Steve Barber from Norwich has worked as a doorman for the vast majority of his career, from the age of 18 he has held a number of roles, before starting his own business in the industry.
Mr Barber says he has done and seen it all; from witnessing the destructive power of alcohol on man to living the boisterous lifestyle of the popular doorman!
He admitted the frontline can be frightening. The role often went beyond protecting people and venues, where door men and women were often asked for emergency help. One of Mr Barber’s employees were actually one of the first on the scene after a recently reported car park stabbing of David Hastings on Rose Lane.
Mr Barber and his colleagues were often what he has described as, the “fourth emergency service”, on heavy toll nights, responding to local authority requests.
“You do get a real sense of achievement from it, and in the city it’s like being the fourth emergency service sometimes,” – Mr Barber
With terror attacks on the rise, the need for private security is increasing in countries around the globe. A rise in crime in the UK and a drop in police numbers has seen residents and businesses in one part in Leicestershire take up crime-fighting.
It came as Leicestershire Police struggled with a drop in numbers since 2010 and a proposed more to follow, the citizens of Melton Borough decided to pay private security firms to take on the task of policing their streets.
And since then has become a growing trend in more than one part of the country.
The Police force has not officially worked with the private security and has been coherent in endorsing such practice in the future.
One police chief even saying “As a force our policy is not to endorse or validate the work of any private company.”
With this adverse attitude reflecting the majority of the force it could be hindering itself (especially in todays climate) from catching up to its overseas compatriots.
Moreover, this year we saw Scotland Police collaborate with the Security Industry Authority (SIA), unrolling a pilot program called “You Can Act” where security guards were shown how they could be prepared for such attacks like that of Manchester and London Bridge.
A step curated by the UK’s National Counter Terrorism Security Office together with the National Counter Terrorism Policing Headquarters which looks like an approach in integrating the security roles.
