Here’s the latest from Una wearing her hat of chief exec of IPSA (International Professional Security Association).
The IPSA front-line forum represents the Systems Security sector, the Fire Systems and Security Officers. A couple of the forum topics has been Covid and Mental Health. IPSA have conducted extensive research and introduced campaigns to help in these areas. However, one issue that did not evolve as a result of the forum, but from Simon Pears, Chairman of IPSA who recently brought to the attention of the Board an article written for the BBC.
The headline said that after the lock-down there would be a shortage of ‘Bouncers’! There is no licence for ‘Bouncers’! The correct term for this old label is ‘Door Supervisor’. This type of incorrect reference and language does not encourage young people considering the private security profession as a career of choice.
The SIA (Security Industry Authority) Door Supervisor Training Course is the perfect starter course for people coming into the security personnel sector. The course prepares people to work in a huge variety of roles including: Retail Security, Door Supervision, Corporate Security and Event Security. Trying to encourage people with transferrable skills into the Security Profession is not helped by incorrect media reference. The media might not know the difference between Door Supervisor Licence and Security Officer Licence? The answer is the Door Supervisor Licence allows a PSO to work as a Door Supervisor and a Security Officer. Whereas a Security Officers Licence only allows that PSO to work in a Manned Guarding environment. All Door Supervisors in England must have a licence from the SIA to be employed.
To date, there are over 150,000 licensed Door Supervisors. Not only are these people licensed, but they can also now be members of IPSA, the longest established Security Trade Association in the UK … absolutely free, as a thank you for their service. These women and men work in your towns and cities, in venues such as pubs, bars and clubs; hospitality events, universities, and hospitals and protecting many of the buildings that people worked in prior to Covid-19. They have also been designated essential workers during the pandemic.
During the pandemic Security Officers were amongst those most at risk of dying from coronavirus. Yet they still turned out for work manning the vaccination stations. It was during this time last year that Simon Pears worked towards changing its business model to offer all security Front-line workers free membership of a Trade Association with all the benefits. This was officially adopted at IPSA’s last AGM in October 2020 and since then it has worked to be recognised as the trade association for the security front-line workers for Security Systems, Fire Systems and Private Security Officer.
Having recently read both national and industry press, talking about PSOs, usually in a disparaging manner, it became obvious this was an area where IPSA could help not only the Front-line Officers but also educate the media on better terminology regarding the wider world of private security roles and relationships.
Until now the narrative has been one-way. There are always two sides to every story and IPSA are leading the way in making sure that the security officer is represented in a better light. IPSA initiated a collaboration to ensure that both the media and the private security officer start on a journey to a better more professional approach to establishing a sound working relationship when it comes to dealing with each other.
Effective communication shapes service delivery towards the needs of the public. More and more the Private Security sector is taking on work that was once performed by the Police. However, they do not have the same legal rights or media training as the police. IPSA hope to change all that. They have started to establish a working relationship with the media that mirrors that of Police Officers. The police have a guideline in place alongside extensive media training. The aim of IPSA is to introduce the same type of process for private security.
Simon Pears said: “IPSA is passionate in raising the profile of the front-line security officers and we are acutely aware of how the media and the press report news stories surrounding and involving security personnel, and how at times the context and terminology used is not accurate nor correct and at the same time, there is a lack of understanding of the legal rights of the media from the security teams and this can lead to confrontation and friction.
“Through constructive dialogue with the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) IPSA is leading the discussions to bring together the parties so that a greater understanding, awareness and in turn more accurate reporting can be achieved. It is to the benefit of the security industry and media organisations to engage, learn and adapt where necessary and IPSA is proud to be part of this journey.”
When IPSA approached the NUJ, they expected to be pushing at a closed door … but the opposite was true. David Ayrton, NUJ Senior Organiser, Freelance and Digital said: “We welcome the partnership with IPSA which will build mutual understanding and trust to progress us towards the goal of educating our members and facilitate constructive working relationships between journalists and Security Officers.”
The collaboration has already produced the first draft of the joint Guideline which both parties will now work towards final draft stage and be released later in the year. Natasha Hirst, Chair NUJ Photographers’ Council, pictured, added: “The NUJ has been seeking to develop a working relationship with the security industry for a long time and we are delighted to be organising a joint campaign with IPSA. There is much confusion and misunderstanding between journalists and security officers regarding each other’s role and remit which can result in tensions on the ground.
“The development of new guidance and training offers a great opportunity to support IPSA and NUJ members to liaise effectively as they go about their work.”
The aim is to establish a mutually respectful appreciation of what both sectors do and how they work. Many officers are employed by security companies who contract out their services to all sorts of venues. The venues might instruct the company to stop the media from attaining access to what might be public space or taking photographs. The Met Police make it clear that the public and the media do not need a permit to film or photograph in public places and police have no power to stop them filming or photographing incidents or police personnel.
The IPSA – NUJ Guideline will outline some of these areas to help both sides aid each other in their day-to-day business. It will be full of information about both sides from a practical perspective. For instance, print media in the UK are not subject to any specific statutory controls on their content and activities, other than the general criminal and civil law.
In this regard, newspapers, and magazines, are different from the broadcast media, which is subject to statutory controls through Ofcom. The press effectively regulates itself through a primary press regulator, IPSO (Independent Press Standards Organisation). Both industries have regulators…independent and governmental. Both sectors consider themselves as professional in conduct of their business.
IPSA considers itself ‘counterculture’ as far as the old ways of doing business in security is concerned. They are totally focusing on the front-line, they want to revolutionise the profession for the better. This IPSA-NUJ collaboration will be a great step forward in professionalising Media and Private Security relations. Once the Guideline is published it will be shared with both industries and followed up with e-training, workshops, and podcasts.
The Guideline is just the start of this media-private security relationship. The aim is to establish a mutually respectful appreciation of what both sectors do and how they work. The purpose of the Guideline is to enable both the Media and the Private Security Officers to have a better understanding and respect of each other’s roles. The aim of IPSA and the NUJ is a simple outcome…respect and understanding in pursuit of their respective job roles and career paths.
This is the start of a journey that will help foster good relationships and best practice for two sectors that are considered Front-line workers. The Media are considered to be the eyes and ears of the public. It is the Media’s role to report on matters of public interest. The guide has been designed to help the Media to understand and interact with Private Security Officers when they have the occasion to meet and at the scene of an incident.
Members of the media are not only members of the public; they can influence the way private security is portrayed. It is important that we build good relationships with them, even when the circumstances are difficult.
The media have a duty to report incidents that front-line Private Security Officers may find themselves dealing with. The IPSA-NUJ Guideline is designed to help both the Media and Private Security Officers take the appropriate action to deal with incidents where they encounter each other, in a mutually respectful and beneficial manner.
IPSA-NUJ have also outlined a reporting system for both sectors in the event of unreasonable behaviour on either side. Most professional journalists carry a UKPCA (United Kingdom Press Card Authority) Press Card which a PSO can ask to see. The scheme provides a single, national identity card for professional news-gatherers. It is managed by the UKPCA who are aware of the IPSA-NUJ collaboration and have been extremely helpful.
The UKPCA Card scheme is managed through 19 gatekeepers (one of which is the NUJ). Each gatekeeper issues the UK Press Card to its members. The gatekeeper is responsible to the UKPCA Board for ensuring that the conditions of the scheme are adhered to. The card is formally recognised by all police forces in the UK, by the Ministry of Justice, and de facto by other public bodies … IPSA intend to create an ILB (Industry Lead Body) register to encourage greater media relations across the wider world of security.
