Crime watch

In 2002 the Radisson Edwardian group spent more than £250,000 on upgrading the security systems at all of its London hotels. The results have been arresting (literally, in many cases). By December the number of criminal incidents in and around its hotels - largely thefts and bag-snatches - had plunged by 80%.

 

But group operations director Mike O'Connor does not put this dramatic decline down solely to measures taken within the hotels. No business is an island, he says, and Radisson Edwardian has spread a crime prevention net beyond its own boundaries into the wider community.

 

It is one of 17 local landlords - and the only hotel group - to team up with Westminster Council and the Metropolitan Police to make the West End's streets safer.

 

The Westminster CCTV Trust, which went live last September after a two-month trial, has 28 cameras trained on Regent Street, Soho, Leicester Square and Charing Cross Road. The screens are monitored 24 hours a day, 365 days a year by three security staff at the control centre in the bowels of Leicester Square's Trocadero Centre.

 

Diners at the café terrace set up each summer outside the Radisson Edwardian Hampshire hotel in Leicester Square have already benefited from one joint operation.

 

With 130 seats, the terrace is one of the borough's largest outside seating areas - and a magnet for villains. A team of five thieves who stole mobile phones and handbag contents from diners while others created a distraction by begging were caught on camera and arrested last August.

 

"Some 80% of our work is based on CCTV footage," says Sergeant Dave Smith of the Metropolitan Police hotel crime and intelligence unit. "It does help when we get good-quality footage of crimes taking place where we can identify suspects and arrest them."

 

As well as catching thieves, hotel CCTVs can persuade even career criminals to seek easier targets, adds Smith.

 

A state-of-the-art digital CCTV system swallowed the lion's share - some £250,000 - of Radisson Edwardian's investment. Most of the 320 cameras are in corridors and public areas, but about 50 guard the outsides of the hotels, especially back alleys and staff entrances.

 

The system does not rely on a man dozing in a control room - images can be accessed in real time locally or remotely by authorised personnel simply by logging on to a computer. Slave monitors behind reception allow staff to see what is happening in four different parts of the hotel, and other departments, such as housekeeping, have similar viewing facilities.

 

The group spent a further £20,000 on a keycard access system to keep non-residents out of the lifts and guest-only areas, and extra doors were built across stairways and corridors to bar non-residents from the bedroom floors.

 

Any intruder who manages to penetrate these defences is denied a speedy escape by new perimeter controls that delay the opening of fire exits by 15 seconds (the maximum allowed by law).

 

And crime prevention does pay, says O'Connor. The beefed-up security has already won the hotel new business, and he believes safety has become a "customer satisfier".

 

"Five years ago guests would have seen the card access system as a nuisance," he says. "Now they see it as a comfort. Many companies in the banking, pharmaceutical and oil sectors put security at the top of their list of priorities and often are prepared to pay a slight premium for a more secure environment."

 

Security has also boosted morale for staff, who appreciate working in a safer environment, especially when leaving or arriving late. O'Connor says the hi-tech measures would not have worked so well without the wholehearted participation and support of the group's 1,500 employees.

 

They have been closely involved in siting and checking the cameras and they organise patrols of more than 20 points in each hotel three times a night to check for anything hazardous or unusual. They also have regular training in crime prevention and personal safety that is tailored to their own role, be it room attendant or doorman.

 

The CCTV footage - which is kept for 31 days unless it needs to be archived as evidence - brings further business benefits.

 

"We can assess incidents and hazards and prevent them happening again; and when there is an accident, we can see the reality rather than rely on hearsay," says O'Connor. "We can also monitor trading patterns, such as busy times, bottlenecks and people's behaviour checking in and out."

 

How hotels are cracking crime
It's good to talk Hoteliers are driving down crime by linking up with each other and the local police. Ring-round systems using e-mail or fax alert members to local incidents, and monthly meetings are held to share information and best practice. Police also hold crime training and personal safety seminars for hotel staff.

 

* The Glasgow Hotel Watch, which covers 21 city centre hotels, was set up in 1995 and has halved crime in hotels in the past few years to 20 a month.

 

* More than 70% of hotel crimes in Glasgow are opportunistic room thefts, usually between 6pm and midnight. Other incidents include break-ins, vandalism, fraud and car crime.

 

* A fraudster who ran up a huge unpaid bill at the Copthorne Glasgow (now the Millennium Hotel Glasgow) while posing as the director of a group interested in buying the hotel was caught trying the same scam at another Glasgow hotel the same week - just after the matter had been raised at a Hotel Watch meeting.

 

* The Metropolitan Police runs a similar scheme involving 60 hotel security managers in Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea. Recent meetings have highlighted the need to ensure cabinets used to store guests' car keys are kept out of public view.

 

Staff alert
\* "Crime is endemic to the hotel business: if you are making the hotel welcoming to the public, you are making it easier for the thief to get in. Your staff are your first line of defence." - Sergeant Ronnie Smith, founder of Glasgow Hotel Watch.

 

* A Metropolitan Police survey of two adjacent London hotels, one notorious for incidents and one crime-free, found only one difference: the alertness of staff.

 

* An alert barman at a London hotel caught a serial hotel thief who had aroused his suspicion. He kept an eye on him and called security when he saw the thief on his hands and knees trying to steal a handbag.

 

* Most thieves are seen but not challenged. Ask suspicious characters if you can help: genuine guests will welcome your attention; a villain will retreat from a potential witness.

 

* Because hotel staff turnover is high, crime and safety training should be repeated - and updated - regularly.

 

Westminster CCTV Trust
* The trust was set up with a £1.3m Home Office grant. The £500,000 annual running costs are met by the founding members.

 

* Projects manager Rob McAlister heads a team of nine. The trust has six special wardens on the streets and links with all relevant enforcement agencies.

 

* Since September it has identified 15,000 incidents, reacting quickly to crimes such as armed robbery, physical and sexual assaults, drug and weapon offences, prostitution, theft, begging and illegal trading.

 

* It has helped slash crime in Leicester Square by 51%, making a former trouble hot spot one of the safest places in the borough.

 

* It is expected to merge with a similar scheme in Oxford Street this summer and to spread borough-wide in due course.