The university security managers’ association AUCSO traditionally holds its annual conference over Easter, and as traditionally at its mid-event dinner presents awards. The 2016 conference host was the University of Salford and the evening dinner held at the nearby Imperial War Museum North. The next AUCSO conference is in Ghent from April 4 to 6, 2017.
The Security Officer of the Year award, sponsored by the access control product company Salto Systems, was presented by Melanie Kay. The five nominees were:
•Jason Costello, Oxford Brookes University
•Paul Oliver, Cambridge University
•Michael Byrne, Trinity College Dublin
•Ian Kendall, the University of Salford
•John Haigh, the University of Leeds
The winner was Ian Kendall, nominated by his Head of Security, Trevor Jones, who wrote:
In the early hours of Sunday, December 6, 2015 Ian Kendall was on lone foot patrol along University Road, a route used by students returning from nights out. At this time there were numerous groups of people one of which caught Ian’s attention. It a mix of young lads and girls but the males did not look like students and their manner looked out of place. Aware of recent violent incidents nearby, Ian radioed the control room and asked that the CCTV camera focus on this group. As Ian walked past he was given verbal abuse but carried on until they thought he was out of sight. He watched the group and once he had left their sight, the males produced a number of full size machetes, which they placed into adjacent bushes. The control room alerted the police who responded swiftly. As the police arrived the group fled but three of them were arrested nearby and an assortment of offensive weapons including a replica firearm was recovered. With Ian’s evidence all three have been charged with associated offences. It was his alertness and gut feeling based on experience that directly led to these men being arrested and serious crime being prevented.
“Later the same month Ian was again on patrol when he encountered two drunken men from a travellers’ camp on the university grounds, who were challenging another security guard regarding egress from their site. Ian calmly spoke to them as one produced a baseball bat and began to swing it around making threats. Ian remained focused, professional and maintained a non-aggressive manner while defusing the situation with a deliberate show of confidence and courage in the face of imminent assault. Realising he would not be intimidated the traveller backed down and the situation de-escalated.
“Both these incidents are examples of how Ian performs his duty of care to the campus community while setting an example to his teammates. He is an excellent security officer who consistently delivers excellent performance and one for whom the University of Salford is rightly proud.”
The Security Team of the Year, award sponsored by Traka – Assa Abloy, was presented by Tom Smith. The nominations were:
•Sussex Estates and Facilities Security Team, University of Sussex
•Security Team, Royal Holloway, University of London
•Manchester Metropolitan University
•University of Kent, Control Room Operators
•Estate Patrol Security Team Supervisors, University of Exeter
•University of Wolverhampton
•Middlesex University
•Lancaster University Security /Portering Team
The winners were the Lancaster University Security and Portering Team, represented by Stan Wilkinson and John Youren. The team was nominated by their manager, Doug Shaw who wrote:
“I would like to take the unusual step of nominating the whole Security/ Portering department at Lancaster University for their outstanding dedication and commitment to their duties and the professionalism and care they showed to students in a recent incident at the university. Lancaster was recently hit by the worst floods in living memory, causing a power outage that lasted for three days. On the night of December 5, Lancaster University was suddenly thrown into total darkness.
“With over 6000 students on campus Stan Wilkinson, the duty supervisor, was unable to contact the emergency management team, as landlines, mobile phone signals and wi-fi had all been lost. Stan mobilised his team to check on vulnerable students, as the emergency lighting failed. Stan’s team did an amazing job in keeping the students calm and generally handling the situation.
“On realising that the radio comms battery back up needed replacing, Stan’s team carried heavy batteries to the top of a 15 storey tower block and assisted with the work on the roof to keep the comms running. The next morning all the staff due in managed to report for duty, even though their homes had been affected by the flood or power outage, giving priority to the university. John Youren then took control of the incident and was able to start making contact to escalate the incident as they knew the power was likely to be off for at least two days. The decision was then taken to evacuate the 6000 students.
“At this stage the emergency lights had failed and there were no fire alarm systems. John had the additional complication of students arriving on campus whose accommodation was flooded in the town. John also had staff members from other departments arriving on campus offering help. John co-ordinated these staff deploying them where help was needed. The control room was now a hive of activity and swamped with phone calls from concerned parents and academic staff concerned about their research. Keeping a focus on the priorities became very difficult but John managed his team and the expectation of those making demands very well. They left at the end of a difficult day going home to houses that still had no power.
“C Team took over on the Monday, continuing the evacuation and dealing with many other problems as power came on and off in various areas. The students that had been evacuated from their residences but stayed on campus were housed in the Great Hall. This is where the university was due to hold its degree ceremony on the Wednesday! However the porters still managed to get the hall ready for the ceremony, volunteering to stay late night and work into the early hours.
“Despite all the odds a successful degree ceremony was held, with one student from Brazil even seeking out Doug to say thank you.”
And Security Initiative of the Year, sponsored by Bosch Security Systems, was presented by Karl Haw. The nominees were:
•Amanda Whelan, Operational Support Officer and Robin Wilkinson, Intelligent Analyst of Oxford University, and
•Mark Hopkins, Shift Manager at Coventry University Protection Service
The winner was Mark Hopkins, pictured, with AUCSO chairman Mark Sutton, of Aston University.
Mark was nominated by Head of Protection, Gary Dedden who wrote:
“Coventry University covers 33 per cent of Coventry city centre which encompasses 144 buildings. The Mitie protection team has a responsibility and requirement to provide an effective patrol mechanism, which provides presence and security across this diverse and wide spectrum. Shift Manager Mark Hopkins was asked to review the current patrol routes and develop a new system of patrol management, to include a continuously evolving University that adapts to the changes and modernisation across the city. This is when the ‘Ghost System’ was born.
“The ‘Ghost system’ was designed from scratch using building threat levels and statistics to dictate a patrol route that could become less rigid and move with the statistical risk rating across the campus. The idea was to have dormant buttons installed at strategic places, which could be turned on or off during every statistic review to allow the patrol routes to evolve to the threat posed in each area or targeted building. This project was supported by an impressive technical package, which allowed for all statistics to be monitored and viewed by the University at any time. The package also had complete ‘one click’ site mapping that used estates project maps to identify all Deister and ghost points in pop ups, and demonstrated what buttons were live and what points were dormant.
“After two months ground work completed by Mark and his teams, all points were plotted out for effectiveness. Test ingesting of mapping, data package and system management was also completed to ensure that all worked together to revolutionise patrolling. In addition to this data, all buildings were hyperlinked to Google Earth. Consequently, the ‘one click’ system allowed the University controllers to see live street views of the area and traffic times for any emergency response. This system would not have been successful without the support, enthusiasm and skill displayed by Mark Hopkins.”
