Project Servator

What is Project Servator?

In February 2014, in response to the public perception of an increased levels of crime and the threat of international terrorism the City of London Police launched a new public policing initiative called 'Servator' or 'Project Servator.' 'Project Servator' is an inclusive collaborative community strategy which aims to protect local areas and build upon the safety and security plans already in place to ensure safety and security. It is based on a partnership approach , where the police engage local communities and businesses, encouraging vigilance among residents and staff working in that area. Police seek to work closely with as many parts of the community as possible and briefings often include; local pubs and retailers, bus, rail or taxi firms and their drivers and homeless hostels.

Project Servator’s approach is the highly visible and unpredictable deployments of police assets. These may be the deployment of specially trained officers – uniformed and plain-clothes, dogs, horses coupled with the heightened use of CCTV. It involves increasing existing levels of community engagement, to encourage people to be vigilant and to report anything suspicious. It has included media engagement, poster advertisements in transport hubs or in roadside and telephone boxes, as well as leaflets placed in shops and cafes. In each case, the police force concerned, provides the public with telephone numbers to call if they see anything suspicious.

As the public feel more reassured by a visible policing on the streets, the aim of Servator is to make the police footprint very visible and very obvious. The police do so by a deployment of policing assets which are unpredictable in time, location and in asset used. One day dogs and handlers may be patrolling, the next the mounted branch may be visible, the next there may be a batch of six or seven officers patrolling an area, another day, there will be no one. There could be officers patrolling with private security teams, there could be officers working alongside CCTV teams with officers on the ground in the area being surveyed.

Where critical national infrastructure is involved, Project Servator may involve using undercover officers trained in behavioural analysis to spot people who might be scoping out sites for a potential terrorist attack. Officers’ expertise is in noticing the subtle, sometimes unconscious ways in which people behave differently when they are stressed or anxious.

Origins of Project Servator

The planning behind the development of Project Servator comes from three years of work with the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI), and the City of London Police who developed an initial Servator pilot scheme.

The CPNI at Cranfield University provided the research and development behind Servator as part of its role to reduce the vulnerability of the national infrastructure to terrorism and other threats and to help protect public places. The most significant threat comes from international terrorism with its ambitions to mount high impact attacks combining mass casualties with substantial disruption to vital services such as energy, transport and communications.

Cranfield University’s Professor Paul Baines said: “In psychology, reciprocity is a powerful mechanism. Most of us can relate to the idea that if we receive something from someone, we feel almost a need to ‘return the favour’, and are likely to do so.” Heightened public awareness of a potential threat is perceived as a ‘favour’ as it is protecting the public from danger. So the “UK police forces…use the notion of a favour/fear appeal to offer benefit to citizens and thereby encourage them to report suspicious activity.” Project Servator’s growing prominence in the public mind seeks to enable police to better “tactically engage with the public, ‘by recruiting’ them, and by encouraging them to be vigilant and more eager to report suspicious behaviour.” Professor Paul Baines has spoken about the importance of “reassurance communications” by the police as an important aspect of encouraging the public to report suspicious activity. https://www.academyofmarketing.org/index.php?option=com_docman&Itemid=598&alias=125-am2016-full-conference-schedule&category_slug=conference&lang=en&view=download

An example of Project Servator in practice

Project Servator tactics were used to protect the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow 2014.

CSSC Hub, Johanna Buchanan, CSSC Scotland Project Manager explained: 'Through CSSC’s wide network of businesses and industry sector connections we got the word out about Servator. We engaged small and large organisations in supporting Servator. The effect of this was to extend the footprint of Project Servator and led to them acting as public outreach to help the Games organizers work with the public to create ambassadors for vigilance.”

http://www.professionalsecurity.co.uk/news/interviews/servator-around-st-pauls/