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Adam Bannister is a contributor to IFSEC Global, having been in the role of Editor from 2014 through to November 2019. Adam also had stints as a journalist at cybersecurity publication, The Daily Swig, and as Managing Editor at Dynamis Online Media Group.
October 21, 2014

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View from the Control Room: Trading Estate Q&A

Jim Mclaughlin Cert Ed MSyI is manager and company secretary for Slough Trading Estate Business Watch, which oversees security at Slough Trading Estate.

As well as running the control room at the Berkshire site Mclaughlin, who spent 13 years in the military and 23 years in the police force, runs out-of-hours security patrols and provides security consultancy to SEGRO Slough Estates Group.

Via a stint assisting the London 2012 security operation this former Chief Inspector started work in Slough in July 2013.

IFEC Global: It’s seems quite common for former military or police officers to transfer to the security world…

Jim McLaughlin: It seems a natural progression, but I’m trying to keep up my continual professional development and at the moment I’m studying for a BTEC Level 5 Diploma in security management.

The industry is full of ex-service personnel and ex-police officers. Sometimes that’s a good thing; sometimes it’s not so good because some of my peers with that experience think they know it all, but they don’t.

There’s a lot to learn. I’ve certainly learnt a lot.

Slough trading estateIG: Are there many transferrable skills from your background in the military and police?

JM: Absolutely. There’s a lot of self-discipline. In the commercial sector you’re working to targets and it gives you the ability to prioritise your time and workload.

If I haven’t got the knowledge to hand I’ll ask people how I should be doing something or how they’d do it.

IG: Going back to your course, was that compulsory for your role or something you thought would be useful?

JM: I just thought it would be useful. When I came out the army I was highly qualified but none of it was transferable to Civvy Street.

There was no equivalent to City and Guilds, which there is now. I thought I might like a security job and I took to it like a duck to water and was quite successful.

I did an NVQ Level 5 in management studies to get some formal qualifications. I’ve got the knowledge and experience and I’m a member of the Security Institute but I just felt I needed that personal development.

IG: The industry certainly seems to be becoming a lot more professionalised…

JM: And so it should be!

IG: Has your role in security been tougher than, or different to, you expected it to be?

JM: At the Olympic project I was part of a small team of three responsible for incident management and training the contracted guard force on the Olympic park. As a former practical firearms commander, bronze public order inspector and CPRN inspector I had a lot of experience in incident management.

During the Games I was duty security manager for the Olympic Park control room too. SEGRO slough estates group obviously wanted an ex-police officer with control room experience.

But what I found most challenging when I came here was accountancy, which was all new to me. My role is about 60% security operations management, 25-30% business development and 10-15% accountancy.

I’ve been in charge of smaller budgets in some of my previous roles, but this is perhaps more difficult.

IG: How large is your team?

JM: I have six CCTV operators with two on duty at any one time and two mobile operators. However, my remote sites have a number of man guarding stuff.

IG: Do you get much crime?

JM: We have a unique partnership with Thames Valley Police since 1994. This estate was in a real crime-ridden area before they started installing CCTV in 2001.

In 2001 there were 875 recorded crimes here on the estate. Last year that figure had fallen to 31, and most of those crimes were committed by people known to the victims, like disgruntled former employees. Returning damaged laptops or mobile phones.

Someone who was fired re-entered the premises, knew where the company’s credit card was and had a spree on that. So there were very few crimes of an acquisitive nature.

We’re one of the few, if not only, control room with our own airwave radio-based station and own call sign with the Thames Valley Police.

We also have a safer neighbourhood team on site and I have a meeting every week with the Sergeant, once a fortnight with the Inspector, and the Superintendent every now and again. It’s all about partnership; you can’t do it on your own.

Intelligence is the big thing. If no one’s giving you any intelligence it’s very difficult for the police to do their job.

And if you haven’t got the confidence in the public, then life is going to be very difficult. It’s a very delicate resource, human intelligence.

IG: What would you say you enjoy most about your role?

JM: I like meeting people. One of the most satisfying jobs in the police was community policing, where you can make a difference to people almost instantly, whereas some of our response colleagues were too busy doing what we call ‘fire brigade policing.

They haven’t much time to deal with victims’ needs, but when as community police you have that bit of extra time.

I think I’ve carried that on into this job, I get to meet clients, try and make a difference.

When I was Chief Inspector for Herefordshire some of the industrial estates were… I wouldn’t say blighted by crime, but there was obviously criminal activity. The council couldn’t afford CCTV and the occupiers weren’t prepared to pay, but because this was private, all the clients pay a service charge for maintaining the cameras so it has a real effect.

I’m a great believer in CCTV, but it’s only as good as its operators at the end of the day.

IG: They’re trialling body-worn cameras in many police forces now of course…

JM: Yes. Where cameras were really effective was domestics. The victim often wouldn’t want to make a complaint for fear of being victims again, but the camera evidence – blood-splattered walls etc –  helped with prosecution.

IG: Have standards of professionalism improved in your opinion?

JM: Yes. I think SIA licensing is a good thing. Professionalising it so you’ve got the right people, with the right skills, in the right place.

As a police officer sometimes you’d get called for a suspicious incident by a security officer who was frightened of his own shadow. He just didn’t have the skills to deal with it.

Then you get the ‘cry wolf’ syndrome, where the police turn up and say ‘Oh, it’s this guy again’, and an incident that requires investigation perhaps won’t get the response that they should.

But a lot of the security companies I’ve had experience with recently, around the Olympic project and others, are excellent, very professional – and that’s the way it should be.

If people are on zero hours contracts, on minimum wage, you’re not always going to attract the best candidates. It doesn’t give a person that confidence that they’re going to have a job to stick to, that if they work hard they’ll get promoted. And I know a lot of security staff on zero hours contracts.

A lot of staff at the Olympics were on zero hour contracts.

IG: And that can only have a detrimental effect on service levels…

JM: Some companies don’t do themselves any favours by being really pedantic, telling customers that if you’re wanting this, you’ll have to apply for this or do that”. Sometimes the customer just wants the job done. All they want is the money, whereas a client wants someone doing the job who actually cares.

IG: I guess security breaches are rare so nine times out of 10 companies like that will get away with it…

JM: Absolutely right. There’s an old saying: if it’s not written down, it hasn’t happened. So if a client asks me to do something I’ll provide documentary evidence that I’ve done it.

Of course, clients would often assume officers are doing things, when perhaps sometimes they’re not. But I’m quite fortunate, my company are excellent.

IG: In terms of upgrading and replacing equipment, what kind of due diligence process do you undertake?

JM: Well I’m quite lucky to work for a security provider who not only provides man guarding, patrols etc,  but also maintains my CCTV.

If it’s the larger stuff I’ll work with the operations manager from SEGRO. We have technical experts to give us advice. Obviously it’s got to be cost-effective, but sometimes the cheapest product is not necessarily the best.

What we’re after is quality. It’s got to provide value for money and do what you want it to do.

There’s no sense in having a Ferrari and putting a Ford engine into it. We’ve got an all-singing, all- dancing DVR after investing half a million pounds last year. Now that’s my body shell. So if the cameras are the engine we want a similar standard.

You get a lot of cheap products claiming to do things that they can’t do, so we get demonstrations and I’ll speak to people with similar equipment. The directors expect me to have done the research and explain why I’ve chosen these ones over the others – and that’s the way it should be.

IG: Who do you report to? How does the management structure work?

I have quarterly board meetings and daily meetings with one of SEGRO’s regional directors. I have an operations meeting once a week with my security account director and operations director for the estate.

On a daily basis we’re working hand in glove so at these management meetings any one of us can say “we think we need this or that”and make a case to get approval from the directors.

If it’s a major change we’ll either wait until the board meeting, once a quarter. For the minor stuff I can just go and explain why and then go and get it.

IG: Is it difficult to make the case for new technology or extra staff?

JM: The difficulty only arises if you don’t really have a need for it. We could all buy things that would be helpful but it’s got to be proportionate to what you’re trying to achieve.

If, for example, I’ve got a particular vulnerability… We had an instance where clients reported finding condoms and needles in the dark areas behind their premises.

So all I did was get the lighting working, which lit up the area, and that was a simple solution.

I’ve got a system of electronic buttons pre-programmed into my software that I put in locations where I think there are vulnerabilities.

If a client said they needed something, I could put one of those buttons on there and I know when my guards are going there, they hit this button on this little electronic pipe and then in the morning I download it, and I can see what time they’ve been, and how many times they’ve been during the night.

So if a client says to me that they’d like some extra tools put somewhere, then in a week’s time I can give them the evidence that we’ve done it. It’s not that I don’t trust them, but as I say, if it’s not written down it hasn’t happened. People like to see things on paper showing that it’s been done.

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