Is there an appetite for the police and private security to work together? That’s the tantalising question set by the Security Research Initiative. The SRI is one of the regular strands of work by Prof Martin Gill’s consultancy Perpetuity Research.
As the SRI says, arguably the private security sector is rich in knowledge, and with far greater numbers of SIA-badged individuals than police officers and staff; all in all with considerable potential to help protect the public. Meanwhile police forces are generally viewed to be under-resourced. It would seem a natural conclusion to suggest that the two work together wherever possible? But while there are examples of good work, there is little evidence to suggest any co-ordinated approach is at work to maximise the potential of the private security sector to work with the police, even though for all-round benefit.
Hence Perpetuity Research is seeking the views of security professionals on: the status of partnership working, the benefits and barriers to working together, and potential areas for collaboration. The aim of the study is to improve the evidence base on successful ways of working together.
You can share your views, anonymously, via their survey. It is open to any type of security professional or expert, organisers say. The survey takes about ten minutes to complete and the deadline for responses is Tuesday, May 28. That gives the researchers time to carry out interviews, confidential and given in the final report in anonymised form, to give further insights in practitioners’ own words.
To begin the survey – click here โ
https://www.surveylegend.com/s/5k4q
All participants are given the opportunity to automatically receive a free copy of the findings once the report is published (in the autumn).
To freely read past pieces of work by the Security Research Initiative, visit – https://perpetuityresearch.com/security-research-initiative/. Last year’s was about ‘the Importance of Security Culture in Facilitating Security Excellence‘.
Photo by Mark Rowe; the back of a uniformed West Midlands Safer Travel Partnership officer. The public transport authority in the West Midlands, part of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), runs a control room in Birmingham, which informs policing by the West Midlands and British Transport Police forces, and non-police patrollers; on the buses, trams and trains across the conurbation. In March Transport for West Midlands announced more transport safety officers to be deployed, to tackle anti-social behaviour and provide reassurance to travellers.
