Una Riley reports how she finds herself in the world of public relations (PR). (This is the full version of the article in the September 2005 print issue of Professional Security.)
I have recently been appointed as chairman of SC1, the Public Relations and Communications committee of Euralarm, the European Fire and Security Federation. It is with PR in mind that I thought that I would seek out one of the practitioners within the industry: Kay Wright MCIPR of the BSIA.
Instead of conveying news of what was happening in the profession, I wanted Kay to talk about herself for a change. I asked Kay about her background. She said: “I have worked for the BSIA for seven years now. I joined straight from Nottingham University where I studied English and American studies. I spent six months out in America at the University of Illinois where I wrote for a newspaper ‘The Daily Illini’. My career ambition at that stage was to go into journalism. However, I then did some work experience in a health and beauty public relations company and that’s when I basically decided that I wanted to go into PR. It was a sort of combination of the journalism, meeting people and enjoying engaging in the issues that people are passionate about.
I found I really enjoyed public relations – I was ringing up journalists, I was building contacts, I was getting quite a bit of coverage and going out meeting people and networking. So when I left university I decided that that was what I wanted to do and the BSIA found me – or I found the BSIA.”
I asked Kay what she considered to be the main communication issue in the security industry concerning the external customer. She replied: “I think the importance of security at board level which is something which I think has been raised or is being raised by industry organisations but there is still a lot more work to be done.” I asked as to how she would achieve that objective. “I think there are two sides, obviously organisations like the BSIA, the SIA and The Security Institute all have a vital role to play in communicating positive messages about this industry. But we still have to be seen doing what we say we can do. For instance on the ground we need to be playing an important role within the whole management function. We need to be contributing to risk management at a senior level so I think really it is a two-pronged attack, we need to be seen doing a service which merits that level of engagement and then we need to be communicating messages that support that.” Does she not think that Security imparts information already, as a profession? Kay replied: “I think we are getting better at it.”
In her seven years in post what has impressed her most? “Having worked at different levels for the association over the years I have had the pleasure of working on various different initiatives and campaigns where you see people actually on the ground doing the job. I think our best way of promoting the industry is to actually put forward our front-line staff because they do some amazing things. The Security Officer Awards illustrate some amazing acts of bravery and just really good customer service. We also have the Peter Greenwood Award and The Apprentice Awards. I am also heavily involved in an initiative called Raid-Control which is a police-industry initiative. This is basically looking to improve security for small retailers. I chair their PR committee for them and really seeing the impact that the industry working in partnership with the police can have on reducing robberies within the retail environment is particularly satisfying. Because of this partnership and the success of the equipment which has been installed and staff training etc the robberies have reduced. Retailers who have been the subject of repeat robberies and as a consequence may have tended to consider closing down their stores have been able to continue their business. That is very rewarding. Basically it is being spearheaded by Greater Manchester, Metropolitan, West Yorkshire and West Midlands Police. These are the four police forces that are really pushing forward with it at present with a view to it becoming a national crime reduction initiative.” Kay and I went on to chat about the security industry and public relations. As a member of the CIPR and Junior Warden elect of the Guild of Public Relations Practitioners I explained how I had met Rosemary Brook, when she was the then Master of the City of London Guild of Public Relations Practitioners and I was Master of the Company of Security Professionals. Rosemary was most encouraging of her profession within the City and convinced me that I should also become engaged with the Guild of Public Relations Practitioners. Rosemary’s link with the wider world of security is that she has directed national and international communications programmes for blue-chip companies principally in food, farming, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, tobacco and transport. She has been a crisis and issues consultant to the milk industry and the Tobacco Manufacturers Association … the head of security being Bob Fenton who is also the secretary of the ex-CID Officers Association of the Metropolitan Police. I am now in the process of getting Rosemary to join the Company of Security Professionals! As we laughed and chatted I asked where Kay envisaged her role in the future. “I have been in this PR management role for two years now and one of the things I was really passionate about and wanted to do more of was engage with the membership. What we have done is create a series of specialist public relations committees so we have got a committee for almost every section of membership. Basically I consulted the section chairmen and asked where they wanted to go, went along to section meetings, canvassed opinions and the result was that most of the sections wanted to have a distinct public relations committee. We have now achieved that and we have chairs for most of those PR committees who have taken ownership for their sections and issues relating to PR. The important part of that is that we are now able to drive forward based on an association point of view, putting forward our main aims and objectives whilst we are also able to feed into the specific section initiative. For example, one of our sections is pursuing something which is looking specifically at how to raise awareness about an issue, we can tie it in with some of the other PR committees who are affected and we can actually really use them as a focus group to make sure that our message is correct and it enables me to tap into their expertise because of course they are experts on their subject. The combined effect of getting the industry experts together on the issue gets even more interesting and more involved. Plus through a couple of other system processes we brought in over the last few of years we have seen a substantial increase in media coverage about the BSIA. This is very positive not only from the BSIA perspective but also from the industry point of view because we are starting to get people interested in our industry who perhaps weren’t interested before.”
How did you deal with the July 7 London bombs aftermath? “We have had quite a lot of enquiries from the Financial Times, The Times and the BBC. So it was important that we dealt with them in a responsible way. We also conducted some research amongst members which asked how it affected them and really members have said there had been a modest increase in demand for services post 7-7 but I think what is important is that what 7-7 again illustrated just what an important role the private security industry does play in community safety because there were private security officers involved in helping deal with the aftermath of 7-7. Increasingly the police are recognising the role the private security industry can play and involving them in things like project briefings, so I think that obviously from a communications point of view it is important that we communicate the important role of the industry within the recent course of events.”
Any areas requiring stronger communication links? Kay replied: “There is always more that we can do, I have never suggested that we’ve cracked it, I think there are many end user groups out there which we could communicate more effectively with. One of our main functions is to try and get coverage in end-user training publications. Also getting the BSIA known and respected in those sectors … we have improved significantly over the last two years with our presence and awareness and [chief executive] David Dickinson who presents at a number of such events will be speaking at the British Retail Consortium Conference coming up in September [see page 56].”
Are there opportunities for security people to become involved in PR as an occupation change just as we are encouraging career changes from guards to police officers? Kay said: “There are certainly opportunities for companies to get involved in PR at the BSIA and any readers who are interested and do want to get involved please contact me and chat about your ideas because, as I say, we are all moving in the same direction. A lot of our members will have their own PR departments and their own objectives but there is an overarching objective here to the industry. We want to be seen as a profession. We want people to see a career in the industry and not think of it as just a job and there is quite a lot we could do better if we all worked more closely together on it. So certainly I have seen an improvement in the way we’ve operated by getting more feed back from our members through PR committees. The more we can do that then the more effective our communications will be". Kay went on to say: “I am also very proud of my membership of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, I basically joined the CIPR when it was the IPR and I have been a member for four years. I am a member of Fifth Estate which is a sub group of the IPR which looks at communications for ‘not for profit’ organizations. A lot of the PR you do is on a good will basis and there is a lot more emphasis on the networking side and carefully placing articles to bring the biggest impact to PR. So that is definitely something I have certainly enjoyed being part of. We have a relatively young PR team here at the BSIA, there is myself and my colleague Kiri Gray we are very keen, very enthusiastic and very determined to take the industry forward and to promote it in such a way that hopefully we can raise awareness of just what the industry can offer. There are certainly challenges – what with regulation and European standards coming in. We are up for the challenge. From a public relations point of view, the industry with its new chartered status is gaining better recognition for the contribution that PR can make to the BSIA and the Security Industry. I can say that I have certainly been extremely encouraged over the last two years to set objectives to raise coverage in general interest media which has now shot up and our broadcast media coverage has also increased considerably. We are now getting to where we need to be in terms of profile but there is still so much more we can do and yes we are up for the challenge". Talking to Kay was certainly inspirational and further impressed upon me the vital role of Public Relations in all areas of a modern society. Having taken on board Kay’s remarks about the CIPR I later spoke to Paul Roberts, Head of Membership of the CIPR (Chartered Institute of Public Relations) and asked him to briefly outline the role of the Institute. "There is much to benefit from being a member of the CIPR. The award of a Royal Charter in early 2005 marked a turning point for the CIPR and the whole PR profession. It signified that PR has ‘come of age’ and is now ready to take its proper place alongside more established professions. The CIPR is proud to be advancing the industry by developing policy and raising standards through education and training. We are also dedicated to serving the interests of our members at all levels. By joining the CIPR practitioners demonstrate their commitment to professionalism and a willingingness to be accountable through our Code of Conduct". Having spoken to Kay, Rosemary and Paul it was evident that the worlds of PR and Security are closely intertwined and are more than capable of rising to meet the considerable challenges that lie ahead.
For details of the Raid-Control scheme visit www.raid-control.org
For information about joining the CIPR, ring Paul Roberts, Head of Membership on 020 7253 5151 or email [email protected]. Or view the CIPR website http://www.cipr.co.uk/join
