Tramlines 2014

It seems hard to believe it's over a week since Sheffield's Tramlines festivals took over the city centre seeing Professional Security provide a high number of Door Supervisors to our venues, day and night.

Between the 25th and 27th of July the sixth year of Tramlines was the biggest to date with a line up that included Annie Mac, Funeral for a Friend, Katie B, Matt Jam Lamont, Miss Dynamite, Public Enemy, The Rifles, Simian Mobile Disco and Sister Sledge to name just a few!

The festival sees several roads shut down and stages erected across the inner city bringing almost a carnival like atmosphere to Sheffield.

"This was my first year of visiting our teams during Tramlines and was a great experience for me. To be part of this vibrant event and to see all of our venues so busy, being run very well by our Door Supervisors on duty was a great reflection of the hard work the teams in South Yorkshire put into their role and responsibility. My thanks goes to all Door Supervisors and management involved"

Brett McMann,
Professional Security 

"Our clients had wisely increased their staffing requirements for the weekend and it was pleasing to see us deliver this with ease. Every team I visited portrayed the level of professionalism we expect at Professional Security"

Staxtonbury 2014

Earlier this month a 20 person Professional Security event team assembled to provide security with a smile to a family based festival, Staxtonbury, in the coastal resort of Scarborough and recently received great feedback.

The three day festival now attracts over 5000 attendees all keen for the best camping space and a great view in the main arena or acoustic tent. The music led event is very family friendly with numerous children activities alongside superb facilities throughout the site.

Organiser, Ray Roberts
"This year was absolutely fantastic for us and the security personnel selected by Professional Security were a credit to both their company and Staxtonbury itself."

"We've received multiple pieces of positive feedback regarding the friendly approachable security and would particularly like to thank Luke and Dan for their help and professionalism throughout the weekend"

Team leader for the weekend Luke Warner said "It was a pleasure to work with Ray and his team at Staxtonbury. Our team covered three camping fields, access control of vehicles as well as the main entertainment areas and stage. I was pleased with everyone's performance and thank them for their hard work. It was nice to hear we received favorable feedback with individuals efforts acknowledged"

                                                    

                                                         "All of the security team were friendly but in particular we would like to thank Cletus who stood out amongst the team, always proactively involving himself whilst remaining polite and friendly at all times. Hopefully we will see him again in 2015!"

If you are planning an event for the first time, or reviewing your suppliers' performance from this years' festival or event why not contact us to see what we can offer info@professionalsecurityuk.com

Sheffield Pride 2014

With our events season well under way we were excited to provide a handpicked event team to this years' Sheffield Pride.

Following successfully being awarded the contract for the 2014 Sheffield Pride we undertook several site visits to Devonshire Green in Sheffield to ensure we fully understood the unique logistics of this popular event. After several meetings with Oliver Robinson, Operations Director for Sheffield Pride, we could see how passionate Oliver and his team were to ensure their event was brimming with entertainment and ensure a fun atmosphere with all attending safe at all times.

"I felt like you made it your business to fully understand our event and our attendees, then hand pick the most suited members of staff" 

Oliver Robinson, Sheffield Pride

On Saturday 28th June our 30 strong event team enjoyed a day in South Yorkshire providing both male and female operatives to cover all security aspects ; access and entry control, search teams, localised density monitoring, pit teams, artist escort, response teams .... the list goes on with one common theme, security with a smile!

Operations Manager, Jim Nuttall who worked on the day to oversee the team said " It was a great day enjoyed by all. I felt our team performed really well which was echoed by the feedback I received on the day from attendees. Oliver and the team were great to work with"

"I would like to thank both Brett and Jim and all of your staff who worked on the day for the  tremendous job Professional Security did at Sheffield Pride 2014. The event ran smoothly and stress free and you guys definitely played a big part in this. Your clearly well briefed and experienced staff members were professional, courteous, approachable and helpful.", Oliver Robinson

"I was actually congratulated after the event for selecting a fantastic security company"

No penalties please

With the World Cup upon us we are hearing the usual mixture of opinions ranging from England not making it through the group stages to the squad replicating the success of '66 with Roy Hodgson's young guns' pace and bravery taking the tournament by storm.


One thing for sure is the country will get behind our national team with licensed venues across the nation leading the way to ensure they maximise footfall and revenue for as long as possible. There could be an argument that operators across the country may be some of the only people wishing for extra time !

The tournament will bring many people out who don't usually frequent licensed premises and we must ensure that these people don't become vulnerable. Be mindful that some of the kick off times are as late as 23.00pm. For example England's opening game against Italy, this will no doubt see fans out earlier and by 1.00am a considerable amount of alcohol may have been consumed. We will see groups of fans in high spirits and low during the rollercoaster of Group D, and hopefully beyond, all of which will need monitoring and managing at times.

Our existing clients know the increase in risk during such events and are wisely increasing their Door Supervision requirements, reviewing their deployment timings and determining how, together, we can ensure a safer tournament for all.

We have been receiving a number of calls from venues who don't usually have a requirement for security but due to the World Cup need adhoc security to help them through the next few weeks. We are happy to facilitate this and if you are pondering whether or not you will require security during the key games please do not hesitate to contact us 0870 405 2990 or email us at info@professionalsecurityuk.com

Keeping the streets safe

Street Marshals are fast becoming an increasingly common feature of the night time economy. Having proved over recent years to help reduce serious crime relating to the night time economy there is a significant increase of these often unsung heroes now patrolling our streets.

The role of a Street Marshal is often to patrol a designated zone of a particular night time economy and assist other partnership agencies. Working in partnership with other agencies is key for the success of any marshaling scheme. Whether it be assisting Door Supervisors by moving on an argumentative customer who has been refused entry, helping with crowds at times of dispersal, informing CCTV of potential situations arising or liaising directly with the police to assist them, the role of the Street Marshal is now invaluable.

North Yorkshire Police recently emailed us to thank us for the actions of some of our marshals saying,

 "Both marshals were immediately on the scene detaining the offenders and preventing what could have proved serious injury. Superb work and thoroughly professional in the actions, appearance and conduct"

Street Marshals will often be the first people to attend a situation with potential for conflict. There are a large number of reports to evidence that their early involvement has on multiple occasions prevented situations from escalating therefore decreasing the number of serious assaults.


In 2010 Professional Security played a lead role, working alongside the police, in establishing Leeds' first Street Marshal project, a scheme still implemented and succesful today. In the first three weeks alone serious violent crime within the designated zones during the night time was reduced by more than half.


We currently supply a number of Street Marshal schemes around the country which are local council funded and led. In doing so we are proud to have played a role in decreasing serious crime figures and have even contributed to areas receiving the Purple Flag Award.

If you don't have a local scheme and would like to implement one we have a number of areas where we help run schemes which are organised and led by venue operators. We are fully insured to deploy Street Marshals and welcome the opportunity to speak with you and advise on how to launch your scheme. There is much to consider from the timings, hi visibility wear to increase their profile and presence as a deterrent to crime, to the unique training these individuals should receive to best equip them to tackle the conflict they will no doubt encounter. Please feel free to contact us info@professionalsecurityuk.com 

Sia-sters are doin it for themselves

 

For some time now we have championed the value of female security personnel and we are pleased to say a change is slowly creeping through the security industry. Finally the value of female operatives is being recognised within the Door Supervisor sector in particular.

Although often featured in event teams, within the bars and clubs sector the request for female Door Supervisors has historically been minimal. Times are changing with both the bigger operators and the independents now looking at the value of having a female included within their security teams.

Over the last 18 months we have seen the amount of females we deploy increase by 150%. The male - female ratio will always be a long distance apart as there are such a higher amount of badged males than females nationally , however it is fantastic to see female operatives increase their representation in the industry. What is yet more pleasing is the request for females is now higher than it has ever been.

We are very proud to say we have two female SIA licensed Door Supervisors who have worked very hard to achieve the position of Head Door Supervisor. It's important that we acknowledge hard work, in what historically was considered a male led industry.

If you want to discuss the value of having a female operative within your security team please do not hesitate to contact us 0113 2042410

Jessie J celebrates in style at Oslo

Jessie J recently celebrated her 26th birthday last week at Oslo in London where we are proud to be the security supplier.

Professional Security Area Manager Ben Kirkham said "It was great to look after the night for Jessie and all at Oslo. Our team did a fantastic job, and it's not every night that Tom Jones turns up to surprise everyone!"

We hope Jessie had a great night and wish her a very happy birthday.