{"id":12869,"date":"2023-07-04T11:54:42","date_gmt":"2023-07-04T10:54:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/citysecuritymagazine.com\/?p=12869"},"modified":"2023-11-22T15:57:25","modified_gmt":"2023-11-22T15:57:25","slug":"focus-on-a-security-team-the-south-bank-patrol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citysecuritymagazine.com\/security-careers\/focus-on-a-security-team-the-south-bank-patrol\/","title":{"rendered":"Focus on a security team: The South Bank Patrol"},"content":{"rendered":"

Focus on a security team: The South Bank Patrol<\/strong><\/h1>\n

In our regular feature putting the spotlight on front-line security officers, Graham Bassett met up with the PACE<\/a> South Bank Patrol.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>When I\u2008arrived at the South Bank on a bright spring morning, the team was otherwise engaged with Just Stop Oil protesters \u2013 which meant I could spend a bit of time with Umer Khalid, Security Manager for the site; Grant Read, Operations Director; and their client Alex Valenzuela, Director of Place for the South Bank Employers\u2019 Group and find out more about the team which looks after this mammoth security contract. Keeping everyone safe on the South Bank is central to what the South Bank Employers\u2019 Group do, from counter terrorism and crime reduction to community safety. The South Bank Patrol team was established in 2008 and SBEG has been working with PACE since 2018.<\/p>\n

The sheer size, complexity and mix of stakeholders to keep safe is staggering.<\/p>\n

The team looks after an area that covers Lambeth Bridge to Blackfriars Bridge (four bridges) \u2013 plus Waterloo Station.<\/p>\n

Pre-Covid, footfall was around 30m a year (now about 75% of that) looking after 35k employees (which was 50k pre-Covid) in various buildings, including: St Thomas\u2019 Hospital, Imax, National Theatre, Southbank Centre, London Eye, Sea Life Centre, London South Bank University, various hotels, colleges, Coin Street, Jubilee Gardens and residential buildings.<\/p>\n

By nature of such a varied\/sizeable demographic, the team partners with many agencies such as Safer Neighbourhood teams, funded Metropolitan Police officers, Lambeth & Westminster Public Protection, British Transport Police, Lambeth Thames Outreach and Youth Justice Systems, We Are Waterloo BID, The Children\u2019s Railway Charity \u2013 plus numerous client buildings with their own security teams.<\/p>\n

The team has participated in more than twenty training initiative and courses, including SCAN\/ACT, Catastrophic Injuries, County Lines Child Exploitation, Sexual Violence Awareness & Support Skills, CSAS and RNLI training in relation to the Thames.<\/p>\n

As one would expect looking after such a sizeable space, there are daily challenges and although dealt with as \u2018part of the job\u2019 some no doubt would be worthy award nominations. Recent incidents include:<\/p>\n