The East of England Co-op has launched a new arm of its business; Co-op Secure Response. The East Anglia-based retailer – which provides goods and services from food to funerals to travel – is offering their in-house security services to outside businesses and communities.
The East of England Co-op’s security team was established in 2011 to protect the Co-operative’s businesses, customers and colleagues. Besides 24-7 CCTV monitoring, Co-op Secure Response offers technology for rural teams, lone workers, schools and churches. Businesses can chose services that best suit them, such as site guarding, intruder and fire alarms and recovery when incidents do occur.
Lee Hammond, Head of Security at Co-op Secure Response, said: “Co-op Secure Response is all about the people. Our work revolves around the hardworking and friendly team who get to know our clients on a first-name basis. There’s really no hard sell with us. It’s important that we get to know what keeps business owners up at night so that we can understand what matters most to them.
“This is a really exciting time for us, as we have worked hard over the past seven years to ensure that the services we offer are the very best for us and our clients’ businesses. We look forward to continuing the hard work that we do for the local community as part of the East of England Co-op, as well as protecting businesses and staff locally and nationally.”
The launch was marked with a networking and speaker event held at East of England Co-op’s head office, at Wherstead Park, Ipswich on Thursday, April 26. Attendees heard from local business entrepreneur William Notcutt and Rob Brooks from Ipswich-based charity, Brickmakers Wood and Co-op Secure Response team members on how businesses can protect people and premises.
Attendees could also visit The ARC, the Co-op Secure Response’s 24/7 monitoring centre, manned day and night to monitor almost 7,000 CCTV cameras across the country as well as GPS trackers installed on items as small as a packets of cigarettes to as large as a tractor, protecting clients against theft and trespassers.
The Co-op Secure Response team may be familiar already in East Anglia for their community outreach, working with the police and councils on anti-social behaviour. The East of England Co-op is a supporter of shop worker union Usdaw’s Freedom From Fear campaign, aiming to protect retail workers against aggression and anti-social behaviour.
Under the leadership of Lee Hammond, who brings over 15 years of experience in retail and security, Co-op Secure Response has built up a team from a range of backgrounds, including retail and hospitals to customer services. The team also take part in Dementia Friendly Training with the Alzheimer’s Society, enabling them to support the most vulnerable in society. Visit www.eastofengland.coop/security.
