City Security Council and City of London Police work on joint patrolling strategy

The joint initiative, which was implemented over the May Bank Holiday weekend, witnessed combined patrols being set up across the City Security Council sites within the Square Mile of London. Approximately 1,000 security officers took part in the exercise and were ably supported by the police who were out in force both on foot and as mounted police officers.

Scott Gough, managing director of City Security Council member security company UniTrust, co-ordinated the initiative and explained to Security Matters: “When lockdown commenced, we reached out to the City Security Council membership to gather data about the number of expected man levels within the Square Mile during the day or night. All members submitted data and we estimated that we have a combined footprint of around 1,000 officers during the day and 750 at night in the City looking after something in the region of 600 premises. We advised the City of London Police of our collective resource so they would know we were ready and available should they require any additional support.”

Gough continued: “The City of London Police alerted us that Extinction Rebellion protests were planned for the May Bank Holiday and this led to a combined high visibility patrolling strategy being set up across the City Security Council sites. Together, we created a sea of security officers and police officers, all of them highly visible and acting as an efficient deterrent for any potential Extinction Rebellion protestors.”

David Ward, chairman of the City Security Council, explained: “This initiative is a great example of why the City Security Council exists in the first place. Working side by side with our competitors and collaboratively with the police to provide a common goal of greater protection for our clients, their assets and the public. This is really what the City Security Council is all about. The private security industry has shown its value as protectors of the City. We are extremely proud of our front line workers who, even in these difficult times, are eager and ready to work in any capacity with the police able to support them. The team co-ordinating this initiative fully deserves the recognition afforded by the City of London Police. We now look forward to further collaborations of this nature.”

Key aims and objectives