Monday 8 July 2013 was something of a Red Letter Day for security guarding in the UK, but you wouldn’t have been overly cognisant of the fact unless you happened to be watching Channel 4 at 9:00 p.m.
Series 5, Episode 2 of the broadcaster’s Undercover Boss — in which company executives go undercover to witness first-hand what’s going on in their businesses — featured Geoff Zeidler, country president and UK and Ireland managing director at Securitas.
Following Securitas’ 2011 acquisitions of Reliance and Chubb, Zeidler wanted to learn what life is really like for his frontline staff during one of the worst spells of economic recession ever to hit the UK.
What ensued was not only a seriously engaging hour-long documentary, but also a thought-provoking exercise bringing key topics to the fore.
An engineering graduate of the University of Cambridge, Geoff left the comfort of the Boardroom for five days and — under the fictitious persona of Dale James, an unemployed engineer looking for a career change — worked alongside Securitas’ frontline officers. Those officers wouldn’t recognise him, he hoped, once he’d grown a beard and shaved his head.
Securing the night-time economy
First port of call was a waterside development of bars in Manchester. Geoff met with Mo and Mario (former employees of Reliance). Over two decades, they’ve been threatened by people brandishing firearms, slashed with knives, and “glassed” by thugs toting broken bottles.
Geoff swapped his suit for a metal-plated vest and, alongside the duo, attempted to control aggressive drunks and impromptu street brawls. Not his usual habitat, and one that, by his own admission, was “very frightening”.
Next stop was The Priory Shopping Centre in Dartford. Here, instances of attempted theft and anti-social behaviour crop up. Geoff was put to the test by security manager Julie, who asked him to confront a six-foot giant banned from the site — the man concerned was acting out the role — before informing Securitas’ UK leader that she regularly works 14-hour days (many beginning before 5:00 a.m.), finds it difficult to cover all shifts due to lack of bodies, and that her own life outside of work is suffering as a result. Not a great picture.
Then it was off to Cirencester, where Geoff pitched up in front of Charles and Carl looking for mobile patrol work. Alas, the eagle-eyed duo rumbled Geoff’s disguise thanks to a photo of “The Real Mr. Zeidler” immediately behind him on their office wall, but agreed to keep quiet.
Geoff ventured out on night patrol with James, one of four officers who check up on 500-plus properties. James had to buy his own torch because the one with which he’d been supplied didn’t cut it. He’d also negotiated a new GB pound 25,000 contract for Securitas to monitor three warehouses, but there was no commission in place for him.
Incidents in the transport sector
To round off the whole experience, Geoff dropped in on Dewsbury Bus Station (a long-term contract for Securitas). The station resides in a racially diverse town where one-third of residents come from an ethnic background.
Dave — one of the officers on duty — was quizzed by Zeidler, who learned of security staff having to cope with (among other things) drunks who threaten them, attempted headbuttings, and instances of racial abuse.
At the end of the programme, Geoff — by now angry with what he has seen — admits who he is and acts fast. Mo and Mario are granted extra CCTV, and Julie additional officers. James is paid his commission (and issued with a new torch). Dave receives GB pound 500 to donate to local charities, while consideration is afforded to alterations for Basic Job Training on the site that will improve aspects of communication.
How frontline security officers are viewed and treated — by their employers, their employers’ customers, and society at large — matters, and massively so. As this programme amply demonstrated, those officers do a fantastic job day in and day out, often under immensely trying circumstances. They absolutely deserve to be wholly respected by the society they protect.
Channel 4, Securitas, and Geoff Zeidler merit much praise for producing this programme. We desperately need more prime time documentaries centred on security’s frontline. Maybe then we can banish forever the tired, cliched, and erroneous views of security guarding that have no place in today’s world.
It has helped security officers be better understood by senior management who are not out in the field on a weekly to monthly basis.
We have shown the programme to clients as an example of business good practice.
Kudos to Geoff Zeidler @SecuritasUK for taking part in the series.
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Andrew Wallace @Andrew Wallace on Twitter.
This video has helped to sell the good and hard work of some of our dedicated security staff go through to secure our lives and properties. I was delighted when the government officially accepted security as part apprenticeship programmes
“It has helped security officers be better understood by senior management who are not out in the field on a weekly to monthly basis.” I think this has farther reaching hooks than we might realize at first. The company had “acquired” all of these security personnel through mergers and acquisitions but they really had no idea what was happening at the street level. I think that this is a great example of how eye opening it can be for executives when they hit the floor and see how the business is actually being run. The fact that he found… Read more »
This really gives people an idea of what our security officers face day to day. I hope it serves to raise the awareness of not only the types of things that are faced on the job but also the mentality of people looking at it because really these individuals often face a lot and get compensated very little.
Kudos, indeed. In my view, this should be an activity that senior company staff take part in at least once every few years. If they can see the impact their board-level decisions and actions make from the perspective of those on the ground they are in a much better position to make the right decision. It’s easy just to look at bottom lines, but they don’t paint the whole picture, as this show demonstrated.
One thing I didn’t really appreciate is that the security officers have a duty to intercept an incident before it escalates to Police involvement for licensing reasons. That piece of knowledge adds a significant level of context.
@Robert Brown: Why do you feel that it is wrong ? Don’t you think that it is something which might help to solve a conflict before it gets worse and harm the reputation of the organization ?
Sorry, by ‘appreciate’ I meant ‘realise’. I didn’t realise that was part of their job. Think it makes sense that it is.
It’s a viable career choice, not just a job, after all.
It is job and a profession too leading to self actualisation for some people.
One thing that interests me, subsequent to your point, is that Ziedler clearly knew that everything was not going to be up to his standards, otherwise he wouldn’t have been interested in taking part in the programme. So, presumably, Securitas will have already been prepared to invest in new equipment and improved business practices to help the new staff they acquired.
I agree that he probably had some idea that there were gaps in needed equipment and training but it sounds like he learned just how bad things really were. This was a great exercise so that they can see where they need to spend that money rather than guessing. By doing this the changes they implement will be much more effective.
could not agree more, interesting point, in the Army my commanding officer use to say… to know the security whole(weak point) in the defence you need to see it from the soldier point of view… same rule apply to security…
According to his ` Linked in ` profile , Geoff Zeidler left Securitas in June 2013 … one wonders why ?
One also wonders if the promises he made to Securitas staff during the Channel 4 ` Undercover Boss ` programme have , in fact , been fulfilled ?
Of further concern is how the ficticious ` Mr . Dale James ` managed to obtain an SIA Photo ID Badge … did the SIA sanction this ` Deception ` ???
Ineresting, you’re right, according to Linkedin he has left. Wasn’t aware of that.
The last point about the ‘fake’ SIA badge as his alter-ego is also a really good point. I’ll see if the SIA allowed it in order to facilitate the positive coverage of the work of security officers generally.
Malcolm, I’ve had another look at the programme, and I can’t see an SIA badge on display. It may be that he was technically there as an observer — as he was observing the officers at work rather than restraining people himself.
… take another look Rob :
1 ) @ 04 : 30 into programme we see a close up of an SIA Badge with a clear photo of Geoff ( aka Dale James ) .
2 ) @ 11 : 05 & 11 : 44 , Geoff / Dale James has an SIA Badge attached to the Right Side of his waist belt ! He is also previously seen working alone and engaging with a member of the public … this would appear to be ` Licensable Activity ` ?
… A statement from the SIA is therefore required !
Statement from the SIA as follows: The SIA worked with the TV production company on Undercover Boss. We felt it was important to highlight to a prime time national audience the daily challenges, difficulties, and often hostility, faced by front-line security operatives. Geoff Zeidler took the frontline training, attained his qualification, and applied for an SIA licence using his real name (Geoffrey Zeidler). The licence was granted and is still active and appears on our public register of licence holders. The SIA also issued Geoff with a second licence in the name of Dale James. The SIA was aware of… Read more »
Pretty thorough response, I’d say. Appreciate the SIA getting back to us on this. I agree, personally, that the exposure makes it all worth it.