Do you work for the Massachusetts Convention Center?
Yes, I do. We are in charge of two separate facilities. They are the Hynes Auditorium and the Boston Common Garage. We have tours in place in both facilities.
What types of events are held in the Hynes Auditorium?
All different types of things. Anything from small business meetings of 10-15 people to international conventions with up to 8,000-10,000 people. The Auditorium’s maximum occupancy is 10,000. We have 36 meeting rooms and five exhibit halls, along with a ballroom. The ballroom is mostly used for dinners and general sessions when there are exhibitions.
We can have quite a few exhibitions going on during the peak months. It is pretty much one after another starting in February all the way through December. We have people setting up for a show, taking down the show, and then another moving right in. Sometimes one exhibition is moving in before the previous one is moved out! It can get confusing.
There are three floors of meeting and exhibition space and two other levels of mechanical space and administrative areas. Our offices are also located here. There is 200,000-300,000 square feet of total space here.
Where is the Boston Common Garage located?
It is a few minutes from the Hynes Auditorium. However, it is not convenient to park here to go to the Convention Center. The garage is in downtown Boston. There is a big park, called the Boston Commons, and the garage was built underneath it. The State House and the Cheers bar are very close. We are also close to brownstones, and the residents park there during the night, as parking is very limited. During the day, business workers and shoppers use the garage.
How many security officers does it take to guard such large areas?
It depends on the day. On a normal day when the building is empty, we have around twelve guards. That can go up to as many as 20-30 depending on the event. There are four of us and a director employed directly.
How many PIPEs and buttons do you own?
We have four PIPEs that rotate between the two sites. Right now we have 100 buttons in use between the two facilities. We have another 100 that we plan on implementing. We want to put these in the mechanical area of the Auditorium. Right now, we do not have any formal tour there.
How many tours are there?
Currently, we have two in the Convention Center and one in the garage. In the Convention Center, one is done twice each shift or once every four hours. This is the supervisor's tour. This is done to make sure the guards are patrolling where they are supposed to be. The other is done six times per shift. It takes 20 minutes to 45 minutes. Most of the points are at access doors to the outside, or doors to the exhibit halls. We check them to make sure they are all secured, especially at night. The garage tour is done once every hour. It takes about half an hour to complete it. We mostly look for cars that are broken into, but we also do them to have our presence known. There are four entrances to the garage, and homeless people go inside to stay warm. So, we patrol these areas as well.
With the size of the Convention Center, I am sure there have been some interesting incidents.
The biggest that I have seen happened a few months ago. We had a biotechnology convention that received national attention from many environmental and protest groups. This forced us to have a larger than normal security presence, and a citywide command center. We dealt with about 5,000 protesters in front of the building. The Boston Police, State Police, and FBI all were on hand to help out. The convention went on smoothly, however. In fact, the president of that organization said it was one of the most well attended and successful exhibitions!
What prompted the switch to Guard1?
We used a bar code reader, which is better used for inventory control than guard tours. We found that the guards would take the bar code off, photocopy the sheet, and sit in their office. We finally got suspicious and found out what they were doing. Our old system was always getting repaired. We had two readers and as one was on its way in, the other was on its way out to be repaired. We have had your system for about five months. We are very happy with it.
How has Guard1 improved the quality of your work?
We have been better able to monitor what the guards are doing and where they are. The PIPE gives our officers better presence around the facilities. People see them out and realize they are there and that they are working. It makes them feel better. We have a good schedule for them to be out there. We are keeping them occupied.
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