The event and stewarding contractors Showsec are working on a new initiative with Cheshire Police for crime reduction at festivals in 2015.
The crowd management and event security firm is looking to create a 24-strong Crime Reduction Enhanced Search Team (CREST) made up of workers who will go through a new workshop organised by Cheshire Police.
The main focus of that team’s activities will be on three festivals this year – T in the Park, V Festival and Creamfields – but it may also be deployed at other times; the long-term aim being to use the training at all major festivals.
Cheshire Police hope the workshop will be seen as the standard for other forces.
Mark Logan, Showsec Director, said: “We consider this to be another important step forwards in forging closer working partnerships with police forces all over the United Kingdom as we increase our range of specialist services. The Crime Reduction Strategy which we developed in partnership with local police at many festivals last summer delivered some very positive outcomes, so we have been looking at ways in which we can build upon that success.
“This pioneering workshop fulfils two crucial obligations for us as a Company because we are constantly striving to raise standards of service, while also providing the best possible training for our workforce. By developing more effective crime reduction measures enhancing our search capability, we will make the whole festival experience an even more enjoyable one for members of the public and therefore deliver an enhanced product for our clients.”
The workshop will be a one-day course, at Cheshire Police headquarters for 24 members of staff on Friday, March 6. It will cover these elements of particular relevance to enhanced searching procedures:
*Protection of evidence
*Vehicle search
*Quadrant searching technique
*Police handover
*Police/security integration
Those Showsec staff selected to take part in the workshop and form part of the crime reduction team will need to hold a valid SIA Licence, pass a police background check and be available to work at the festivals.
