Recent events around the world have spurred an enormous demand for security guards whose job descriptions have changed dramatically over the past few months. Despite the drop in the need for security at airports and special events, the need for guards at hospitals, grocery stores, and retail outlets has increased.
Across the country, with calls for police reform, diminishing budgets, and dwindling resources, demands for security, mobile patrols, call responses, and emergency assistance continue to grow. That’s where private security services can step up and lighten the load.
This week, the University of Minnesota announced that it will no longer be using the services of law enforcement for large events such as football games, concerts, and ceremonies. Instead, the university will have private security handling all safety and security measures for games rather than the police department. As a matter of fact, private security is what many professional teams currently use to ensure their stadiums and arenas are safe and secure for employees and fans.
The city of Chicago recently spent $1.2 million on 3 private security firms—Illinois Security Professionals, AGB Investigative Services, and Monterrey Security—to help protect local retail shops, grocery stores, and pharmacies that the community relies on every single day. According to the mayor of Chicago, “None of the security guards have policing powers, but are another set of eyes and ears.”
The city of Indianapolis’s Indy Pride event announced today that they will no longer contract with or use police departments for security at that festival and other events unless necessary for road closures. Security instead will be provided by private security firms.
Hollywood, already a consumer of private security, is also once again turning to private security in the wake of the protest movements across the world. Actor Michael B. Jordan committed to hiring only private security at all his events in the future. And the list is growing.
With the support of the private security industry, public police services can better utilize the specialized training of frontline police officers to investigate and apprehend real criminals, and leave the job of ensuring security up to private security companies working in conjunction with the communities in which they work. Trained private security professionals can manage non-critical tasks, such as bylaw enforcement, crowd control, securing crime scenes, escorting suspects to court, directing traffic, and providing security during public events, letting police officers focus on their core areas of expertise.
Patrolling security officers in uniforms or marked cars also offer residents peace of mind as a visible deterrent to crime. Another big benefit to outsourcing non-critical tasks to security guards is that private professionals are extremely cost-effective when it comes to uncomplicated and non-critical policing tasks.
Many countries have had success outsourcing non-core policing tasks to private security professionals by experiencing decreased crime rates, balanced budgets, and the gratitude of local citizens. Some of the support services that can easily be outsourced to private security include:
- Protecting against vandalism of public and private property
- Detaining and transporting inmates
- Facilitating witness protection
- Incident reporting
- Monitoring parks, public areas, public buildings, and checkpoints
- Directing traffic
- Helping enforce municipal by-laws (parking, cannabis and other)
- Offering security at crime scenes
- Assisting crime victims while they wait for police services to arrive
- Performing lone worker checks
- Assisting police with temporary guarding duties
- Providing security during demonstrations/protests
- Offering facilities management assistance
- Fielding lower-priority and non-criminal calls
- Proving forensic identification and fingerprinting support
- Creating and reviewing interview transcripts
Outsourcing noncritical policing tasks to first-rate, trained private security staff just makes sense and ensures that police officers can be available and responsive when their expertise is needed.
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About TrackTik
TrackTik was founded in 2013 with the mission to build better software so our clients can run smarter businesses. 7 years later, TrackTik’s security workforce management solution helps security organizations connect frontline, back office, management, and clients to drive operational efficiency, offer insights, and provide added value. TrackTik helps security professionals make data-driven decisions with its seamless approach to system connectivity. Headquartered in Montreal, Canada, with offices in the United Kingdom and Europe, TrackTik provides a comprehensive suite of solutions to help security service companies follow the progression of guards, reduce manual tasks, lower costs, and demonstrate value.
