City Centre Patrols for Salisbury City Council

Salisbury is a medieval cathedral city in Wiltshire. It was named one of the world's Top 10 cities to visit by Lonely Planet in 2015.

With its historic streets and architecture, in peak shopping seasons over 40,000 people can descend on the city centre. A popular retail market run by the council is also held in the Market Place twice-weekly, comprising of around 90 stalls offering various items, including hot food and farm produce.

Anti-social behaviour in the city centre

Like many towns and cities, Salisbury city centre has a long-standing issue with anti-social behaviour, including individuals drinking in public, making excessive noise and being intimidating, aggressive or abusive to residents and visitors. This has led to an order being put in place that allows the council to prevent people from drinking in public.

Following a competitive tender and having conducted a two-week research project, Venture security officers now conduct daily patrols of the city centre.

Fully trained and SIA licensed security officers

Venture’s security officers patrol the city centre and surrounding streets, including the busy Market Place, Guildhall Square and nearby area of green space. They do so 7-days a week, between the hours of 10am – 6pm, allowing for some flexibility around public events and market days.

The security officers are fully licensed and trained to deal with conflict. They have also been trained in mental health first aid and have access to a list of support organisations.

Every officer is smartly dressed and provided with a uniform. They do not look like police officers but are clearly identifiable as fulfilling an enforcement role. This not only works as a deterrent but offers peace of mind to visitors, who can see a visible security presence.

Each uniform has a body-worn video camera attached, which ensures evidence is recorded and can be provided to the police whenever necessary. They also use two-way radios to communicate and carry a SkyGuard SOS button for their own safety and have the backing of an office-based support team behind them at all time.

At the end of each shift, officers submit an electronic report of any occurrences, plus any incident reports from the day. Each week, these are collated and sent to Salisbury Council before a weekly meeting takes place between Venture, the council and a representative of the police.

The result

The positive effect of the patrols was quick to be realised, with a difference seen within just a couple of days. The scheme continues to receive praise from retailers, residents, the council and local police force alike.

The number of reported incidents has lowered dramatically and Venture has received a number of positive comments from the council, local businesses and residents, detailing how much things have improved. This includes:

“The guys have been unbelievably proactive and constantly visible to those of us in local businesses. I have watched them preventing street drinking and anti-social behaviour on the bench right outside. I would happily attribute some of the enhanced summer trade we are experiencing to the good work done by Venture Security. Long may it continue.”

“We just wanted to send a quick email to express how grateful we are for the Security team….We just want to say a big thank you and we hope their good work continues as it has made a massive difference to us and the community”

For more details about Venture and to discuss how our expert security services could benefit you, please call us for a free, no obligation chat, on: 01264 391538