Parallel lines

You know when that’s happening, because some hapless station attendant’s ears are burning under a torrent of complaints from customers either late for business meetings or deeply concerned about whether or not they’re going to make the next connection on time.

That’s the picture of our railways with which we’re all most familiar. It’s also the version you’ll read about in your newspapers every other day. However, try to put any personal grievances you might have with your rail operator to one side for a moment (if you dare), because there’s now a much more sinister problem bedevilling the train companies.

Trains and stations are generally safe places to be, and your chances of becoming the victim of serious crime are indeed low. However, like anywhere else the railways will – on occasion – suffer from criminality and unacceptable behaviour perpetrated by miscreants. In the main, this will translate as low level anti-social behaviour encompassing vandalism, drunkenness, pick-pocketing, ticket touting and fighting (normally among youthfully exuberant weekend revellers who’ve had one pint of the Amber Nectar too many).

There’s also vehicle crime, small-scale robbery from retail outlets on platforms and bouts of generally unruly behaviour from the odd individual that’s somewhat out of step with what society deems to be the norm.

On top of that, the drug dealers have started to show up. Although it’s a rare occurrence, they’ll sometimes arrange the odd rendezvous with specific trains carrying current and potential ‘clients’ such that they can pedal their abhorrent merchandise. And let’s not forget the burgeoning threat of terrorist activity in the current climate, nor the extremely serious spectre of sexual and physical assault.

The task of enforcing law and order on our railways falls to the British Transport Police (BTP), the specialist police service covering National Railways, the London Underground, the Capital’s Docklands Light Railway and an ever-growing number of tram systems.

The BTP’s chief constable of two years’ standing – Ian Johnston CBE QPM – has just laid down his vision for a safer transport network in the Force’s ‘Strategic Plan for 2003-2006’. In that document, Johnston has committed to reviewing and improving the quality of the Force’s response to major incidents (such as accidents and fatalities), developing a co-ordinated approach to terrorism, enhancing levels of property management and supporting the management of performance through the use of integrated technology.

In practice, this translates into the implementation of the National Strategy for Police Information Systems Command and Control network for better resource allocation.

Central to Johnston’s ideals is a desire to “develop partnerships and plans with the railway industry and other agencies to reduce and prevent crime, and the fear of crime”. Here, Johnston is talking about, for example, promoting accreditation in Secure Station and Secured Car Parks schemes within the railway industry, setting up a National Route Crime Partnership Unit in conjunction with Network Rail and implementing an intelligence-led, cost-effective approach to managing football and sporting event-related disorder on the railways (via the high and low level alignment of BTP activity with the railway industry).

In truth, Johnston’s overall policing strategy will be realised on the ground by annual Area Policing Plans. Plans which will, in time, help to “secure a balance between corporate aims and local needs”.

Strategies in the north west

The need for coherent planning is perhaps nowhere more important than in the north west, where the once run down but now vibrant commercial and cosmopolitan hubs of Liverpool and Manchester are beginning to attract businesses – and, in their wake, the criminal fraternity – in larger numbers. The population of the region tops seven million, many of whom rely on a safe and secure railway system to travel to and from work or use during their precious leisure time.

Manchester, of course, recently played host to the XVII Commonwealth Games, while the region as a whole hosts 23 professional football teams whose hooligan ‘supporter’ element is a constant source of worry and potential powder keg of trouble.

“The railway is very much a microcosm of north western society in general,” opines chief superintendent Martyn Ripley, commander of BTP North Western Area. “In real terms, the railway contributes greatly to social cohesion and the economic and cultural well-being of the communities it serves.”

Ripley – a former detective chief inspector in the CID and Silver Commander at the Selby rail disaster – was promoted to his current posting back in 2001. Since then, he has wholeheartedly embraced chief constable Johnston’s views in laying down his own policing strategies for the north west (see box panel ‘North Western Area Policing Plan for 2003-2004’: the central objectives’).

“We are really keen on engaging with stakeholders and delivering a professional and caring police service to all the people in our community,” states Ripley with genuine enthusiasm. “That includes staff and passengers on the railways, as well as the victims of crime and offenders themselves. We’re always looking to those communities to keep us informed of emerging issues so that we can look for timely solutions to criminality. Communication is of paramount importance in solving the crime agenda.”

No surprise to learn, then, that communication – and much of it – is playing the lead role in Ripley’s latest project on the railways. With the Police Reform Act 2002 paving the way for BTP to accredit private security companies for complementary policing (in line with Home Secretary David Blunkett’s calls for a ‘wider policy family’), Ripley has jumped at the chance to climb on board the Home Office bandwagon.

Tentative toes were dipped in the private sector waters when Ripley engaged Carlisle Security some months ago to help safeguard and ultimately secure the entire MerseyRail network across the region of Merseyside (the contractor is also responsible for security on Merseyside’s bus routes). “We’ve had a good deal of success here,” states Ripley. “A system of joint patrolling between my officers and those of Carlisle Security meant that we were able to reduce crime on the network by 90% over the Christmas period.”

A highly satisfactory result realised very much in the wake of solid relationships already built with Network Rail during the massive policing operation that surrounded the aforementioned Commonwealth Games.

Complementary policing in action

The real breakthrough came earlier this year, when the railway industry – in the shape of client Virgin Trains – approached Ripley regarding the necessary West Coast Main Line upgrade engineering works which would create ‘bottlenecks’ at certain stations, in turn presenting something of a security and safety dilemma. “We were asked to supply around 20 officers full-time to cover the transportation issues regarding passengers and their transfer between trains and coaches where certain parts of the main line were out of action,” comments Ripley. “To be honest, I didn’t feel this would be the best use of BTP resources, nor represent the best value for money for all concerned.”

Knowing full well that he couldn’t shirk his responsibilities to the industry and the travelling public alike, though, the question remained as to how Ripley might provide a safer environment for railway staff and the wider community at the six stations earmarked by Virgin Trains – Stafford, Crewe, Macclesfield, Congleton, Stoke-on-Trent and Stockport (Manchester Piccadilly is being brought into the fold this month) – for upgrades in security, both during the engineering works and beyond. The answer lay in complementary policing and strategic partnerships.

Ripley takes up the story. “For me, complementary policing is very much the way forward,” he urges. “The high visibility of law enforcement bodies in the local community is crucial, and we can add to that mix by engaging private sector security companies. That said, there has been a big cultural barrier to break down, perhaps more so on our side of the fence. Complementary policing is very much a baby that has to be carefully nurtured.”

Ripley is doing just that. In mid-May, he decided to further the Government’s desired fostering of a wider policy family by working alongside leading north west contractor Noble Security Services (UK) with a view to securing the six stations. “We’re using Noble’s officers as a deterrent to crime on the stations,” urges Ripley. “They’re really acting in much the same way as Police Community Support Officers, and are there to provide genuine and tangible support to my own officers. They’re employed by Virgin Trains, but deployed to their duties by the BTP.”

The rolling contract with Virgin Trains is described by Noble Security partner Geoff Deane as “not so much a contract, but more of a development scheme”. Deane and his colleague – fellow Noble partner George Mensah – have geared their multi award-winning company up for the task by recruiting 52 new officers just for this contract (38 of whom will be on duty at the stations on any one day of the week). “We have recruited the very best labour we could,” suggests Mensah. “We knew we needed to seriously up the ante on this particular contract.”

Six new mobile patrol vehicles have also been purchased, some £20,000 invested in a state-of-the-art digital radio communications system courtesy of BRP and a complete revamp of the company’s computer systems carried out by Widnes-based Xencom Technologies. Technology is vital, then, but for all concerned the security officers remain the most important link in the chain.

A high proportion of the new recruits are ex-police officers, all of whom have received four-to-five days’ specialist training in citizens’ powers of arrest, confrontation management, Health and Safety (for specialist environments) and bomb threat management.

In addition, the officers have been put through the standard SITO three-day Basic Job Training course, have received one day of specialist instruction at Crewe Police Station – Martyn Ripley’s “epicentre” for the entire project – and been taught elements of Noble Security’s ground-breaking Guardsafe scheme (‘On Guard’, SMT, December 2001, pp20-25).

Security companies need to start asking themselves what they can do for the police, not what the police and Local Authorities can do for them

The private security-policing relationship examined

How is it all working on the ground, one wonders? Noble Security’s officers are ‘on station’ from 05.00 am through to midnight during weekdays, while providing a 24-hour guarding service at weekends. That equates to over 2,300 ‘man hours’ per week. No small undertaking by any standards.

Initially, a major duty involved traffic management at the front of stations, moving on cars that inadvertently block access routes to and from the rail terminals. This remains an on-going duty, but having passed that little test with flying colours, direct links to the BTP Control Room in Manchester were firmly established by chief superintendent Ripley such that Noble’s officers could be tasked by BTP operators to move on drunks and juveniles causing disturbances.

“Unruly juveniles congregating in and around the station have been a real problem for us at Congleton,” sighs Ripley, “and it used to take up much of my officers’ time. Noble’s officers do that for us now.”

The Noble officers also routinely patrol the stations, offering a permanent uniformed presence (and a degree of assurance) that is much welcomed by retailers and the public alike. The guards have been trained in basic First Aid, and will administer treatment to passengers prior to the arrival of the emergency services as and when necessary.

As BTP now has the power to take out anti-social behaviour orders on ill-disciplined members of the public, the Noble Security station teams are putting into practice David Blunkett’s ‘extra eyes and ears’ philosophy.

“We’ve nurtured a situation in which the Noble officers are collating intelligent incident reports about what’s happening on the ground,” posits Martyn Ripley. “Their presence is not viewed as being nearly so intrusive as that of a police officer, so they tend to pick up little nuggets of information on incidents that we might otherwise miss.”

Harking back to the need for clear lines of communication, Ripley stresses that this dialogue must be two-way between police and contractor. “My officers will pass on ‘hot spot’ analysis of those times and places where anti-social behaviour occurs on a frequent basis,” he comments. There’s no sharing of radio waves as yet, but that’s an avenue Ripley would like to see explored in the years ahead. “Once statute allows it,” he adds, “we’ll also be able to pass on intelligence information concerning specific individuals to the security officers.”

The hardest people to convince that such a close tie might exist between the police and the private sector are the ‘Bobbies on the Beat’. That’s why Ripley has broken new ground with his deployment of Noble’s officers by allowing them to work out of local police stations – Crewe Police Station being a good case in point. The same security officers turn up at the train and police stations each day as part of a rostering pattern devised by Mensah and Deane (with the help of Professional Practice Systems’ RosterMan software), interacting with their police brethren and the local community to build up a rapport.

What Martyn Ripley always demands is “a consistent presence” at the stations. In other words, the same Noble officers need to appear on a regular basis. Alas, that doesn’t square with the private sector guarding companies’ appalling record of retaining staff, all-too-many of them suffering lamentably high churn rates. To buck that trend, Noble has employed strictly revisionist tactics.

“We interviewed nearly 200 prospective candidates for the 50-odd positions, and picked the very best,” states Geoff Deane. “On top of that, we’re paying the officers between £7.25 and £7.55 per hour, which is not only top money for this region but for the industry as a whole”. The tactic of employing loyal individuals (including ex-prison officers and aviation security specialists from the transport sector) has paid off – Noble hasn’t lost any of its 52 new officers to date.

“That just goes to show you it’s not the industry that’s necessarily bad. It’s the rate of pay that’s the problem,” adds Deane. “The right calibre of staff can be brought in if you pay them enough. Train them properly and offer them enough variety in their day-to-day duties and you’ll keep them on the books.”

Such a refreshing approach to the problem should not be lost on the industry as a whole, with Noble’s attitude towards customer care for its client and the travelling public commendably extending to an obviously grateful officer and supervisor base.

The battle for hearts and minds

The relationship between BTP and Noble is working at the officer level, then, but what about those in the management ranks? Are they seeing eye-to-eye on everything thus far?

“Martyn briefed all of his staff before we came on board,” asserts Geoff Deane. “He invited George and myself to discussions with his management team. We were able to bond with them such that any barriers to higher level management working together successfully were broken down from Day One”. Communication to the fore yet again.

Who better to ask about how this particular job is progressing than Steve Jackson, Noble Security’s dedicated contracts manager who oversees the six West Coast Main Line stations.

Having spent 12 years in the army, serving in both Germany and Northern Ireland, Jackson left in 1987 to join the police service where he was trained in firearms, dog handling and also recruitment. “The message coming out of the 43 police forces in England and Wales and the Home Office is that the police service can no longer cope without complementary policing,” says Jackson, who’s ably backed up on a day-to-day basis by Noble’s new general manager Steve Goodwin MBE. “The police are really stretched. It’s an opportune time for us to come in and help them.”

Jackson points out that, since Noble began this particular security contract, there’s been a marked decrease in crime, particularly at Stockport Station. “One of our officers reported a mugging there only last month,” states Jackson. “Thanks to his vigilance and reporting skills, the local police caught the suspect within half an hour. The BTP officers are always on scene really quickly to help our guards, which makes for a highly effective relationship.”

That relationship will face a stiff challenge this month when the new Premiership and Nationwide League football season gets underway. Crewe, Stockport and Manchester Piccadilly Stations are all in the ‘firing line’ as main interchange stations where the potential for clashes between sets of rival fans is always looming. “We’ll be working alongside Railtrack’s in-house security teams to prevent the hooligans from damaging the stations and posing any threat,” adds George Mensah.

“To be honest, there’s quite a few guarding companies who have had the opportunity to pursue assignments like this one at the local level but they haven’t done so,” continues Mensah, whose company has been providing guarding services at Piccadilly and Manchester Victoria Stations for the past 12 months as part of additional contracts.

“Security companies need to start asking themselves what they can do for the police, not what the police and Local Authorities can do for them. Our contract with the client and working relationship with BTP isn’t a multi-million pound ‘special’, but what it is doing is laying the foundations for the UK security and policing landscape of tomorrow. That’s what makes it very special to all of us who are involved with the project.”

Developing the security agenda

“Complementary policing will not work if a rough and ready approach is adopted. All parties involved must believe in it,” stresses Martyn Ripley. “The security companies we work with must display the highest levels of integrity. The relationship is working and is paying dividends for us, but we don’t want a situation where there are too many cooks spoiling the broth. Too many private sector partners would make for a policing environment that could be difficult to control.”

Ripley adds: “We need proper licensing in place, which thankfully is now on its way through the Security Industry Authority. The background checks [of security personnel] are key. If they’re solid, and the communication lines are open, then you’re on to a winner.”

Above all, complementary policing must be seen to be transparent and open. Integrity and accountability are the main factors involved, it seems. “There hasn’t been a radical shakedown of the police service on this scale for years,” adds Ripley. “We’re on the cusp of changing the way in which the police service operates for the next decade and beyond.”

The reputation of the private security industry has been damaged by concerns about poor service delivery and criminal behaviour involving drugs, intimidation and violence. We’ve reached a stage where there’s a tangible need to ensure that only well-trained and reliable people work in positions of trust.

With this truism firmly in mind, Home Office mandarins should take a long, hard look at the BTP’s alliance with Noble Security Services.