IBSSA official publication 2006Controlling hundreds of thous<strong>and</strong>sThe practice of securing eventsWho has not seen hundreds of thous<strong>and</strong>s of peoplecovering the place, madly cheering pop starts? Whocannot list sports event where 50-80,000 fanatic footballfans give voice to disagreement with the referee’sdecision? In some places, the crowds are controlled byprofessional work; in others, things may turn into atragedy. Our magazine asked the professional managerof Hungary’s largest event security companyIn-Kal <strong>Security</strong> to summarise the basic concepts,principals <strong>and</strong> rules along which they work.When organising <strong>and</strong> ensuring security forevents, some basic concepts <strong>and</strong> professional<strong>and</strong> legal regulations have to be made clear to beable to work smoothly <strong>and</strong> successfully.We talk about an event when some sports,cultural, political or social event or gathering isheld organised by some structured community,association, public or civil organisation or privateindividual, where different people meet forsome purpose just for once, periodically or on aconstant basis.Event security means the total of measures<strong>and</strong> activities taken to ensure smooth realisationof the event <strong>and</strong> to protects the life <strong>and</strong> propertyof the participants.In retrospect it can be seen that privatebodyguards <strong>and</strong> security services have emergeddirectly before the political regime changeamong Hungarian security businesses <strong>and</strong> haveundergone a stage of quick development concurrentlywith privatisation after the politicalregime change.The role of politics in the development ofthese security servicesThe situation after the democratic transformationplayed <strong>and</strong> important role in the quickdevelopment of event security as a branch ofservices, when the political change started totake place in Hungary together with the socalledstreet politics that accompanied it. Thismade it absolutely necessary to provide modern<strong>and</strong> efficient event security, which was notbased on violence. At the same time, in furtherdevelopment of the experience gained the developmentof event security as a branch of securityservices started, <strong>and</strong> has emerged as one of theleading branches of the trade by today.Ever since events have been held, there hasalways been a need for supervisors, organisers ora staff or organisers whose traditional, “classical”organisational tasks have not changed.Today, the events that accommodate hundredsof thous<strong>and</strong>s of people regardless of their characteror purpose cannot make do without thewell-trained professionals who are prepared toensure that the event runs smoothly <strong>and</strong> theparticipants are not disturbed.The role of private security services (organisers)will never be the same as the police’s lawenforcement role, partly due to their powers <strong>and</strong>partly due to the lack of authorisation grantedin legislation.<strong>Security</strong> services may perform their tasks onthe basis of <strong>and</strong> in compliance with the provisionsof Act IV of 1998; they are not lowenforcers but only civilian organisers performingtraditional organiser tasks.Based on the current regulations, there mustbe at least 1 organiser employed per 100 participantsat the event.Private security services may not take over thepolice’s role at events as the powers of securityguards are limited <strong>and</strong> do not include statutorypowers; <strong>and</strong> the other h<strong>and</strong>, in the course of performinga task jointly with a police officer, theyenjoy increase legal protection as a person supportingam official person, <strong>and</strong> control powersare also increased.Co-operation between private securityservices <strong>and</strong> the police is indispensable whenensuring the security of events. The tasks of privatesecurity services cannot be rigidly distinguishedfrom police tasks at the entrances to theevent venue. Where hundreds or thous<strong>and</strong>s ofparticipants are present, the behaviour of thecrowd needs to be controlled – within the20
IBSSA official publication 2006framework defined by law – <strong>and</strong> compliance withthe conditions for participation must be ensured.It is necessary to have a police officer takingpart in the work, who may take the measures<strong>and</strong> follow the procedures of a required extent,exercising his powers, such as:– security services may not take away prohibitedequipment or items particularly dangerousfor public security from participant; instead,they may refer the person together with theitem to the police officer in order to be able totake further measures,– security guards may not check the identity of,or proceed against, people who commit wilfulv<strong>and</strong>alism but may retain such persons untilthe police officer arrives, after which theypass the person over for the purpose of theprocedure.The basic pillar for successful event security isfair <strong>and</strong> good co-operation with the police <strong>and</strong>organisers in the framework of which tasks areclearly distinguished <strong>and</strong> the extent <strong>and</strong> scope ofresponsibilities is clarified.The purpose of event security is to ensuresmooth realisation of events, to screen <strong>and</strong> keepaway unauthorised persons, to warrant the safetyof persons <strong>and</strong> property of the participants, tosafeguard the event location, to prevent v<strong>and</strong>alism,too protect public area, the environment <strong>and</strong>nature, as well as to prevent any attempts at disorder,harnessing the persons creating disorder <strong>and</strong>to detach <strong>and</strong> remove such persons from the eventwith the help of official persons.As regards the types of events, they may bediverse: cultural, sport, political, economic, militaryExhibits in theHooligan Museum21