Top Guard Interview - Rave Scene

I thought it would be of some interest to look at the way the rave scene is looked at from a professional security company’s point of view. So the obvious choice to me, was to contact the largest security company around that has worked in the rave industry. This is the company called “TOP GUARD”.

I met Terry, who is the manager at the Top Guard Office.

Blaze: So Terry can you tell me how long T.G. have been around?

Terry: T.G. has been in business for around 4 years. We started off very small, there was about 10 men originally. We used to work for a company called “Show Set”, now I must say that we have a lot of respect for Show Set and we get along with them really well, but Kevin Camp the Managing Director and Founder of T.G. decided that he would start his own company and that’s how T.G. started.

Blaze: Terry how did you start off with T.G., tell me a little about yourself.

Terry: I started with T.G. about 4 years ago. I started off just as anybody else would, that is as one of the workers. Within 3 to 4 months I was working as a Supervisor and within 6 months I was a Manager. Purely because I knew what I was doing. As a Manager, I work in the office with Kevin. I sort out the booking of the work and I allocate the guys work. That’s to say who does what and goes where. I have to attend meetings and deal with the day to day running of the office.

Blaze: So how did T.G. become involved with the rave scene?

Terry: The first rave that we were involved with was “RAINDANCE” that was about 3 years ago over at Beckton. We done 3 or 4 of these events but we weren’t really happy with the way things went. This was because there were 5 or 6 different security companies involved. Now we’re here at T.G. I don’t really like working with other companies. That’s because we have built up a good reputation over the last 4 years and if there is trouble of any description that involved any other company doing security, then much sticks. And we’ve got our reputation to up hold. So now we insist that if T.G. is going to do the security, we are the only company on site. Anyway after Raindance we did “NRG” at the London Arena. That had a licence for 10,000 people. Then 2 New Years Eve’s ago we did the last one for “Fantazia” at Exeter. Since then we’ve done all of their events except for the one at Bath. We have also done Cryptontie, Technodrome and Nemisis to name but a few.

Blaze: Terry what was your first impression of a rave?

Terry: Well to be quite honest I was disappointed. The first rave that I worked on was NRG at the London Arena, there was about 4,000 people there and as you know this venue is such a big place that it looked empty. I had read all this stuff in the national press and was quite disappointed that more people weren’t there.

Blaze: So what’s your opinion of the ravers in this country? How do they compare to the people that attend other events that T.G. have dealings with?

Terry: I think you could ask any of the guys that work for us this question and get the same answer. We all prefer working with ravers. They are absolutely NO trouble whatsoever. They are all there for 12 hours or so to dance, and that’s exactly what they do. These people are very polite, it’s always “please and thank you”. They go there to have a good time and that’s what they do. Now if there is any trouble 99 times out of a 100 it’s the beer monsters. You always get trouble with those, whether it’s a rave party or rock concert. That’s usually where the trouble starts. Ravers, real Ravers are NO trouble at all. The only problems at rave’s are the taxers you know the muggers. And we are aware of these groups and deal with them when we catch them.

Blaze: With reference to the last sentence would you like to tell me how you deal with a situation that involves this scumbag element that is messing up our rave scene?

Terry: Yes. On a number of occasions we have dealt with this kind of situation. One that springs to mind is an incident that Colin…

OVER TO COLIN

Colin: Basically we had an incident where we had two gangs of muggers/dealers at a party in Brayfield, Northampton. I think it was called “The Wedding”. Anyway there was these 2 gangs fighting over territory and one of them had been stabbed.

We detained the ones who had done the stabbing and go the injured bloke to first aid. The police were called and arrests were made and the police brought charges which resulted in a court appearance.

Terry: Another incident was at Fantazia’s party on New Years Eve at Little Cote Mansion. We received a call from one of our supervisors about a stabbing that had taken place in tent one. We arrived within 1 minute and found the victim who had been stabbed in the shoulder and buttock. The injured chap was then taken to first aid for treatment. All of our operatives are trained in basic first aid and are therefore able to give immediate assistance on the spot. Which could be life saving, you know the difference between life and death. We then identified the thugs that were responsible for this attract and detained them all. Within 10 minutes the whole incident was sorted.

Blaze: So Terry apart from the searches and initial crowd control at raves, what other duties do you and your staff have at a rave?

Terry: Well we take care of the in-house security. This includes ensuring everybody’s safety. We identify all of the emergency exists. For instance, if an incident occurred where the building had to be evacuated very quickly our staff will know which is the safest and quickest exit out of the building. Also they are trained in crowd control and how to keep things moving along at a safe and calm level. Also if I am working the queue outside I like to tell people what’s happening at the entrance. This helps move the crowd along a bit faster, because if people know what to do when they get to the front they get through the searches quicker. I also like to talk to the crowd as well, you know have a laugh and a joke. That’s important as well.

Blaze: What is the average number of security personnel at a rave?
Terry: There is not an average at the raves where we are contracted. T.G. works to the government standards which state that up to 10,000 people the ratio is 1 security operative per 100 guests. Over 10,000 it’s 1 security operative per 250 guests. So if the promoter has a licence for 7,000 he will have 70 operatives on site. Maybe only 4,000 tickets will be sold in total, but there will still be the required number of operatives in attendance.

Blaze: Why do you confiscate water, coke, orange juice etc and chewing gum on entrance to a rave?

Terry: Because we are told to by the promoter. It’s not us being nasty or awkward. We are employed by the promoter and have to carry out any reasonable requests from him or her. The promoter instructs us to do this because he or she has the concession to sell the goods inside the venue.

Blaze: You usually get over inflated if not extortionate prices.

Terry: No comment.

Blaze: Terry, how can the genuine raver help to make raves a safer place?

Terry: If you are hassled or you are somebody being hassled go and report it to one of our security people. They are not going to put you in any kind of situation that you would be uncomfortable with. The more people that come to us the quicker we can stamp at the bad element in the scene. Also never try and sought it out yourself, our guys are trained to deal with this sought of situation and work within the law.

Blaze: Finally Terry, occasionally people have written into the magazine complaining of the way that they have been treated by security. My question to you is “if somebody does have a complaint about a member of your staff, what should they do?”

Terry: All of our staff wear yellow jackets, that have identity numbers on them. If any of our readers feel that they have been badly, rudely or unfairly treated by one of our staff, this is what they should do. Make a note of the identity number of the person concerned and then go and find a T.G. Supervisor. The Supervisors wear blue jackets as opposed to the yellow ones. The Supervisor will then investigate your complaint. If he or she is unable to sort it out at the time of the incident it will be sorted out at the earliest possible time. In all walks of life the occasional bad apple get into any system and we here at T.G. positively vet all of our employees, but sometimes we employ a bad apple. Now if people do not bring these sort of incidents to our attention we cannot rectify the situation. What I can say is that there have been occasions where we have dismissed a member of our staff at an event and they have had to make their own way home. So if you do have a problem tell us. On the other hand if you are impressed with a member of our staff please tell us. Go and tell the Supervisor, because again we need to know about our good staff as well!!!

Well this was an eye opener for me. As I said in the first part of “no but seriously” I think that security is a necessary part of any good rave. After spending time with the chaps at Top Guard, I know that when I see them around a party in future I will know they ain’t there just to nick my chewy.

Top Guard Security Interview 1993