Integrated Security: Built Around People

Across this series, we’ve set out an integrated security model in five steps: Assess, Understand, Deter, Identify and Treat (AUDIT). One thread has run through every one of the articles: people. This final entry in the series is all about the ‘why’ and the ‘who’: why the model works and the target audience.

The first point to note is that AUDIT works as it’s an asset-based model that starts from the client’s assets and prevents threats confronted by the client rather than implementing general security measures in the hope that they’ll prevent an incident. The right solution is scoped from an organisation’s actual risk profile and, in reality, it’s almost always a combination of people, technology and innovation. This approach is a more complete and well-rounded offering than any single element delivered on its own.

In the round and enacted in the correct fashion, that combination not only prevents incidents, but also reduces the risk of harm. Identifying vulnerable or dangerous situations prevents people from walking into them unknowingly.

Further, technology can allow individuals to assess or engage with certain situations remotely, meaning that they can still be managed effectively, but without placing anyone in a compromised situation.

Greater resilience

Those benefits compound. A model designed around real risk tends to be more resilient and more efficient than one that’s assembled from hypotheses, while the data it collects (from cameras, access control and monitoring systems, etc) can support facilities, safety and compliance across the wider business.

Importantly, security stops being referenced as a ‘line item’ and is deeply embedded into every part of a given site’s operations.

Take a large industrial site that needs out-of-hours security cover. A forced door can automatically link access control to surveillance cameras. A tripped sensor can send a quadruped robot to the area for a live view. A trained and Security Industry Authority-licensed security officer attending with a body-worn video camera lets the Monitoring Centre see a live video feed and guides operators in real-time. However, none of that means anything unless someone can read and understand what it shows and decide what to do about it.

The reason this set-up works is not the technology. It’s the people underpinning it. The final decision should always be human. Robotics, monitoring and Artificial Intelligence exist to sharpen judgement and take officers out of harm’s way, not to replace them. Take the person out of the centre of it all and you no longer have an integrated model. You merely have a collection of products.

Changing the job

If security officers are expected to work alongside technology and innovation, it follows that they must be trained and upskilled to understand and use them well. That investment changes the job: security stops being a static post to be filled and instead becomes a more skilled, more varied and more rewarding career pathway. It’s also a process that helps the sector at large attract and keep good people. Ultimately, this is something from which every client benefits.

We often see it in practice. An officer who once walked hourly patrols now operates from a modern on-site Control Room. Another who spent a shift opening a barrier oversees it using technology, while also working in Front-of-House, providing meet-and-greet services and focusing on customer experience.

At some of our London sites, Front-of-House officers act almost as concierges. They’re as much a part of the visitor experience as they are a security measure. Most recently, one of our officers who previously worked for us at a media company joined our Innovation Department. Younger people are interested in these technology-enabled roles. Increasingly, this is where the opportunities in security reside.

This is what turns security from a grudge spend for clients into a justified investment and makes the sector a thriving career of choice for officers. When clients see security as just bodies turning up at a building, it’s easy to treat this as an overhead and easy to cut. When the security operation develops people, it creates progression and social value.

For the client, officer engagement generates useful data on occupancy, compliance and how a site is really used, making security a more worthwhile investment. Social value benefits arise through local recruitment at the Real Living Wage rate. Community support reaches well beyond the security team.

Stop, look and ask

The AUDIT integrated model is for those clients willing to stop, look and ask whether there’s a better way to do things rather than carrying on simply because that’s how it has always been done. It’s also for the security officers who derive a more meaningful career due to its adoption.

AUDIT works for both. Why? It prioritises people. The client, its members of staff and visitors are protected. For their part, security officers are challenged and their skills are nurtured. Importantly, they’re actively supported by technology, but never replaced by it.

That is the real promise of integrated security. It’s not about doing less. It’s about security being better and built around people. The world in which our clients operate keeps on changing. The AUDIT model is designed to change with it. It’s always reviewed, it’s always adjusted and, above all, it’s always human-centred.

Paul Lotter is Chief Operating Officer of Corps Security (www.corpssecurity.co.uk) 

*Part One Integrated Security: It’s time to AUDIT

*Part Two Assess and Understand: Building the Foundations for Effective Security

*Part Three Deter, Identify and Treat: The Human Response