The crowd safety and event security contractor Showsec reports that it again worked with the police to combat crime at this year’s V Festival and so helped to improve the customer experience for thousands at the Weston Park venue on the Shropshire-Staffordshire border. Crime reduction was part of the Leicester-based contractor’s operational plan geared to providing a safe and enjoyable environment for those visiting the venue.
For instance, ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) cameras, which scan car registration numbers, were in operation.
A reduction in the reported crime-related incidents contributed to the 2014 V Festival and highlighted the firm says the impact of liaison with Staffordshire Police in the effective delivery of that strategy. Mark Logan, Showsec Director, was at the head of the management structure put in place by the company.
After the long weekend event he said: “The planning phase was centrally focused on the delivery of a security and crowd management operation taking over a number of onsite policing roles in order to proactively reduce crime. In liaison with Staffordshire Police, we employed a number of systems such as enhanced search, crime teams and plain clothes operatives, all of which have contributed to a reduction in the year-on-year crime figures for the event. While the central focus was on crime reduction, this did not dilute our core operating ethos of providing a high standard of customer service.”
Logan was supported by three of the Company’s Regional Managers, Steve Reynolds, Richard Church and Scott Anderson, who all fulfilled operational roles. Martin Lewis, one of several Area Managers on duty throughout V Festival, was in charge of the crime reduction strategy as the contract stewarding company deployed a 150-strong management and supervisory team to direct more than 1300 security staff across the main arena and the camp sites in the grounds of Weston Park.
Andy Redhead, V Festival Organiser, said: “We are continually striving to improve the V experience and enhance the event’s long-established reputation for being one of the biggest and best festivals in the United Kingdom. For us to be able to continue raising the bar, we need the support of a strong team of professional agencies.
“In the two years they have now been involved with us at Weston Park, Showsec have certainly made a significant contribution and the way in which they have worked so closely with Staffordshire police has certainly helped us to make important strides forward.”
And Superintendent Elliott Sharrard-Williams, V Festival Police Commander, added: “We are very pleased with the weekend’s policing operation. Our officers, staff and members of the special constabulary have been working closely with event security teams to ensure everyone has been able to enjoy the festival and stay safe. This year, we shared several of the traditionally police-led activities with Showsec, including the search operation and patrol functions. In order to ensure that the festival was a success, we have been working closely with Showsec and the event organiser for near-on twelve months. During this time, we have intricately planned the crime and safety aspects of the festival and it has been a successful event.
“V Festival is like dropping a small town on Weston Park. Of course, with so many people looking to enjoy themselves, some criminals will try to target visitors, so it’s really pleasing that the crime numbers were significantly reduced compared to previous years. We had officers working around the clock and not just within the park; neighbourhood officers have been on regular patrol in the local communities and our Road Crime team to support the traffic flow around the area. This has been a real team effort: event management, security teams and dozens of other partners have worked together to make the weekend a success, and we have already begun to plan for next year.”
The two-day festival was headlined by Justin Timberlake, The Killers and Ed Sheeran; other performers included Paolo Nutini, Example and Kaiser Chiefs.
Logan added: “We set ourselves a series of auditable targets in our second year onsite at Weston Park in seeking to provide a high standard of customer service. An example of that was that with the help of the festival organisers Roseclaim, we really focused on delivering a bespoke service to the disabled areas borne out of experienced industry practice. This married up the central features of customer service in the arena market with the complexity of delivery to the festival environment. While delivering our aims, the company has continued to grow in its knowledge of the site and to ensure we engineered the crowd management plan to maximise the safety and enjoyment of our customers and the performing talent.”
Visit Showsec.co.uk.
