It’s common knowledge that bouncers don’t always get a good rap.
Ask most people what they associate with bouncers and it’s often big, burly men, who cause trouble and aren’t afraid to take the law into their own hands.
It’s the subject of taking the law into their own hands that’s prompted us to write this post. You see, according to a recent article in the Liverpool Echo, 100 bouncers are investigated for attacking members of the public in Merseyside each year.
Since 2013, Merseyside Police has reportedly recorded 531 incidents, while the number of situations involving attacks on bouncers is believed to have remained small. Of course, the article only focuses on Merseyside and, as concerning as it might be, we’re sure the same can also be said for other parts of the country. This isn’t an issue that’s happening within the realms of Merseyside and Merseyside alone.
Bouncers, doormen, door supervisors, whatever you’d like to refer to them as, have an incredibly responsible role to play, keeping members of the public safe in all sorts of different circumstances. But, unfortunately, this level of responsibility isn’t taken seriously by everybody who works the doors.
Why? Well, there are a number of factors at play here, but having spent more than 20 years working with the door security industry, we know that the root cause is undoubtedly training or, lack of it.
How are bouncers meant to know how to successfully diffuse conflict if they haven’t been armed with the necessary knowledge or tactics? Door security is a skill, not just simply a case of turning up and looking menacing and muscly.
For all too long, we’ve championed the need for bouncers to be given better training. Better training provides real assurances. Better training is what guarantees volatile situations are dealt with using psychology, not fisticuffs.
We can think of very few professions, especially front-line roles, where employees are expected to do their work without being given the necessary training to enable them to do their jobs properly. The door security sector shouldn’t be an exception.
All door staff, regardless of if they work at a major venue or a not-so-well-known bar, should be equipped with professional conflict management training. This provides them with skills necessary to manage challenging behaviour by interpreting situations and pre-empting people’s next steps and only ever using physical intervention as a last resort.
For details of what this type of conflict management training looks like in practice, take a look at our range of courses, designed specifically for door security professionals. In the meantime, if you’d prefer to discuss your training requirements with us, contact us on darren@good-sense.co.uk or 0845 576 0035.
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