If you’re involved in live events, and decide to watch BBC’s Festival Drugs: Meet the Dealers, it makes for uncomfortable viewing. Watching a drug dealer pose as a security guard and walk straight into a major live event in the UK without any form of ID check was horrifying. The man in question didn’t even have a security job at that particular event. He tried his luck with a fake SIA license and clean uniform, and walked straight on through, earning himself £1,000 to move the drugs from A to B and into the hands of dealers waiting inside.
Festival organisers blame the culture of sub-contracting by their security contractors due to the staff shortages in festival season. Some guards blamed low pay and the need to top up their salary. Others were already part of a gang, and had been able to infiltrate the security profession to specifically gain jobs at particular events.
But what was clear was that for these guards being followed by the cameras at least, it was all too easy to do. A great deal of money is usually spent on access control for ticket-holders – perimeter fences, ticket checks, bag searches, sniffer dogs…but what about the people working at these events? The credentials of the guards were not being verified, there was no ID check or access control when they wanted to enter the event, and they seemed free to come and go exactly as they needed.
The outcome? Large amounts of drugs entering the festivals.
We’re working with the likes of IMG, London Fashion Week, Royal British Legion, the BAFTA’s, BRIT Awards, Twickenham and Etihad Stadium to ensure their events are secure. The proper accreditation of contractors and sub-contractors at festivals, concerts and major live events isn’t difficult to do with a little forward planning. Done properly, it gives you an end-to-end solution that collects data and allows organisers the ability to interrogate the information before producing an accreditation badge. It automates and simplifies the labour intensive task of collecting and managing data and documents. It improves operational efficiency and security and saves time and money.
The outcome? You know exactly who is working at your event, you can control where they are meant to be, and you keep people with fake ID out.
It’s worth a watch if you’re involved in live events:
