From: walrus@bessel.umd.edu (Grig Larson)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.fandom
Subject: Re: Police And Conventions
Date: 12 Aug 92 20:54:35 GMT
Organization: Punkadyne Industries(tm)

In article <5512@transfer.stratus.com> jmann@vineland.pubs.stratus.com writes:
>In article <krikket.6023@meltdown.chi.il.us>  
>krikket@meltdown.chi.il.us (D. 'krikket' Krick) writes:
>> And of course COMMUMICATE WITH YOURSELVES!  Get 2 WAY RADIOS of  
>possible!  It's
>> amazing what kind of problems can be headed off if everyone knows  
>EXACTLY what
>> is happening...
>> 
>
>I'm afraid I have to disagree here (I had agreed with much of what
>you had said up till this point).  For years, at Boskone we
>had an "Operations" department that included floor walkers with
>beepers and/or radios.  This resulted in a number of problems:
>
>1.  The existence of an Operations group that was handling
>    "security" created an "it's their job" attitude on the
>     committee.   Committee members would see something wrong
>     and call Operations rather than ever responding themselves.
>
>     When we changed Operations to Services, a big part of the
>     change was telling all the committee that "Services does not
>     roam the halls. You do, while you are doing other things. If
>     you see something wrong, do the right thing.  We can help
>     if you need it. If it is bad, we can call the hotel 
>     security staff.  But it is not our job to come by to tell
>     a group of kids to stop sliding down the bannisters. You 
>     can tell them this."

I am going to have some disagreements here, but let me add that in some
cases, all of this is true. FanTek (EveCon and CastleCon) runs security
as a subgroup within the main group. IE, everyone who needs to be contacted
at a moment's notice will carry a headset or radio. Intolerance from regist-
ration or another subgroup is very uncommon. I guess everyone on staff is
on security in that way, but it isn't a huge gestapo convention.

>2.  Radios (at Boskone and at almost every other convention
>    I've seen) contribute to a rather officious attitude among
>    those who have them. I find it hard to keep from giggling
>    every time I see one of them stop, look very serious,
>    and call into their radio "Rover one to base, Rover one to
>    base. All clear in the hall next to the ballroom. Over."
>
>    A related problem is that folks walking around looking for
>    trouble often find it.  Traditional con security often
>    gets involved in things that are either not a problem or
>    not OUR problem (that is, they are a hotel problem and
>    are best handled by telling hotel security about them).

That is a personal problem. We have had some people get all high and mighty
on us from time to time, and we simply "retire" these people or give them
"special assignments," like guarding the Parking Garage elevator lobby if
their attitude is a problem. You may giggle when you see security, but our
security has nipped about 6 or 7 things in the bud before they became total
calamities. Sure, we get some real winners who look like they just came
here to be away from mom, but all in all, our security has been very success-
ful at getting things done without all this officiousness that other people
have.


>3.  Radios and beepers are usually not needed.  There are, after
>    all, hotel phones all over the place.  
>
>    At the last Boskone that had Operations (and lots of beepers
>    and radios)  (this was in the mid-eighties somewhere), the
>    head of Ops tried to insist that a) Program department must
>    have a beeper and 2) they had to be able to talk to the
>    HEAD of program.  It took the head of program that year to
>    say that a) he would dump the beeper in a water glass if
>    it were left in the Green Room, since the Green Room had a 
>    phone and program could always be reached there and b) whoever
>    was running the Green Room was in charge of program.  They
>    wouldn't be there if they weren't capable of making reasonable
>    decisions, and the program head did not have to be contacted 
>    directly for all program related decisions.

Uh, you have never been in many hotels, have you? Sometimes we are lucky just
to get a phone at security! Although nowadays we are at bigger hotels, a
majority of conventions are at some motor lodge with a ballroom. Low budget
and little frills. Radios are sometimes the only way you can find your
guest!
 

 

>Now that I've said this, I will agree that there are exceptions.
>Worldcons, which are spread between several hotels and a convention
>center, often can make good use of radios and beepers. However,
>each person using one should justify this use and not get one
>simply because he/she is a department head or because beepers
>have become status symbols.
>
>--
>Jim Mann            
>Stratus Computer   jmann@vineland.pubs.stratus.com  

All in all, I guess to have a good security force, you need to:
 
a: work with locals
b: work with hotel staff
c: work with fen
d: not take anything too seriously



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