Bouncing
back | Working
the doors - the image of bouncers is changing |
Ten years
ago the image of bouncers in Nottingham hit rock bottom. Undercover reporter
Donal McIntyre spent 11 months "working the doors" in the city's pubs
and nightclubs. His documentary revealed a seedy underworld of drug dealing
and criminals. Inside Out East Midlands investigates how the club scene
and door supervision has changed since then. Door supervisorsOur
first discovery is that door staff aren't bouncers any more.
Nowadays
they're called door supervisors and their image is changing.
The makeover
started 10 years ago. After the McIntyre film went out, the authorities
had to act. Gone are days when anyone could walk off the street and get
a job on the doors.
First, local councils introduced compulsory training
and badges.
Then came the Private Security Industry Act - that made it
illegal for anyone to work on the doors without a licence from the Security Industry
Authority.
Jackie Munn from the SIA says the national scheme introduced
a national standard: "There was a recognition that things
had to change. I personally knew of door supervisors who had convictions for murder.
We couldn't continue as we were."
In 2006, on a Friday
or Saturday night, door staff outnumber the police on duty by a ratio of 10 to
one.
Inspector Paul Winter from Nottingham's central police station told
us, "We need them and they need us. We have 350 licensed premises in the
city centre and without the help of door staff, keeping the peace would be virtually
impossible." Training as a door supervisorOur presenter Marie
Ashby decided to find out for herself what it's like to train as a door supervisor.
To get your badge today you need to be police checked, you need to
get through four days of training, pass some exams and then hand over 拢190.
The modules cover everything from drugs awareness to civil and criminal
law.  | | Conflict
management - Marie Ashby learns the tricks |
Marie joined a
class of students studying conflict management.
The emphasis is on defusing
the tense situations that crop up every night outside our pubs and clubs. Trainer
Jason Brown told us good communication skills are better than bulging biceps: "A
lot of the time, just by talking to the potential troublemakers and perhaps empathising
with them, you can calm the situation and stop it from escalating."
After
the theory, the practice - Marie got her chance to work in a real nightclub on
student night at Isis on the edge of Nottingham.
Her mentor was 65-year-old
Don McCalman, a doorman with experience spanning three decades who has written
a book, 'Bouncing Back' about his experiences.
Don showed Marie just how
tough it can be to look after everyone in a nightclub full of 2,000 students determined
to have a good time.
At the end of a long shift Marie has gained a real
insight into a world few of us see:
"Making this film has been a real
eye-opener. We're not saying all door supervisors are angels but after tonight
I've got a lot more respect for the work they do." Links
relating to this story:The
成人快手 is not responsible for the content of external websites | 
听听Inside
Out - East Midlands: Monday October 2, 2006
