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AUCSO honours officers

by Mark Rowe

An enjoyable part of many jobs is that depending on the sector you are in, you get to go to places you wouldn’t otherwise. One example is in universities – the association of university heads of security, AUCSO, had a gala dinner at Durham Castle (as seen in the Harry Potter movies) to crown their annual conference over this Easter vacation; this year at the University of Durham.

Winners were Ken Conlin and Andy Newton, both Security Officers at Durham University and nominated by Phil Coxill, Head of Security, Durham University.

As in past years, the association gave a security officer award. Below are the citations. The winners, Andrew Newton (left) and Ken Conlin (right), are pictured with their wives and managers.

Citation:

On the 24-11-2012 our security control received a call of a break in taking place at one of our properties. The location of the property was 46 Old Elvet, Durham. This area is quite notorious for gangs of youths hanging around and the associated anti-social behaviour that these youths cause. Officers Andy Newton and Ken Conlin were despatched by the Security Supervisor to attend. Upon arrival there was a group of youths causing significant damage to a building which used to be the University Nursery. A number of the youths quickly ran off when they spotted the security team. However, Andy and Ken managed to detain two of the perpetrators. This I must repeat is a very isolated area and obviously the detaining of these two offenders put the officers at risk. Several requests for the police to attend were made but to no avail. At this point the group of youths that had run away returned, surrounding the two officers and making threats to them, of what they would do if the officers failed to release their friends. Ignoring all threats and certainly putting themselves in an increasingly dangerous situation, they managed to keep the two youths detained until the police arrived. The two youths were arrested for offences of criminal damage to University property. It was later reported by the Police that these two offenders had been on the Police wanted list for a number of months and would now be charged with further offences.

In view of the fact not only did they detain two wanted offenders and potential theft of University equipment, they never once considered the personal risk they were putting themselves in. The Security Supervisor on duty that evening has over 30 years’ experience in the Durham Constabulary and was extremely generous in his comments to me regarding the professional manner in which Andy and Ken conducted themselves in this potentially dangerous situation. Thanks and praise was also received from Durham Police.

Runner up

The other finalist and runner up was Tunde Gbadamosi a Security Officer at London South Bank University and was nominated by Ruben Van Schalkwyk, Operations Manager of London South Bank University.

Citation:

Following intruder alarm activation in the early hours of 04/10/12, security discovered that a vacant building on the campus had been broken into. The police were called and it was established that three to four individuals had barricaded themselves in preventing entry via the main door and side entrance, declaring the building to be a squat. Despite evidence of forced entry and the alarm activation, the police were reluctant to treat it as a criminal matter and left the scene having failed to talk the occupants out. Security then set up and maintained a secure perimeter to prevent further people from joining the squat.

With negotiations with the occupants proving unsuccessful and the lack of any support from the Police during the day, the situation with the squat escalated later that evening with a large number of supporters arriving and gaining access to the nursery having overwhelmed the four man security team that had been controlling access to the building. Following much persuasion, the Police finally returned and a stand-off ensued with a number of occupants seen to switch to wearing balaclavas. The deteriorating situation was finally resolved with a show of force by the arrival of three Police Public Order teams. Given the option of leaving peacefully or being arrested, all occupants left the premises enabling security to regain control of the building. Thanks to the actions of the security team and their persuasion of the police to engage, LSBU were very fortunate to stop this situation from developing further.

During the incident Tunde Gbadamosi was put under a great deal of duress when he stood his ground against a group of at least thirteen people on the fence line of the property. The group were very abusive and challenging towards him before pushing past his position to climb over the fence and gate. It is to his credit that he was able to remain calm and professional throughout and his approach avoided any direct physical confrontation between himself and the crowd. By his actions he was judged to have made a significant contribution towards the security team response to resolving this incident for the University.

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