Maximising the security operation
Terry Atkinson has worked closely with St James Security – who have a permanent liaison manager on site at the Centre – to develop and implement new practices aimed at maximising existing resources, while at the same time improving security. These have included the introduction of more female security officers (who are particularly adept at diffusing confrontations and generally dealing with members of the public), alterations to working practices, a reduction in paperwork and the aforementioned improvements in the use of technology (most notably CCTV).

More noticeable has been a shift towards flexible guarding patterns. These are now more in line with visitor numbers and seasonal influences, and have helped in making much more efficient use of security officer resources.

In addition, patrol methods have also been improved. Resources have been redeployed from non-essential areas and targeted at places where crime is more prevalent, while security officers are typically given specific tasks to perform – and objectives to meet – during patrols.

The car parks offer a prime example of an area in which security officer patrols have been altered to cut crime. High profile routines were devised for officers in the more vulnerable parking areas, with commendable end results.

Atkinson continued: "Although statistically it has always been safer to park at the MetroCentre than on the car owner's own driveway, we have seen a dramatic decrease in car crime in recent times. It is down by 44%". Pretty impressive when you consider there are 12,000 parking spaces across the two multi-storey parks. Computerised profiling and mapping is helping to identify vulnerable parking bays, which can then be earmarked for tighter security.

Thanks to close working between the MetroCentre managers, the police and St James Security, an estimated saving of 230 hours of manning requirements is being achieved on a weekly basis. This reduction in hours includes a 50% cut-back on night shift personnel.

Source

SMT