Venue Security & Protect Duty

The NEC Group has extensive knowledge and experience in ensuring the safe delivery of events across our venues. From hosting The Royal Family to the G8 Summit, multiple party conferences, international touring artists and hundreds more every year, we use a series of security measures to keep our venues safe for visitors.

Across nearly five decades we have worked closely with the police, the National Protective Security Authority (NPSA) and their local Counter Terrorism Security Advisors (CTSA) to deter and detect potential threats from entering our venues and the surrounding external public circulation spaces. We have a close partnership with West Midlands Police and carry out regular Project Servator operations. This policing tactic is where uniformed and plain clothes officers can visit at any time in and around the venue, deploying a range of measures that aim to disrupt criminal activity.

We maintain a multi-layered approach, both overt and covert. These include vehicular and pedestrian access control supported by the proactive use of technology and CCTV monitoring systems. So, while you may not see all operational security activity, you should be assured that it is ongoing, often behind the scenes, to prevent crime and keep you safe  on site.

On Tuesday 2nd May 2023, the Home Office published a draft Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill known as Martyn’s Law. The new draft law will ensure that the UK will be better prepared for, and protected from, terrorist attacks — making the responsibility for counter-terrorism in public spaces a legislative requirement, an aid to our ongoing efforts.

The NEC Group fully supports the bill and as a responsible venue operator, is committed to providing safe venues with robust security, medical and welfare regimes in place. To this end, thorough risk assessments, trained and competent personnel and effective liaison between venues, event organisers, local authorities, and the emergency services, play a hugely important part in keeping our venues and attendees safe.

The security measures and procedures we already have in place across our venues include:

• State-of-the-art CCTV monitoring and communications centres
• Search and screening technology at venue entrances
• Regular attendance from uniformed and plain-clothed police officers
• A Response and Conflict Management team
• A Behavioural Detection team
• Dedicated security dog team
• Vehicle checkpoints
• Hostile vehicle mitigation protection
• Use of security management systems
• Appropriately qualified and mandatory trained security staff
• Health and safety risk assessments for every event
• Frequent stress testing and mandatory training on data protection and cyber security
• We are members of arena, exhibition and conference association security working groups

Trust Your Instincts!

Everyone has an important role to play in helping us by reporting anything that doesn’t feel right, for example, any unattended items or someone acting suspiciously. If something doesn’t feel right- report it. It’s better to be safe.

See it, say it, sorted:

• Tell our security team
• Report in confidence any suspicious activity at gov.uk/ACT or on 0800 789 321
• Call 999 in an emergency