The 2018 conference of the university heads of security association Aucso was at Southampton Solent University. As ever, the annual gathering over the Easter vacation included a group picture before the evening dinner; and awards.
In the category for innovation, presented by Jim Perkins of Panasonic, the two nominees were: Garry Williams, the long-time training manager at Coventry University; and Senator Security South, working with Southampton Solent. The winner was Garry Williams of Coventry, for his development of a mobile visual training aid.
Garry has been delivering training to the protection team at Coventry for several years and considered quite a few subjects on the training matrix could be delivered as training videos. Besides being on their training website, they could be accessible at any time via the officers’ hand-held PDAs. Working with the contract guarding company G4S, Garry set about producing a training and development website, which included videos on subject matters, to improve and demonstrate quality security techniques and the use of technology for all officers.
By filming their own training videos, Garry focused on subject matters on campus, that their officers would recognise. To train the camera crew in editing and compiling videos, which was one of their many challenges, he enlisted the assistance of the skills instructor at the university’s School of Media and Performing Arts. The first video captured the protection service’s reaction to a suspect package discovery and the sequence of events in following the emergency management plan. This video is now used to show to new officers their roles and responsibilities during such an incident.
Besides watching the videos and to test that learning had been successful, officers also have taken part in live exercises and drills, until their reactions have become immediate in a range of scenarios.
Security officer of the year – for an officer providing excellent service – was presented by Karl Haw of Bosch. The nominees were:
•Bogdan Bigos, Jagiellonian University in Kraków
•Rafał Kur, Jagiellonian University in Kraków
•John Bonar, University of Dundee
•Steve Hill, University of Bristol
•Joanne Lamacraft, Cardiff University
•Nathone Bowden, Senator Security South, Southampton Solent University
•David Mullett, Aston University
The winner was Joanne Lamacraft of Cardiff. As well as her day to day duties, Jo works with her local University Police Liaison Officer and the South Wales Police Student Volunteers. At numerous times Jo has worked beyond her usual duty hours to help manage and supervise the volunteers. She goes out into the community at almost every opportunity to work with the volunteers, showing students from other universities in the Welsh capital and the community at large that the university cares not only about its students but the community that surrounds it. Jo firmly believes that the ‘Student Experience’ should include student safety and getting through uni having a fun time and not becoming a victim of crime.
Jo organises rotas and maps for the crime ‘Walkabouts’ where security staff, Volunteers and South Wales Police go door to door in halls and residences in Cardiff, giving crime prevention advice. Records are kept of locations, how many people were spoken to and what university they attend. Jo translates this data into usable information that can be disseminated showing the work the volunteers have been doing and can also be used for fund-raising for the volunteer scheme. For example during the walkabouts pre-Christmas 2017, the team visited 57 streets over eight evenings, and almost 4,000 properties, speaking to over 5,000 students. Work like this would struggle to go ahead without Jo’s huge efforts. The results; a reduction in dwelling burglaries.
An award for outstanding act of courage by a security officer was presented by Daniel Frith of DTS Solutions. The nominees were:
•Harun Akar, London South Bank University
•Sharon Lucas, London South Bank University
•Stacey Jordan, University of Bristol
•David Osborne, University of Surrey
•Fiaz Khan, Aston University.
The award went to Stacey Jordan at Bristol for her bravery in a demanding, evolving situation as a female student repeatedly tried to take her own life, before police and other services arrived.
The award for ‘team of the year’ was presented by Digital ID Magicard. The nominees were:
•Security Services, University of Bristol
•Security Unit, Jagiellonian University
•KUSCO Security, Kingston University
•University of Surrey Security Department
•University of Leicester Security Team
•Campus Safety Team Southampton Solent University
The Leicester Security Team won for dealing with major incidents, which included deaths on site; a major fire at the hotel and conference facility; a major flood; and Storm Doris that saw the evacuation of part of campus. A flood occurred in a building while the security team were still dealing with a fire in another. To deal with the second incident, the staff who were off shift came into work to deal with the flood, which had occurred on the tenth floor of a tower block, causing water damage down to the ground floor. The structure was compromised and staff and students had to be relocated. Not only did the security team handle the incident but over the next few weeks they provided a service to escort staff and students to retrieve their belongings and carried out a 24/7 fire patrol. That Security team recently won ‘Team of the Year’ at the University of Leicester’s own awards.
