Lodge Service offers a community-based security service that substantially reduces the risk of crime and the cost of security protection for both public and private spaces. Our community wardens and business district support officers are available onsite to support local authorities as well as residential and commercial property owners and occupiers throughout the UK.
The community service ensures a safer, more secure environment for people to live, visit and work in, with improved community relations, through the reassuring presence on site of uniformed officers. It provides a prompt response to any incident, whether it is a health and safety, public nuisance or potentially criminal issue.
Our service reduces the time and cost of your existing staff having to respond to and manage anti-social and crime situations. This boosts staff safety, confidence and retention. Lodge Service personnel are trained to work with and support site visitors and occupiers, with courtesy, sensitivity and an understanding of UK law as it relates to this role.
Our SIA-compliant security officers can patrol the designated area to be protected, 24-7 or during opening or other times as you require. We can usually change rotas with as little as 24 hours’ notice. In the event of an incident where a warden is not present, service users can simply call Lodge Service for the nearest patrolling officers to visit the scene and provide immediate support.
This can include engaging with people present at the scene, providing first aid, collecting evidence and managing contact with the emergency services where required. Our teams will report on any losses or damage and can temporarily secure a property where physical security has been compromised, for example as a result of a broken door or window.
Onsite contact is managed through the Lodge Service national Intelligence Centre, where CCTV and alarm systems can be monitored and managed centrally. The service includes notifying your managers of an incident and despatching our security officers and service teams out of hours.
The Role of Community Wardens
Lodge Service wardens patrol designated areas and provide a reassuring presence, to both prevent and respond to anti-social behaviour incidents and report a crime to the police and any environmental issues to the council or other authorities. The service can include issuing fixed penalty notices for litter, graffiti and dog fouling and checking that empty properties are safe and secure.
Through their regular presence in the locality, our wardens can support older and vulnerable people in the area, get involved in community activities, visit schools and attend community and resident meetings. Wardens can share information with agencies such as the police, community groups, social landlords and tenants’ associations.
Lodge Service wardens are recruited and trained with relevant skills, including knowledge of public safety and security issues, and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations and work cooperatively with other people and agencies. Skillsets also include paying attention to detail on-site and active listening, as well as customer service skills and the ability to carry out relevant tasks on a computer or hand-held device.
Pioneering Wardens Scheme In Accrington Cuts Vandalism
Lodge Service has been at the forefront in the development of the role of community wardens and Police community support officers (PCSOs) through its Guardhall division. We ran a pioneering scheme from 1994 for three years with Hyndburn Council, Accrington, called the ‘Hyndburn Community Safety Warden Scheme’, funded by an EU grant.
Guardhall provided eight wardens to work closely with the local Police. We operated a dedicated radio network, which included retailers in the neighbourhood and the council, managed through our intelligence centre in Accrington.
The Community Safety Warden Scheme, which was featured on BBC’s Crimebeat programme, was inspired by a visit to a similar programme in Holland. Following its introduction and the installation of CCTV cameras, vandalism in the town centre fell by 50 per cent. Police forces from all over the country visited to see how it worked.
Funding for the programme ran out, but councils, the police and other interested organisations were able to learn a lot from this pioneering project in Accrington. With the advances in communications technology since then, there is an opportunity for communities all around the country to benefit from using Lodge Service wardens today.
“It’s a fast, responsive service which is highly cost-effective, especially when businesses, property owners or others share the investment. It can transform a retail or residential area, to cut crime and boost trade and the quality of life,” says Darren Conway, Group Strategy Director for Lodge Service.