What Security Guards Need to Know About Crowd Control
Crowd control is often one of the key tasks that security guards are called in to undertake. Crowds can become dangerous, even under the best of circumstances, because accidents are more likely to happen when lots of people are packed tightly together. It is up to security guards to try to keep the peace and to try to keep everyone safe and sound. If you’re going to be doing any crowd control as part of your job, there are a few key things to know:
- Crowd management strategies: If you’re in control over a group of people, you need to be effective at getting the crowd to listen and to respond to you. Pay attention to the crowd type and monitor the environment carefully in order to implement the best crowd management technique for the particular situation. The goal is to keep interactions with the crowd positive and to deliver a high level of customer satisfaction while keeping the environment secure.
- Intervention guidelines: Sometimes, it is best for security personnel not to intervene at all. In other situations, however, the behavior of the crowd will cross the line and security guards will have to take a more active role in restoring order. You need to know when and why intervention may become necessary and what type of steps to take when you must intervene.
- Best practices for customer satisfaction. Your job is to support the lawful right of assembly and make sure everyone in the crowd is safe. To do this, you need to know best practices followed by security personnel for providing crowd control in varying situations.
