Bike Patrols Gaining Ground

With the price of gas going through the roof, many private security and law enforcement agencies are turning to bike patrols to help stay within budget while still having a presence and providing patrols. Here are some highlights of results from a national survey by the International Police Mountain Bike Association:

• 26% of departments provide bike-specific firearms training

• 16% of departments provide bike-specific defensive tactics training

• 60% don't ride year-round

• 80% of respondents hadn’t been injured while on bike patrol – of those injured, only 6% were worse than a muscle sprain

IPMBA recommends a series of training sessions related specifically to bike patrol officers. Visit IPMBA.org for training sessions and other bike patrol information.

New Orleans
Private Patrol
Louis Gurvich, President

New Orleans Private Patrol will soon be celebrating 80 years in the contract security business. It provides armed and unarmed security officers, in-house investigative and detective services, loss prevention training, personnel screening, data protection and other services. NOPP's cache of equipment includes metal detectors, vehicle inspection mirrors, flood lights, traffic control equipment, generators and personal safety equipment. It handles security for port customers as well as schools, healthcare facilities, retail stores and malls, financial institutions, office buildings, manufacturing facilities and other industries. New Orleans Private Patrol was founded by S.C. Gurvich, a former FBI investigator, and it continues to employ former federal, state and local law enforcement officers.

Q: Why is it important for your officers to be in uniform and look professional?
The law requires that the officers be wearing the uniform that is on file with the state regulatory agency. But looking professional is important for three reasons. First, the image is important to the customer. The customer image is largely predicated on the security officer’s appearance, so it’s a sales tool. Second, the criminal element is less likely to attack a site or an individual when an officer is clearly present. Third, it has to do with the guard’s own personal perception of himself. The better they feel about their appearance, the better their morale and performance.

Q: NOPP uses custom uniforms from Unitex Direct. Why was having custom uniforms important to you?
The generic uniform looks precisely that - generic. We work hard to distinguish our company by performance, so we also want to distinguish our officers by sight.

Q: The security industry averages about 200% annual turnover, while a majority of your officers have been with NOPP for a year or more. What do you attribute this sharp contrast to?
We try to select the right officer for each post. It's the old "round peg, round hole" situation. Some individuals are more suited to, say, a concierge position and others function much better in a rough-and-tumble patrol situation. Putting the right mindset and skill set into the right position goes a long way towards reducing turnover.

Q: Tell us what effect Hurricane Katrina had on your business.
Hurricane Katrina was a unique event in recent American history because the scale of devastation was so great. Not only was there tremendous initial devastation, but because the city remained flooded, it took several weeks before cleanup operations could even begin. In the immediate aftermath our business was devastated, although we manned nine facilities right through the storm and there was virtually no business interruption because our headquarters was transferred to our Baton Rouge branch office within a day. But shortly thereafter, business began booming as our customers began cleaning up their facilities and resuming operations. We experienced a 50% increase in business which continues to this day, even though we are now three years post-Katrina, because so much recovery and rebuilding activity is ongoing.

Q: During your company's almost 80-year history, what are the major changes you've seen in the security industry?
The biggest changes since I've been around are computer scheduling, and we're steadily seeing more and more interface between the human and electronic elements of security.

Q: What unique challenges do you face because of your location in Louisiana and the Gulf Coast?
That's easy, hurricanes! We’re constantly planning for the next hurricane, storm-proofing our housing facilities, and developing different communications modalities. We no longer purchase company vehicles which can’t ford at least 16 inches of water. We also offer planning assistance and consulting in hurricane preparedness to our customers. We're always coordinating their plans with our plans. It's an ongoing effort, and hopefully we're getting better and better at it.

Supreme Court's D.C. Ruling Spurs Other Lawsuits

In the wake of the Supreme Court's late June ruling striking down handgun restrictions in Washington D.C., the National Rifle Association and other advocate organizations have filed numerous lawsuits challenging other cities' and states' gun laws. Suits were filed in Chicago, San Francisco, and other cities challenging laws limiting gun ownership and/or possession. The cases were filed within hours of the Supreme Court's ruling, which stated that D.C.'s prohibition of handgun ownership was unconstitutional but still upheld certain other restrictions like prohibiting possession in schools or government buildings. As more cities and states review their gun laws, all security agencies will need to keep abreast of changes, which may impact how officers approach security situations. We'll continue to cover major changes in this Unitex Direct newsletter.

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Border Patrol Employs New Recruiting Methods

The U.S. Border Patrol has been challenged to find 10,000 additional officers to meet its Congressionally mandated quota by 2009. One of the ways it's trying to boost its applicants is to man booths at events like NASCAR races and bull riding competitions. The U.S. Border Patrol is even sponsoring NASCAR cars in some races to help spread its image to a new audience of potential agents. And in the economy with so many people out of work, it looks like the new recruiting scheme is paying off. At some events, the line in front of the Border Patrol booth stretches longer than any other sponsor and can have applicants waiting an hour of more to talk to a representative. It's this kind of out-of-the-box thinking that may help boost your applicant pool for open officer positions.

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