Yesterday, Monday 10 December, the Security Industry Authority’s (SIA) South East Partnerships and Interventions team and Hertfordshire Constabulary were at the Forum, the Student Union bar of the University of Hertfordshire. Sharing best-practice guidance on safer physical intervention for door supervisors as a reminder of how to keep their clients and themselves safe.
The aims of the event were to promote the importance of safer restraint and reduce any possible violence during the festive season.
The initiative marks the Hatfield leg of a campaign to improve students’ safety during the Christmas partying season. The SIA team shared a poster and leaflets on Safer Physical Intervention for Door Supervisors at the campus’ student bar. It features guidance and illustrations of best practice for safer restraint. This is intended as a quick reminder for Door Supervision licence holders and relates to the training they received in physical intervention.
Kevin Young, the SIA’s Regional Investigations Manager, South Region, says that the initiative is a positive way to promote safer working practices at venues that are likely to encounter violence.
“We want Hatfield’s students and young people to have a great night out and go home this Christmas unharmed. It also ensures the safety of the licensed door supervisors who work at these venues, the majority of whom do a very good job in challenging circumstances.”
The initiative is supported by Hertfordshire Constabulary and the University of Hertfordshire.
In addition, the campaign seeks to persuade businesses and door supervisors in Hatfield’s night time economy to report incidents to the police so that the SIA can get an accurate picture of the level of violence that takes place against students and door supervisors. Incidents can be reported anonymously to Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111 or via the SIA website.
At this heightened time of the year occasionally there are cases of reported incidents that are sometimes false. Bradzone security company door supervisors are equipped with body-worn video that records any incidents that take place; the material can be used as evidence if required.
To download a copy of the poster here visit SIA’s website. Pubs and clubs are encouraged to download the poster and share it with door supervisors and promote the campaign: #SaferStudents #saferrestraint #PartySafe #SIALocal.
The Office for National Statistics in their paper “The nature of violent crime in England and Wales: year ending March 2017” published 08 February 2018, reveals that victims of assault are usually male (2.1% compared with 1.3% of women) and they account for a larger proportion of victims of violence with injury (53% compared with women at 47%) aged between 16 – 24. This survey indicates that incidents of “violent crime”, including violence with injury (wounding, assault with minor injury) and violence without injury, increases when alcohol is involved.