Party drug that killed my sister should be classed alongside heroin.

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Title – Party drug that killed my sister should be classed alongside heroin.
Source – Evening Standard
Date – 25th January 2007

Understanding the actual effects of drugs rather then folklore enables individuals to make educated decisions, so whenever a tragic death occurs there are calls for tougher drug legislation. The class any drug falls into is often falsely taken as a sign of its potency and the dangers involved with its use. Unfortunately with any drug classed below the A rating, a public perception of relative innocence follows and this is certainly not the case.

A reaction to any drug can lead to medical complications and in the worst cases death. Individuals working within industries where drug use is prevalent have to understand the nature of drugs and drug related symptoms and behaviour. Those working within the Security Industry, Licensed Retail Sector, Universities, Health Services, Working with Young People and Local Authorities are just few of the individuals to whom this knowledge is essential.


We run the BIIAB National Certificate for Licensees Drug Awareness course (NCLDA), In-House Security Induction courses (IHSI), Conflict Management & Resolution courses (CMR), National Certificate for Door Supervisors (NCDS) courses and provides Consultancy Services to various industries. These courses contain the latest information on current drug trends and information on individual drugs, their dangers and affects. Candidates leave our courses fully prepared to work effectively in their particular environments.



Please visit our wbsite at www.btbl.co.uk

Crystal meth made a class A drug

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Title – Crystal meth made a class A drug
Source – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 18th January 2007

Methamphetamine otherwise known as methylamphetamine or desoxyephedrine and under the street-names crystal meth, tina, krank, tweak, and ice has reached epidemic levels in many parts of the world including the USA, Australia and South East Asia. In the UK steps have now been taken to re-classify it as a Class A drug before what is currently a small user group, expands to the almost pandemic proportions of other countries.

We run In-House Security Induction Courses (IHSI) that cover all aspects of the role and responsibilities and key skills of those working within the Security Industry and the licensed retail sector specific to their venues. These courses consider the current situation from a legal standpoint as well as the signs and symptoms of use and users. We examine the particular demographic of the venues customers to enable us to focus on the most relevant information.
We also run BIIAB National Certificate for Licensees Drug Awareness Course (NCLDA) and the National Certificate for Door Supervisors Courses (NCDS) which also cover aspects of illegal drug awareness and understanding.

Please visit our website at www.btbl.co.uk

On the town with London’s booze bus

Title – On the town with London’s booze bus
Source – The London Paper
Date – 19th December 2006

The emergency services in cities round the country face increased pressures driven mainly by alcohol related incidents, over 38,000 annually in London alone. Ambulance staff and paramedics know that a large part of their duties on a Friday and Saturday night will involve dealing with alcohol related incidents, many may resent it and many feel like their time and skills are being wasted by these cases, which are essentially self inflicted.

Within the licensed retail sector and security industry, professional door supervisors are realising that they have a role to play in ensuring that this increasing problem is controlled, managed and redressed. Although the pressures on bars and clubs to reach sales targets are continually increasing, many are realising the advantage of responsible alcohol retailing rather then discounting and encouraging binge drinking. Some in the industry are realising that while selling 4 discounted drinks to binge drinkers is one way to ensure maximum turnover, selling one at full price to a customer (with the lower overheads this can offer in staff cost alone) is just as profitable.

Door supervisors, managers and licensed retail staff rely on their ability to call the police, fire brigade or ambulance service whenever they are needed and assume that they will turn up in support. But if we are to start working as a team with the emergency services, then we can not just demand their assistance, we also have to offer ours.

The professionalism spread via the Security Industry Authority and those working to promote better levels of training in the industry, has made managers and staff stop and start to realise; that controlling those within our venues has the potential to reduce the number of drink related incidents that spill onto the streets and tie up the time of those emergency service staff we rely on to support us.

On the other side of the equation, as much as door supervisors and managers are employed to protect staff and other members of their team, by considering members of the emergency services are part of the bigger support team and essentially being on our side, we have a duty to protect them too. Assaults against ambulance and NHS staff are at unacceptable levels and responsible licensed retailing sector has a role to play in reducing these attacks.

We believe that training is the basis of making the security industry more professional. By presenting In-House Security Induction Courses (IHSI) we can train your staff specifically for your venue and where required provide the National Certificate for Door Supervisors (NCDS) to help individuals attain their SIA Door Supervisors Licence. We help our clients through Consultancy Projects to put systems into place to ensure that all staff are aware and capable of playing their part in providing safe and responsibly managed venues.

We also provide courses for NHS staff, ambulance staff and paramedics in Conflict Management and Resolution (CMR) to enable them to control volatile situations and reduce violence toward them and their colleagues.

Please visit our website at www.btbl.co.uk

Virginia police sign out on code words

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Title – Virginia police sign out on code words
Source – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 7th December 2006

Communication is just one of the skills taught in Beyond The Blue’s Conflict Management & Resolution course (CMR). But communication comes in various forms. To be effective working within the security industry we have to understand both communication with our customers who ever they may be and in whatever state they are in and also effective communication between our own teams.

As this article proves even the police get it wrong and have to evolve. Codes are used both by the police and the security industry. The point of code words is to make communication of key information clear and concise, to allow individuals communicate vital information or ask for help without needing to give a big explanation. This information is often transmitted over two way radio or in environments where there is excessive noise or where individuals are under extreme pressure. These communication blocks often lead to communication break downs.

As the police in the New York found during the 9/11 terrorist attack, when many different forces came together to help and support each other, communication broke down as each individual team had slightly different code words. This balance is very important, enough code words to cover emergencies and common problems, but not so many that they become confusing.

In the security industry code words are commonly used and every bar and club seems to have a different set of codes they work from. Through Consultancy Projects, we help develop communication systems that allow all members of staff to understand each other whatever area they work in. This process can be reinforced by In-House Security Induction training (IHSI) and Venue Specific Manuals that we can develop to set systems for your venue. For clients with more then one venue these systems are especially useful as they can be rolled out across all venues, so that staff who may be interchangeable will be able to work in any venue, rather then having to learn a whole new set of rules and systems each time they move.

We have staff who have been developing systems for over 15 years, they are tried and tested and work effectively in many different environments. When we start a Consultancy Project we examine your current set up and reinforce the positive systems already in place and review and replace those that are letting your team down. We work within your environment with your staff and management so that the changes we advise on, already have the support of those people who will need to enforce them once they are in place. We don’t assume we know best and don’t dictate, because each venue has its unique features, but our systems help clients to achieve their goals.

Please visit our website at www.btbl.co.uk

Most date rape victims ‘are made helpless by drink and not drugs’

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Title – Most date rape victims ‘are made helpless by drink and not drugs’
Source – Daily Mail
Date – 16th November 2006

Excessive consumption of alcohol is still the overwhelming contributing factor to so many problems faced by those working within the security industry and licensed retail sector. In recent years the threat of date rape drugs being used has added to the concerns of those working within the sector. Most will have heard the phrase “I think my drink has been spiked” when dealing with intoxicated individuals and many will know this can often be an excuse rather then a reason.

But can we really afford to ignore a situation when an accusation like that has been made? Not if we want to continue to impress that the security industry is one where professionalism and customer care have been made a priority. But although every situation has to be dealt with on its merit, we must learn from our own experience and take on board the facts rather then the hype.

In this study only 10 out of 120 cases of 'Drug Facilitated Sexual Assault' (DFSA) involved any kind of date rape drug, but 119 had consumed alcohol. There were 11 other cases where the results were not proved either way. So even in the worst case scenario in this study only 17.5% of actual DFSA victims showed any sign of “date rape drugs”. However 99% showed signs of having consumed alcohol and a third of these were over three times over the drink drive limit.

We can clearly see from this report that alcohol is still the overwhelming substance involved in DFSA and those of us working within the security industry and licensed retail sector must ensure that we consider the consequences of binge and excessive drinking. This process starts at the door when customers come into our venues and continues when they buy drinks at the bar, follows on when customers use our facilities such as the dance floor or toilets and doesn’t end when they have left our venues, but only when they are safely on their way to their next destination. From start to finish we have a responsibility towards them and a duty of care. To carry out our responsibilities all staff need training and not just the Door Supervisors. The days of bar staff filling customers up on alcohol and Door Supervisors throwing them out once full, is gone and the age of accepting responsibility throughout is upon us.

It may be concluded from this report that alcohol could be considered as one of the drugs covered by the catch-all 'date rape drugs' and in fact be the most prolific drug used. Drink spiking may seem to be in some circumstances a prank where friends are trying to get each other more and more drunk, there is a very sinister side to this practice and we all have a responsibility to help stamp out this practice and act responsibly and professionally.

We understand the contradictions that reports and press releases can portray. On the one hand a report will be published like this one and weeks later we will hear that one in eight drinks are spiked, who knows what to believe? Reports like this suffer from a lack of victims coming forward and the short time frames involved in getting victims tested. Date rape drugs notoriously disappear from the blood stream quickly and often, by the time the victims realise what has happened, there is no way to confirm the drug used to facilitate their attack.

Training staff can go a long way to resolving these problems as individuals realise their responsibilities and the dangers of ignoring them, the sinister side to slipping an extra vodka in a 'friends' drink need to be put into perspective and the real dangers need to be more widely understood within your business and the sector as a whole.



Please visit our website at www.btbl.co.uk

Student arrested over Canary Wharf photos

Title – Student arrested over Canary Wharf photos
Source – London Student
Date – November 2006

Stereotypes are used in every day life, literally every day. We make a judgement on someone within the first 6 seconds of seeing them. With the newspapers full of stories of Al-Qaeda, home grown terrorists, new nuclear powers, rape, theft, murder and drugs, we can sometimes be excused for jumping to conclusions. But for those of us working within the security industry, it is our job to make informed judgements rather then simply reacting to situations.

No one can make a judgement based on how someone looks, but we can make a judgement on someone’s behaviour, but a judgement is not only a first impression, we have to try at every available chance to get more information before we act to deal with a situation.

Those attending our Conflict Management and Resolution courses (CMR) and the National Certificate for Door Supervisors (NCDS), as well as many of our other courses learn about human behaviour, body language and the meaning behind them. Taking a picture of one of London’s landmarks is not unusual behaviour and not something that should raise too many eyebrows. It may be that the police have information that those working in the private security industry simply don’t have access to. The security industry does however have a vital role to play alongside the police to support them and needs to be aware of as much information as possible both locally, nationally and internationally.

The law in the UK allows for those working within the security industry to maintain order in their venues. Those who understand the law and work within it, can use it to their advantage and enjoy a higher rate of success, then those that ignore rules and think they are either a private police force or outside of the law.

Our courses allow individuals attending to make decisions based on all information available to them and not on simple first impressions and negative stereotypes.

Please visit our website at www.btbl.co.uk

Sports initiations banned

Title – Sports initiations banned
Source – London Student
Date – November 2006

University students are famed for the frequency of their drinking binges. To some on the outside it seems that they do nothing other then drink 24/7 and party every night leaving a trail of destruction and stolen gnomes, street signs and traffic cones in their wake.

It is a stereotype that is not without its foundation, students in the UK consumed hundreds of millions of pounds worth of alcohol every year and breweries and pub chains spend millions trying to attract them to drink even more. The market is fiercely competitive and sometimes goes too far. One of the stalwarts of the student drinking haunts has traditionally been the Students’ Union or Guild. Once viewed as venues where hay bails and cheep beer went hand in hand, these facilities have progressed over the years to compete in this market place and have positioned themselves in many cases at its heart.

They often have the advantage of location, loyalty and pricing as there are not the pressures of shareholders expecting handsome returns, but rather the pressures of stakeholders ensuring they are getting value for money. But in many cases the success behind Students’ Unions and Guilds is more simple and straight forward, they provide bars and venues where students are surrounded by other students, feel safe and are looked after by people that really care and understand them.

Not all Students’ Unions and Guilds are as progressive as others and in general those that have systems and training in place and carry that training through are more successful then their counter parts. The progressive organisation have long term strategies that involve providing environments that their customers will want to come back to time and time again. Those that can’t see past discounting as a way of making short term gain, will never fulfil their true potential.

Some practices within the University environment still raise eyebrows, by actively encouraging binge drinking and increasing peer pressure beyond acceptable levels. But even these practices are starting to be addressed by some like UCL, who have banned the practice of sports team initiations that lead to so many individuals to drink beyond their comfortable level and more then they would choose to do so, on their own.

With over 15 years of experience of working within the Students’ Union and University sector, I understand the needs of the student market and the way to create success with all the constraints that are often placed on organisations within this system. We can help you make the most of the resources available to you, especially in the form of the students themselves. With our In-House Security Induction courses (IHSI), Licensed Retail Sector Consultancy Service and our portfolio of BIIAB Licensed Retail Sector courses as well as the National Certificate for Door Supervisors (NCDS). Through these and the Event Management side of our business, we can help support and reinvigorate your business in almost any area where it needs to be supported.

Please visit our website at www.btbl.co.uk