After years in the boardroom, Geoff Zeidler of Securitas recently went undercover, as part of the Channel 4 documentary series Undercover Boss. He’s seen the sacrifices his security officers make and the violence and racial abuse they face just doing their job.
As the documentary sets out, the UK chief of the security company headed a takeover of rival firms Reliance Security Services and Chubb, just as the worldwide recession took hold. Securitas’ global profits are down and he’s now responsible for 12,000 officers that the company didn’t originally recruit.
The programme shows the country president is shocked by how much pressure his new staff are under, and amazed by the personal sacrifices the security officers make. Geoff visited four locations in his guise as Dale James; spending time with Julie at the Priory shopping centre in Dartford, Mo and Mario, who patrol a busy riverside development in Manchester, David, a customer care officer at the Dewsbury Bus station and James and Diane, mobile patrol officers at Cirencester – where the branch manager was sharp enough to see through Geoff Zeidler’s disguise.
After witnessing the violence his officers tackle and the racial abuse they endure, Geoff’s forced to consider whether Securitas has more to worry about than just the bottom line.
You can watch the 47-minute programme (including the adverts) already shown on C4, online on the ‘on demand’ part of the channel’s website – http://www.channel4.com
