Businesses on the huge Trafford Park industrial estate in Manchester will be encouraged by police to use security companies accredited to the Guardsafe local registration scheme.
Businesses on the huge Trafford Park industrial estate in Manchester will be encouraged by police to use security companies accredited to the Guardsafe local registration scheme, the Guardsafe launch event heard from a senior police officer. We reported last month on the Guardsafe scheme for guards, set up by Greater Manchester Police, Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council and Trafford Park Business Watch, who form the Trafford Park Security Initiative. Supt Dave Ryder of Stretford sub-division said: “It will hopefully offer them the reassurance that they will be trained to a certain level.? The bosses of Noble Security, the manned guarding firm behind the scheme, told Professional Security that security industry regulation was still too far away to wait before bringing their own scheme for the Trafford local authority area. Trafford Park has some 55,000 workers, and 2,500 security staff. Horror stories from police about nammed guarding at the estate included: the police patrollers who investigated a guard slumped on a chair in his portable cabin – who looked as if he had been attacked but was in fact asleep because of long working hours; and the police who responded to a personal attack alarm only to meet the security guard who pressed the attack alarm saying ?so that?s what the red button is for?. Noble Partner George Mensah said that end user concerns include walk-in theft of laptops and briefcases, car crime against high-powered vehicles, and night burglaries. While it was too early to say if the Guarsafe scheme would dovetail with the Security Industry Authority set up under the Private Security Industry Act 2001, George Mensah suggested that regulation in England and Wales may be filtered to local authority level, with the inspectorate body in London auditing local authorities who work to strict criteria. Noble Partner Geoff Deane added that more than 100 security companies were working on Trafford Park. While the guarding company at one premises might report an incident to police, guards do not alert officers belonging to another firm working at the next premises – the feeling being ?we?re not paid to watch your staff. Geoff Deane said that Guardsafe would work towards better transfer of information. He added that the Association of British Insurers should become involved by offering insurance benefits to those clients taking on security companies showing a certain level of quality.
The TPSI has a œ456,000 grant from the Home Office, partly for Guardsafe, and partly for wardens to patrol the estate. The council will co-ordinate the training; SITO-approved Noble will provide officers with a three-day training course.
