Event Security: Protecting the First Minister of Scotland
Successful Outcomes
The event was recognised as hugely successful. Not just in terms of the commitments made to reduce worldwide carbon emissions, but also because security arrangements ensured that the event ran smoothly and safely.
Visit our Event Security Services page
In October 2021, Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, delivered a keynote speech ahead of the COP26 conference at the University of Strathclyde. Our job was to ensure the event ran smoothly, that all security measures were in place to prevent any security breaches, and to prepare a security strategy and procedures for any security issues that occurred.
Important guests from around the world
Participants included heads of state from around the world and other high-level government officials, business leaders, scientists, civil society representatives, indigenous peoples’ organisations, and others.
With such an important event filled with VIPs from around the world, including presidents and prime ministers, round-the-clock security measures needed to be in place for the event itself and also for the guests staying in the nearby hotels surrounding the conference
What We Did
We carried out two key steps to ensure the event ran smoothly and safely.
Step 1: Access Control
Access control was carried out by our security guards to verify the credentials of those entering the stage area. In addition, they conducted bag inspections for all attendees and looked for anything inappropriate that could enter the venue. Alcohol, narcotics, guns, explosives, and anything else that may be deemed a security danger fell under this category.
Step 2: Perimeter Control
We assigned our security guards to key areas during the presentation. They were there to ensure the safety of the speaker and the audience members in case of emergency and to verify that any person approaching the stage was a keynote speaker. In addition, our security guards were familiar with fire regulations and knew how to evacuate individuals from the venue quickly if needed. They also observed attendees for signs of suspicious behaviour, ready to intervene before anything happened.