Information & Support for Door Supervisors - National Doorwatch

Bill Butler came under fire from the the frontline as he faced a variety of questions from a hostile audience of Door Supervisors (DS). The sparks flew and Bill gave as good as he got. The DS also heard the Chief Superintendent, and the Coventry Crime Reduction Partnership, state that DS were a vital part of the Night-time Economy. Their aim was to improve communications and working relationships between all parties.

SIA Chief Bill Butler, answers the tough questions at Coventry Doorwatch.

Monday the 12th Dec and Coventry Doorwatch, and many of the Citys' Door Supervisor (DS) community took time out to attend a meeting hosted by Coventry Crime Reduction Partnership (CRP).  It was fantastic to hear the Chief Superintendent of the City, say the Police needed their help in managing the Night-Time economy.  He accepted communication between the two had not been good and the Police and other partners wanted to this to change.  To demonstrate this a number of speakers from the CRP had been asked to give a short talk on how Door Supervisors could help make the City a safer place.

With so many, speakers, and so many topics to cover, things very quickly started to fall behind.  This meant the opportunity to ask questions was extremely limited.  As speaker, after speaker, stood up to tell the Door Supervisors what they could do for the city - not one of them said what they were going to do for the Door Supervisors - it all seemed pretty much a one way street!  When the the speaker from Weights and Measures stood up and appeared to suggest DS deliberately let in under-age drinkers - the dam burst and the DS made it clear exactly what they thought of the show so far! 

However the star attraction was undoubtedly the opportunity to make Bill Butler, the new CEO of the SIA, aware of the extent of their feelings!  He faced a barrage of questions ranging from the cost of the license to the level of protection the introduction of Physical Intervention Skills would provide.  In all fairness Bill Butler has only been in the job for about 4 months, and is still finding his feet.  It has to be said he didn't back away from the challenge and gave as good as he got!  When he didn't have an answer he asked the questioner to email him, and he would find out what had happened.  He didn't win over everybody - but that was never going to happen.  What he did do, is show is that at last, someone is making the effort to talk to real DS, who hand over their £245 license fee and seem to get very little by way of return.