As The Security Industry Equips Itself To Meet New Threats, One Element Remains Crucial: Human Effort

The business of keeping people safe is growing. As threats grow more sophisticated, security personnel must do more than control access and patrol the area. They must leverage training, procedures, insight, intuition and technology to make quick, informed decisions. To reach that level of service, one aspect of the job ties everything together: human effort.

Admiral Security, a security company headquartered in D.C. with offices throughout the Northeast, considers finding the right people for the job a part of the improvement process.

After vetting applicants through an interview more detailed than a standard background check, the company places its new recruits through a rigorous training process. The courses emphasize learning over the memorization of rote details. Admiral also pulls from an extensive catalog of professional development courses for all levels of employees, and incorporates opportunities with Homeland Security and numerous law enforcement agencies to enhance professional development.

Admiral’s commitment to attracting quality people is a top-down effort. Executive Vice President George Vincent and Vice President of Corporate Operations Leon Beresford bring years of experience to Admiral’s clients and serve as valuable resources for the company. Keith Williams, former director of the Metropolitan Police Department’s Office of Risk Management, also recently joined the team as vice president of support services, adding to Admiral's knowledgeable management staff. 

Williams supervises the Training and Development, Quality Assurance, Compliance and Special Services departments, leveraging 27 years with the Metropolitan Police Department and a doctorate of philosophy degree in justice, law and criminology, and public administration from American University to ensure delivery of service.

He is also an adjunct professor at the George Washington University Institute of Police Science and Safety & Security Leadership Programs and has presented before the United States Department of Justice and the International Association of Chiefs of Police. His teaching specialties of strategic planning, leadership and ethics add value to Admiral’s internal workforce development training, and his belief in providing clear expectations and consistent follow-through works to strengthen the organization’s mission alignment.

Williams' new position at Admiral represents the company’s growing commitment to public-private partnerships. These working relationships allow the team to share resources and information.  

Finding and building up the right people is just one part of the plan. Admiral works with technology to help find the best procedures for protecting citizens and keeping clients informed. TrackTik, Admiral's management app, provides real-time acknowledgement of escalation orders in the event of emergencies.

Security officers can generate detailed and accurate patrol data, and Admiral and its clients have real-time GPS tracking during the entire shift. Documentation of security and maintenance activity is maintained, which can help reduce risk, liability and cost.  

Smartphone technology provides clients with robust information needed to reduce risks and improve safety procedures.

Admiral's people, training philosophy and technology all came together for its greatest test this past January on Inauguration Day.

Admiral started prepping for the event in October of last year. A market majority shareholder providing physical security services to commercial Class-A properties in the Downtown D.C. market, the company deploys security guards to over 100 buildings that were along the planned Inauguration route. Expecting protest activities and heightened unrest, the company needed a plan.

Admiral utilized close relationships with public agencies and law enforcement to ensure staff received updated and accurate information about planned events and ones that were less predictable. Admiral went as far as to embed operatives into the protests, who together with social media feeds provided live reporting to keep the team aware of events surrounding the inauguration.

This multilevel coordination enabled the team to secure an entire portfolio by leveraging its people and technology.

Inauguration Day was Admiral’s Super Bowl, but the lessons learned from that event can be applied to any security situation. Supervisors and officers reported the preparation and training they did would help them respond to snowstorms and other emergency conditions. Going through the process allowed team efficiency to increase during operations, while minimizing property damage and receiving feedback about Admiral’s efforts.

As private security grows, it is that level of detail and continued education that will keep property and the people inside safe. 

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