Security is something that most event organizers think about at the last minute. They get sorted out the catering, the venue, and the entertainment first! Then the event date draws near, and somebody starts worrying about security for it. That last-minute thing is where you most likely do something wrong.
Event security is more than a couple of guards standing at the door. It includes crowd flow, ingress and egress points, emergency pre-plan to respond to a specific incident, or VIP protocol at large-scale events where real-time communication among the officers is needed. That whole operation acts as a house of cards, and if some of that cardboard goes missing, the game is up. The ramifications can be as small as incidents and, in some cases, big liability problems for the organizer.
Hiring Based on Price Alone
This is probably the most common event security error. Organizers ask a few people for bids, take the one with the lowest price, and manage to finish the task without it being done. What they often get instead are unlicensed guards, no supervision to speak of, and not an ounce of accountability if something goes sideways.
Guards in California must have a guard card since it is a requirement enforced by the Bureau of Security Investigative Services (BSIS). Texas, Arizona, and New York have similar licensing requirements. An armed security company that cannot verify state-level licensing for all officers they send out is a liability not a solution. The moral of the story is that you always need to verify before signing anything.
Ignoring the Pre-Event Planning Phase
The preparation for good event security starts weeks before the actual event. The incident commander should conduct a walk-through of the venue, review entry and exit points, determine necessary staffing ratios using attendance projections, and establish a communication protocol between officers all prior to event day.
Officers arrive on the day with no proper brief if this phase is skipped by security companies. They lack an understanding of which entrances are priority zones, the identity of VIP guests, the locations of first aid stations, and other aspects of a given area’s evacuation protocol. This preparation gap comes into play almost immediately when a crowd begins to move.
Everything is Not the Same
A corporate trade show and a live concert present vastly different security challenges. We go to hotels for galas and for multi-day conventions that are not. There are different crowd behavior, risk, and staffing needs for each event type.
Discreet officers who can melt into the surroundings and who don’t set the guests on edge are needed for hotels and resorts. Clearly visible crowd management and rapid response capability for concerts or festivals. Corporate events require badge check and vendor management. A one-size-fits-all security provider is not good enough because it will often leave gaps in your coverage depending on the type of event you are running.
Overlooking Officer Training Standards
No, all guards are not trained the same. Other companies have a brief orientation and send the officers to work. What you really want when you’re dealing with a hospitality or event environment is someone skilled in guest relations, conflict de-escalation, emergency response, crowd dynamics, and incident report writing.
Officer preparedness guidance for live events published by the Event Safety Alliance. When you have to engage in CPR and AED when someone collapses in a crowd of hundreds, the certification is important. Question any potential security provider about the certifications of their officers. If it is a wishy-washy answer, then that should tell you all you need to know.
There Was No Real-Time Supervision of the Event
It is a wretched scene that occurs more often than it should. An incident occurs in a corner of one venue. The nearest officer radios in. Nobody picks up. No one is supervising on the ground. It escalates, and before anyone with any power to affect its resolution even knows it happened.
Command-level supervision for all but the very smallest of events is a standard feature of the most professional security operations. This translates to a field commander, GPS tracking of officer locations, immediate incident reporting, and an internal line to a command center. Absent that structure, you are hoping nothing goes wrong; you are not actively preventing it.
Underestimating Crowd Management Complexity
Crowd management is indeed a discipline in itself. There are many other elements to take into consideration: queue behavior, entry bottlenecks, thresholds of capacity based on floor plans, emergency egress times for the different spaces in your building, and human behavior as a collective when placed under pressure! Not only venue staff, but Event Security also needs to comply with the National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA 101) Life Safety Code when it comes to occupancy and egress.
Crowd management is a consideration when you are well prepared, and nothing goes wrong, which results in lines that do not budge, entry points that get crushed, undersized, and a lack of contingency for emergencies, leading crowds to surge. Crowd flow design that needs to be built into the security plan before doors open.
Knowledge Around Your Event Type
Security should never be seen as something separate from the guest experience. Officers are not identified to the guests, thorough training and strong supervision ensure officers execute a plan in such a way that guests remain unaware of any need for security presence and therefore safe. And therein lies the rub.
The mistakes above are fixable. The bulk of them boils down to getting the right provider involved early in the planning so that you can actually get security for your event squared away.
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