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Convention Security Command

This is the resource page for Maquis Academy's "LDS 301: Convention Security Commander" (CSC) course of study. This program is a simplified version of typical Incident Command programs used by various Police, Fire and EMS Services across the United States.

Although this is tailored for managing Convention Security, the topics of "Span of Control", "Sectoring" and "Managing Manpower" could be useful for anyone interested in advancing into the management ranks of any job where they might be in charge of 3 or more "units" (individuals, teams, departments, etc), whether it be Convention Security, Middle or Upper management of a Fan Organization, Managing a small business, Management within a Corporation, or simply managing a large family. [Grin]

Some of the topics to be covered are as follows:

Contents

Span of Control

A term now used commonly in business management, span of control describes the number of subordinates that report to each manager (or to each military officer), originated in military organization theory. Theories about the optimum span of control go back to V.A. Graicunas In 1933. He used assumptions about mental capacity and attention span to develop a set of practical heuristics. In 1956, L.F. Urwick developed a theory based on geographical dispersion and the need for face-to-face meetings. Many Municipal Fire Departments have successfully used this theory to combat both Structural and "Brush" fires.

In Business organizations of the past, it was not uncommon to see average spans of 1 to 10 or even less. That is, One Manager supervising Ten Department Supervisors, Team Leaders, or Employees, on average. In the 1980s there was a flattening of organizational structures causing average spans to move closer to 1 to 100, made possible by the introduction of inexpensive information technology that replaced many middle managers. This may be great for the Corporate World, but not in Tactical Organizations, such as Police, Fire, EMS and Military Combat Teams, where constant changes may necessitate immediate changes in Strategy. These organizations work on the theory of One Manager for every Three to Seven subordinates (Sector Leaders, Team Leaders, or Team Members), with a 1:5 (One to Five) ratio being considered Optimal.

So... What does Span of Control have to do with running a Security Team for a convention? Nothing... IF everything runs like a well tuned machine and goes according to plan. When everything is going well, One Team Commander could handle a Dozen or more Teams without effort. BUT... When one thing starts to go wrong, things have a tendency to cascade and before you know it, EVERYONE needs the Team Commander Now and one person can only handle 3 to 5 emergencies at one time. Span of Control enables the Team Commander to direct multiple operations, activities and teams more efficiently.

As you'll see in the section on Sectoring, depending on how many Sectors (Teams) you are using, once you reach more than 5 to 7 Teams, you MIGHT want to consider appointing an Assistant (or two) to divide up the Teams (3 or 4 each). The Teams report to the Assistant Team Commanders and then, the ATCs report to you, allowing you to focus on the "Big Picture" and keep yourself available for Special Situations and problem solving.

The Flow Charts below will illustrate the Span of Control differences between a Small and a Large Convention.


Chart 1:
All Teams Report Directly to the Team Commander

Team
Commander
/ / \ \
Registration &
Main Entrance
Roving Dealer Room &
Secondary Exit Team
Main Room Team:
1 Inside / 1 Outside
Escort Team



Chart 2
Teams Report to the Assistant TCs, The Assistant TCs Report to the Team Commander

| Team Commander |

Team
Commander
Assistant
TC 1
Assistant
TC 2
Registration Main Gate Roving
Hall Team
Secondary Exit
Guards
Event Room
Guards
Dealer Room
Team
Event Room
Roving Team
Escort Team



Sectoring

A Sector is defined as being "a part of the whole". Sectoring, in a combat sense of the term, would be the logistical subdivision and delegation of resources of a larger Area into smaller areas or Zones. Sectoring may be assigned Geographically, or may be assigned by Job Description.

In the Fire Service, Command will designate Sectors Geographically, according to which side of the structure manpower is assigned (ie: going clockwise - the Front of the house, Left Side, Rear, and Right Side of the house.) and designate them as Sectors A, B, C and D, accordingly. In some instances, people simply take a floor plan, draw lines on the floor plan and sector the area, Geographically, according to the delineations.

In Emergency Medical Service instances, such as Mass Casualty Instances (MCI), Sectoring is broken down by Job Description. The various Sectors of an MCI are:

  • Command: Where the Scene Commander communicates with the Sector Leaders listed below and coordinates between the Hospitals, Fire Units, Police Units, the Media and Ambulance Transport services.
  • Triage: The sorting of casualties where they are found. Casualties are sorted into the categories of Immediate (Critical-Unstable), Delayed (Stable, but needing emergency transport, Minor ("Walking Wounded" - stable-minor injuries that can be transported by bus after treatment), or Dead and given Color Coded tags.
  • Treatment: A designated area where the patients are further sorted as Unstable or Stable and treated, in preparation for transport to an appropriate receiving Facility.. and finally...
  • Transport: The staging of Transport Vehicles and the further sorting of which patients (of each category) will be Transported to various Appropriate Receiving Facilities.

Well practiced departments, using Sectoring, in conjunction with Span of Control can have all critical patients from a 50 casualty incident delivered to their receiving facilities in under 30 minutes. Fire and EMS Services have successfully shown that Sectoring, combined with Span of Control does work.

Many conventions could utilize a Combination of Geographical AND Job Description Sectoring strategy. One thing we can do with Conventions, in order to make Sectoring work for us, is to substitute the word "Sector" with the word "Team". The main principles still apply.
Some suggestions of Security Teams (Sectors) are:

  • Command Post (CP) The Team Commander's Main Contact Station (with assistants, if needed) (Geographical)
  • Registration: May Work with the Registrar and Cashier as needed (Job Description)
  • Main Entrance (may be combined with Registration) (Geographical)
  • Dealer Rooms: Roving Security, 1 Team per Room (Geographical)
  • Event Room Guards: Stationary Guards at the Room's main entrance and secondary exits where Customers require special entry Passes/Tags/Wrist Bands. (Geographical)
  • Event Room Team: Optional Inside Roving Patrol of the room(s) where the Highlight Activities will happen. May not be needed for smaller rooms, or may replace the secondary exit guards. (Geographical & Job Description)
  • Roving Patrol: Touring the hallways and checking Secondary Exits and answering guests' questions. (Job Description)
  • Escort Team: The team assigned to the Celebrity Guests. (Job Description)
  • Relief Teams: Roving Team to allow other Teams a rest break. (Job Description)

Obviously, this list of suggested Teams (Sectors) may be Expanded upon, or condensed and combined as necessary, in order to fit the situation of the Convention and a comfortable Span of Control.

Communication

With Face to Face communication seldom being an option for teams to report in, the use of Multi-Channel Radios to communicate important information has become the norm for security teams. Since the advent of the Multi-Channel FRS (Family Radio System) transceiver, expensive and bulky One or Two Channel Portable Radio Systems, or handheld "CBs" are no longer a major expense for Security Teams. FRS transceivers also have the capability to Scan, enabling them to catch transmissions on multiple channels, as well as scrambling capability providing relative privacy. With many families now using FRS radios, one logistical problem may be finding enough unused channels to designate as "Command" (Administrative) and "Tactical" Channels.

As in Combat situations, Brief, Clear and Concise reporting is essential to any security operation. Transmissions themselves, should be kept short and idle chatter should be avoided during busy portions of the convention day.

  • The Command (Admin) Channel: The Main Channel used by the Team Commander for Key Transmissions. This channel would be used to initiate reports to the Team Commander, or for Emergency transmissions. If the communication is going to require more than a few brief transmissions, the Team Commander MAY request that the report/conversation move to a secondary Tactical (Tac) Channel.
  • The Tactical (Tac) Channels: Two or more Secondary Channels utilized by the various Security Teams which allow the team members to communicate within the team, without "Stepping" on other teams' transmissions, or cluttering the Admin Channel.

Each Station, or Team, should be able to communicate with the Team Commander's Command (Admin) Channel, as well as a Secondary Tactical Channel. Any Roving Team consisting of multiple members should have their own designated Tactical Channel, for intra-team communication. The number of Tactical Channels required will depend several factors:

  • The Size of the Convention: The number of rooms/stations requiring direct communication with the Command Post.
  • The number of Convention Security Teams available and, of course...
  • The number of available Radios and Channels to actually work with.



The Team Commander

Security Team Commander

The Team Commander needs to be able to multi-task, as he'll be coordinating with the Host Facility's Security Chief and Event Coordinator, The Convention's Owner/Coordinator, as well as his Security Stations (Registration/Main Entrance, Dealer/Event Exits), Team Leaders and Team Members.

The Team Commander should try to:

  • Centrally locate himself where there will be easy access to either the Facility's Security Chief, or Event Coordinator for periodic face-to-face interaction.
  • Be located somewhere they can have a good over-all access to the Convention Scene.
  • Have easy access to a "Hard Line" phone that may be easily traced in an emergency (ie: 911 calls, intra-facility calls & call-backs, etc.)
  • Periodically touch base with the Convention Coordinator (may be either the owner of the Con, or his Designee) to make sure the Schedule you and your Teams have is Up-To-Date and accurate. Since Conventions sometimes need to rearrange time slots, or the Schedule as a whole, This may keep your Team from being Embarrassed because they're at the Wrong Location at the Wrong Time.

Depending on the size of the convention and number of Tactical channels in use, the Commander may wish to keep a Command Assistant designated to monitor the tactical channels for the Commander, as well as other delegated tasks.

Tools For Command

The most important tool any Team Commander needs to keep with them is Information.

The Team Commander should keep the following information readily available:

  • Contact Phone Numbers for the Facility's Key Employees: the Event Coordinator and Head of Security, as well as any other Facility employees that the Event Coordinator feels you should need (maint., A/V, other things that you'll need to relay to the Convention Coordinator).
  • Contact Emergency Numbers (Rescue, etc), if not routed through one of the Facility Employees.
  • An Up-To-Date copy of the Convention Schedule to be used for scheduling Event Teams. Check on changes several times throughout the day, as well as at the END of each Day, to prepare for the NEXT day.
  • A List of Security Stations and Event Locations being staffed, along with their Assigned Tac Channel (if multiple channels are necessary) and an updated roster of Who is manning each Station/Team.
  • An Over-All Roster of volunteers (including local contact numbers), showing the Days & Times they volunteered for, Back-up volunteers to Fill-In any gaps, as well as volunteers to be utilized for Relief Breaks.



Managing Manpower

MFS Nebula Escort Duty

This may be the toughest problem for the Team Commander to deal with. Obviously, you'll be tempted to give your friends some choice Security assignments but you NEED to be as objective as possible when making staffing assignments. It may also seem obvious to place the Biggest, Meanest person you know at the entrances & exits, but in actuality, as you learned in earlier Security courses, you need someone who can deal with customers in a calm and rational manner, rather than using someone who is intimidating and mean.

As mentioned in other Security Courses, we as civilian volunteers, do not have any power or authority to arrest & detain, unless the Facility's Security Chief gives us that Authority. Placing "Moose" at the Main Hall's Entrance MAY not be your best choice, should a customer get rowdy and "Moose" starts getting irritated.

What "type" of person to stage where:
Dealer Room Security Team
  • Team Members assigned to main Entrances & Exits need to be able to reason with customers calmly and rationally, while simultaneously using the Command Channel to request assistance.
  • If you utilize someone in a Bulky Costume such as Klingon Battle Dress, the extra "warmth" generated by the costume could cause drowsiness. These Staffers either need to be assigned to an "active", Roving position (especially after a meal break), or be given breaks frequently if they are at a Stationary Post. There's nothing Funnier (and more annoying) than seeing a Klingon Falling asleep at their station. (Grin)
  • When staffing Celebrity Escort, you need to try to utilize your most professional members. Try to steer away from utilizing anyone who is more interested in being next to a star, than they are in staying alert and doing their job. If the ONLY thing a staffer can talk about is "Getting to be next to Ensign Buxom from episode 130", this should throw up a Red Flag to the Team Commander to either consider someone else, or counsel the team member about professionalism.

Many otherwise "Normal" staffers tend to become "star-struck" when faced with a celebrity for the 1st time. One way to overcome this potential problem would be to see if the Escorts might have some "behind the Scenes" time prior to the Celebrity actually taking the stage. Many times, being able to have some time with the celebrity before hand, even if it's simply standing in the background during a local TV interview, or standing in on a briefing is all that's needed. Many celebrities are willing to have a "closed" question & answer period with Convention Staffers. It sometimes gives them a chance to reminisce and "warm up" before the real show.

Putting It All Together


We started out touching on Span of Control and how it's history of use in the Military, Police, Fire and EMS, enable us to envision its use in Convention Security. If you'd like to find out more about Span of Control, click on this link to Wikipedia.

We then discussed the topic of Sectoring, it's use in the Fire & Rescue Services and how it allows the Team Commander to organize the Convention Security Team into smaller, more manageable entities. For more information on MCI Triage and Sectoring, click on this link to START Triage. Another good page containing information on Both Span of Control and Sectoring, as it pertains to the "Incident Command System" used by Fire Rescue Services in the United States can be found at Wikipedia's page about ICS.

We defined the use of affordable FRS Transceiver Systems and multiple Communication Channels in the team concept and how designating One Command Channel, with multiple Tactical Channels might allow teams to work and report more efficiently.

We also defined the Team Commander and some of the objectives He/She should strive to achieve, as well as some of the "Tools" that are available to make the Command position run more smoothly.

Lastly, we discussed the Utilization of Manpower and some of the factors which may assist in assigning volunteer team members to various positions and stations.


Rob-sig-sm.jpg
Rob-Johnson, IC 2004-2007
19 January 2006




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