Door Security And The Law

A recent home office report found evidence of doormen, bouncers, security guards or door supervisors dealing in drugs, turning a blind eye to drug-dealing, and receiving cash forletting dealing take place.

Research estimates there are 170,000 door supervisors in England and Wales. Soon all these doormen will have to be licensed and will break the law unless they are wearing a badge to show they have been trained and vetted. Security staff will have to learn about conflict management, first aid and fire safety to qualify for their badge. Anyone with a conviction for an offence of drugs or violence would be automatically excluded from working.

Roles and responsiblities of door supervisors

• Appropriate behaviour of door supervisors
• Civil and criminal law
• Search and arrest procedures
• Drugs awareness
• Recording incidents and crime scene preservation
• Licensing law
• Equal opportunities and discrimination
• Health and safety at work
• Emergency procedures

Communication skills and conflict management

• How to refuse entry
• How to eject in ways to reduce conflict
• Identifying types of incident and how to deal with them
• Understanding the law of arrest

Can security on the door search me?

Bouncers can, by law, search you for weapons and drugs. Clubs have the right to search anyone entering their premises, and must provide searchers of both sexes i.e. women to search women and men to search men. They can refuse entry to anyone who refuses a search but they can only insist on searching outside clothes, pockets or bags. Legally, they can only conduct strip searches and searches inside clothes with your permission in private with an independent witness.

Only police or customs officers have the powers to strip search you without agreement - if a door supervisor searches inside your clothes or performs a strip search without your permission they may be charged with assault. If they find any weapons or drugs they can confiscate them and detain you until the police arrive. Anything else taken from you must be returned to you when you leave. There should be a clearly visible notice displaying the club's searching and complaints policy.

Enforcing the legislation

Clearly, the security industry or some sectors of it are facing a struggle to comply with the new legislation (see top). Industry estimates point to a total of one third of all staff who may not meet the new requirements. In some senses this should not come as a surprise; door supervision is notorious for its casualised workforce and fast labour turnover, indeed in some sectors of the security industry attrition rates of 35% are not uncommon. It will be interesting to see how many more operations there are by enforcement teams to check on compliance with the new law.

In a global atmosphere of increased focus on security, with a recent Mori survey indicating that over 80% of firms spend more on security than they did five years ago, it is clear that casual approaches to staffing in the security industry are no longer appropriate. Door supervision is the face of front-line security for many young people in their leisure time. Hopes have been raised by the new law coming into force that bars and clubs will become safer places for consumers; time will tell if these hopes are realistic.