It’s become more important than ever for companies and producers putting on large events to have holistic approaches to security. These events should have comprehensive emergency plans in place to address issues of potential disruption, disaster and violence. In addition, there needs to be an emphasis on situational awareness.
The good news is that situational awareness doesn’t require a massive investment in technology—it just requires common sense, and a security guard company in Mohave County, AZ whose employees have keen eyes and ears. Here are a few tips to help you improve situational awareness for your event security:
- Focus on entry/access points: Entry control is a crucial part of security and an important location for situational awareness. Strong entry control begins with planning long before the event so you can secure all of the possible entrances, doors and gates at the event. You don’t want your premises to be “porous,” so you need to make sure access is secured. In addition, at these entry points, you should consider installing body scanners and bag inspections to eliminate potentially dangerous items and contraband, and watch for suspicious facial cues.
- Go over emergency procedures: Part of situational awareness is recognizing and understanding emergencies and how to respond to them. All people on a security team should be familiar with fire exits, evacuation procedures and contact information for local emergency departments. Have a safety plan in place for minor emergencies (things breaking, unruly attendees) and more dangerous situations like disasters or extreme weather. Brief all personnel on all emergency procedures in advance.
- Cameras: Implementing security cameras can help you augment your situational awareness and get additional perspectives on the event as it progresses. Actively monitoring your camera feeds can help you make more informed decisions about how you will respond to perceived threats. Motion sensors can also be used to detect individuals entering restricted areas without proper authorization.
- Venue knowledge: Knowing the venue inside and out is important if you are to truly have high level situational awareness. Any good strategy for event security requires you to take the particularities of the venue and its surrounding location into account. Make sure you identify any vulnerable areas or weak spots around the perimeter, and any potential hazards that exist to attendees and staff. If staff have back entry, have security stationed there to check IDs. Make sure you’re prepared and aware of issues such as maximum crowd capacities and fire regulations so you can comply with local standards.
- Train your staff: It’s hard to expect outstanding situational awareness from your staff if you don’t train them in what they should watch for and how they should respond. Choose the right people to be on your staff—if they have a background in event security, all the better, but if not, make sure they’re capable of recognizing potentially dangerous situations and properly responding. In some cases, you might also need onsite police or armed guards for emergency responses. Make sure these people are appropriately vetted for this kind of work.
For more information about high-quality event security in Mohave County, AZ, contact the team at Mohave Security LHC today.