A retail security trainer and regular contributor to Professional Security, Peter Whitehead, goes through gang scenarios, and what to do about groups who hang about high streets and retail centres. From the May print magazine.
I have no doubt that some groups have bad intentions. But many gather at high streets and retail centres because it is in their culture to do just that. In other words, groups of people vary in character as much as individuals. So we need to discover whether they are beneficial, benign or a hazard. Then we can research and decide how to react to any continued risks. We should not be instructing guards to move on groups without very good reasons. Where this happens the guard could be risking complaints from several households at once. If a person or group is banned from an area then a guard could approach (with a witness) and ask the person(s) to leave and call the police where there is a refusal. Where a group of people collects and, for instance, causes a passage to be blocked, then that might be a good reason to approach, explain and request movement. But for most situations there is usually a better method than by using guard-confrontation.
Could we look at a few ’group situations’? Let’s say that a group collects at a low wall which surrounds a retail store’s car park and this causes complaints from shoppers who are stared at, insulted or worse as they leave the store. This is serious, because the store is spending thousands in trying to attract custom, while buyers are being driven off by ‘the group’. Observation might show that the group chooses the location because all can sit down; on that low wall. Research can be carried out to discover whey the wall was built in the first place and it might be discovered that it can be removed and some other barrier (like a taller fence) be used instead. Where the wall was built to deter ram-raiders then bollards could replace it, which are harder to sit on! and so on. So lighting, CCTV signs, fences and so on can be researched to find possible cures without the need for staff or guard confrontations.
What type of person is in the group? For instance, if the group is composed mainly of older schoolchildren, then maybe an approach to the local schools could help. Or if, for instance, the group meets to compare (and test) cars because it finds the car park of a suitable size, or in a convenient position, then the retailer may have to consider some form of car park control, whereby all users pay to park and the store customers get an automatic ‘payback’ at the tills. Guard can be trained especially for the role of store greeter, so that everybody arriving gets to meet the guard, and those outside ‘in the group’ are aware of the guard’s continued presence. Now the guard is able to witness any breach of peace (and act) while being of good security value in general. There should always be two guards at any store which needs this sort of cover so that both get other shifts and so that a radio call can produce a fast and willing witness. By the way, retail guards should automatically be trained in door-supervision duties as well as in retail security. (Yet at door-supervisor’s licence alone cannot prepare a guard for retail loss prevention duties.)
A shopping mall has super expensive, smooth floors which run downhill: attracting a group of skate boarders. This group has an interest apart from retail crime, but is causing a serious hazard and there may already have been accidents. I’ve seen youths practising with ‘stunt’ bikes in similar circumstances. In such a situation the first reaction is to erect signs which ban skate boarding, which a security officer can now point to as the group is asked to move away from the area. It would be a good idea to research and discover all the skateboarding centres so these can be suggested during the communication process.
Not all scenarios are quite so easy. A well known Kent retail park has a reputation for being a meeting-place for drug-buyers and sellers. So in this scenario the groups could be unbalanced, socially careless and dangerous. The first rule would be: write instructions forbidding guards and staff from approaching groups. High light levels, obvious and well protected CCTV systems, good communications with local police, two-guard car park patrols, and a ‘carry-to-car’ service might all be required to win back customer trust. Those retailers that complain that such reactions cannot be afforded are probably on the road to ruin. A reaction of positive and interested research plus the maximisation of security funds is the way to go. If expensive CCTV cannot be afforded, then spend on the very best fake cameras possible and keep the secret as long as possible! Regular contact with police can show that the retailer wants to help with drugs crime, and this will inevitably result in prosecutions which are then reported in the press ad which can deter the gang-use of that area.
A town with alcohol abusers who have no fixed abode, gathering by a riverside close to a retail area. Some of these persons steal alcohol, food and expensive products from stores in the immediate vicinity. Not only are the losses high but the staff and customers are at risk. In this scenario an additional measure to all the other loss-prevention aids could be the thief-catcher. An experienced professional store detective (with witness) can confront such a thief in safety, because where the thief makes off or attempts to be violent then the store detective can withdraw and call the police but there should be adequate CCTV identification for the police to act later. In this way individuals are identified as thieves, rather than just security risks and their repeated presence in a store can then be reported to police for positive action.
A group of youths visits a games arcade in a high street, where they constantly run out of money and steal and sell-on to finance their gaming or gambling habits. Such groups are massively street-wise and they will work together where necessary. Regular thief catchers are of little value here, because after the first arrest (or failed observation) the store detective is discovered and then pointed out to the rest of group. It feels awful for a store-tec to see w whole line of youths staring in through windows and doors, waving and making various insulting remarks! It’s also a health and safety risk in the extreme. This retail environment requires regular store detective rotations, retail guards to act as a visual deterrent and to assist in arrests, along with CCTV, tag (EAS, electronic article surveillance) systems, higher light levels, increased staffing and as much support as the local police can extend. Any of the last three conditions can lead to a retailer deciding to close a branch, but the introduction of town wardens does seem to have made a marked difference to situations like this. A few months ago I arrested just such high-street thief, to find a switched-on town warden right by my side in seconds. He was brilliant; but local police seemed lukewarm about him; very sad. Local police should understand that where they don’t have the resources to fund a large force these wardens are a great addition to high streets. And they are there when it counts.
I recently read about a group of girls who were moved on within a shopping centre. They had gathered on an upper floor from where they were looking down through an escalator gallery to lower floors. A female security officer approached them and they moved away from the area. I don’t know why the security officer approached; maybe they had dropped things down onto a lower floor (very dangerous) or were known as shop-thieves. But in the main security officers should leave groups of young people alone, unless there is clear evidence that they are acting wrongly. Many shops which sell fashion accessories, music, model making or electronic games and so on, to young people could be very concerned where centre security staff keep interfering with enthusiasts who gather nearby. So it’s important to keep an open mind as to why groups gather, where, when, how and who they are. The group being young is not enough to justify interference. but where an approach is necessary then the right type of guard is required. The right mind, manner, approach and reaction is most important and robotic reaction training is not enough in these situations. Rather, a pleasant, empathic and interested approach (with a witness) is required. Female guards might be more effective with male teenagers in a shopping mall but an eight stone guard of either gender might be at a disadvantage if wrong footed by a group of drug abusers in a store car park. Possibly mixed pairs of guards might prove more effective (on average) than other combinations, but then I would expect to hear of brilliant combinations of any gender or age mix, because it’s all about having the right mind in good guarding.
