Fewer Police Officers at Glastonbury? The Service that Promises to Achieve Just that

A private policing service has launched with a mission statement to help event organisers cut policing costs, keep the public safe and prevent crime.

Launched at the Event Production Show at Olympia, Definitive Event Policing (DEP) is intended to supplement, rather than replace, regular security services – although its founders believe in some circumstances it could serve as a complete subsitute. The founders are hoping that everything from sports events to festivals like Glastonbury will at the very least require fewer regular police officers on site at a time of constrained police budgets.

A regular police officer costs on average more than £60 an hour. DEP claims its officers will cost up to half as much.

The service was officially launched by Director David Boswell, an experienced security professional who entered the field with an exemplary record in the Armed Forces Household Cavalry Lifeguard Regiment.

Photo: Paul Holloway under CC3.0

“This is an exciting time for Definitive Event Policing – and the response to our launch has been incredibly encouraging,” says Boswell. “It has taken many years of hard work and investment to get to this point, building relationships within the events industry and of course with police forces too.

“During that time we identified a real need in the industry for an alternative service to that provided by police at festivals, a service which they perform extremely professionally but which places a strain on police resources and which of course has cost implications for organisers.

“There will always be some events which require a police input but with DEP this requirement can now be considerably reduced, providing cost-saving advantages for event organisers.”

Boswell claims that DEP stands apart from conventional stewarding and security companies because of a regularly updated, intense training programme and a partnership with former senior police officers Allan Binks and Martin Greaves.

Binks, a former Inspector with Greater Manchester Police and trainer at the College of Policing, provides strategic input and shares his vast experience of commanding major events.

Greaves, meanwhile, spent 30 years in the police force, leading on self-defence, arrest and restraint for the Association of Chief Police Officers. He was also previously a training manager for the Metropolitan Police at Hendon and is now entrusted with the DEP training programme.

“Having Allan and Martin on board as consultants is vital to the DEP offering,” says Boswell. “Our training is the best in the business and far in advance of anything normally offered to security staff, especially as our officers undergo refresher courses every year.”

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