The Art and Techniques of Good Patrolling
One of the main duties of any Security operative is to carry out a patrol of the area and premises in which they are stationed. This could be a retail environment, a construction site, a public or private premises or any other such location where security is needed.
The principle is the same - show a visual presence, and ensure the area is protected.
The trouble is many security operatives do not know how to carry out a good standard patrol.
This is due in no small part to the SIA - the organisation that oversees the training and licencing of security personnel. The problem lies with the types of licence and who may carry out what practice.
The current rules allow those with 'Door Supervisor' licences to work in a Security role. But the training for a Door Supervisor does NOT include training on how to carry out a patrol. This training is only included in the 'Security' licence course.
The end result is a lot of security personel with Door Supervisor licences work in security roles whilst lacking the relevant training.
The other problem is those with actual Security licences, which have received patrol training, continue to follow bad practice, through either negligence, lack of understanding, or poor communications through the chain-of-command.
Consider the following example - a typical building, which employs one Security Guard. The building has a main entrance (blue door), a rear entrance (purple door), and two fire exits (green doors) located at opposite sides.
The guard's remit (his assignment instructions), state that he must carry out ONE patrol of the building EACH hour.
Sure enough, at 5 minutes past the hour, the guard leaves by the main door, and patrols around the building. Shown in the diagram below.
At 1005 he leaves and walks to point A.
At 1007 he walks from point A to point B
At 1009 he walks from point B to point C
At 1013 he walks from point C to point D
And at 1015 he walks from D, back into the building.
There he sits and reads a paper, until 1105 when he leaves and walks to point A, repeating the patrol.
What is wrong with this practice you may be thinking?
The guard successfully completes a patrol, all areas are covered, he undertakes one patrol per hour according to his instructions. Everything is good right?
Wrong.
Lets introduce a nasty character - a thief, a robber, a vandal, someone intent on doing harm to property or people inside the building. In the diagram below, our guard is marked by the blue hexagon in the bottom right, and our nasty is marked by the red star, top centre, near the main door.
After watching the main door for a couple of hours, what information does our nasty know?
He knows when the guard leaves - at what time, and by which door.
He knows the route the guard will take
He also knows the time the guard takes to walk this route.
In essence, he has all the information he needs to carry out his nasty business, safe in the knowledge that the guard is currently walking from point B to point C, as he does every hour at this time, and that he wont be back around to the main doors for another few minutes.
This is bad practice, and one that is very common amongst operatives
working in todays Security Industry.
At Athene Services, we pride ourselves on always delivering top practice.
Always being alert, always thinking on the problem and looking for solutions.
The answer to this problem is 'unpredictability'
Never let the enemy be comfortable in knowing your routine, your time, or your destination.
The first step is never start and finish patrols at the same time.
The second, never start and finish patrols from the same location.
In the diagram below, we can see that the guard exits from the main door, patrols from A to B to C, then upon reaching the rear door, re-enters the building.
This one move completely throws any would-be nasty. Where is the guard?
Has he cut short his patrol? Is he coming back out? From the rear door? Or a different door?
In this example the guard exits by the west fire-exit - point E - before moving to F and back into the building.
All of the building has still been visually checked, but the routine and timing
was no longer predictable.
Another good tactic is 'Doubling Back'.
In the diagram below, once the guard reaches Point C he then returns to D, and along to E, even though he has already covered this ground once he initially left point A.
The lesson here is DO NOT BE PREDICTABLE in either times or locations.
Keep them guessing which exit you will appear from. Will you exit, then immediately go back in? When you exit, will you turn left or right?
When you reach a junction or corner, do you proceed around, or double back?
When you reach another entry/exit point, do you take it? Do you take it and take it again (double back through!)?
Athene is ALWAYS about best practice.
When you hire Athene you get above and beyond.
Thanks for reading, and keep safe!
Chris
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