Spring break areas and security work?

[mh892]

Spring Break seems to bring a lot of wild younger people to NW Florida, and many other places, in February and March. What seasonal problems does this group bring for security officers/guards? How do you handle the young, mostly under age drunks? Is your security force increased during the season?

[HotelSecurity]

The worst time of year for security in Montreal hotels. The legal drinking age in Quebec is 18. In the nearby provinces & northern US states it is 19 to 21. We get a lot of 17 & 18 year olds. They get wild. The hotel lets me put 1 guard per floor when it's an organized group. This is dangerous. 1 guard on a floor with 29 rooms x 4 underaged first time drinkers! It gets worse as the week goes on. By the end of the week they've run out of money. They hang around the hotel looking for things to do. I've been dealing with it for over 30 years now - hate it!!

[FederalSecurity]

When I was a Security Officer in South Texas working on South Padre

Island, Spring Break signified a major increase of special considerations.

Spring Break destinations attract high school and college students from many

parts of the country, as well as locals of all ages. Normally quiet towns and

cities are turned into crowded festivals during the day and raging animal

houses at night. Security personnel stationed in hotels must deal with

tresspassing, maximum room occupancy, excessive noise, and other violations

of in-house rules and regulations. Security personnel in night clubs must deal

with weapons of various sorts, rival gangs, deceptive minors, and crowd

control among other things. All must deal with drugs and the resulting

overdoses, theft, vandalism, fighting, rape, and sometimes death.

Any Security Organization that has any experience with Spring Break will

temporarily increase its numbers for a few weeks. Inevitably, you will have

to deal with these issues in one form or another, and the good thing is that

there will be at least one of your comrades around to support and assist

you. When dealing with the ones who are there just to have innocent fun,

be as fair as you can and in most cases respect will be given back to you.

When confronting the ones who are causing trouble, be especially stern and

unyeilding and let them know that they will not be tolerated.

Despite all of the volatile situations and long, hectic days and nights ahead

of you, don't ever hesitate to have fun during Spring Break. Someday those

days might even become good memories.

[davis002]

I live in Minnesota, so spring breakers are unlikely to come here...

Unless they desire to join the "polar bear club"

[Black Caesar]

When I was a Security Officer in South Texas working on South Padre Island,

I took my family to Padre last year for vacation, 1st week of June. Actually, we stay in port Isabell, close to the bridge because it was cheaper lol, Padre was litterally a 2 minute drive away. We LOVED it. But I think I'd have hated to be there with my kids during sprig break, after listening to a Secuity Officer's horror storys (the S/O worked for a company whose name I can't recall, and was assigned to our hotel).

[FederalSecurity]

Ceasar,

During Texas Week of Spring Break, that island gets so crowded that it

takes a couple of hours just to get across, so what do the Spring Breakers

do??? They just get out of their vehicles and party on the bridge while

they're waiting! What my old security company does is rent their Officers

hotel rooms on the Island so they don't have to go all the way home. During

Texas Week, I worked 90 hours so it was alot easier to go up to the hotel

room after my shift ended, sleep 4 or 5 hours, and get up for work again.

One more thing, I don't ever recommend taking your children to the

Island during Spring Break. At one time, a complete stranger approached me

while I was on duty and wanted to hire me on my time off to follow his

daughter around and make sure she didn't get into trouble. I thought this guy

was completely nutso!!!

[HotelSecurity]

I live in Minnesota, so spring breakers are unlikely to come here...

Unless they desire to join the "polar bear club"

It isn't sunny & warm during March Break here in Montreal. But they don't come here for the sun. It is the liquid sunshine that warms them up so much that they actually go out in the snow wearing shorts & t-shirts some times.

[flashlightcop509]

Spring Break seems to bring a lot of wild younger people to NW Florida, and many other places, in February and March. What seasonal problems does this group bring for security officers/guards? How do you handle the young, mostly under age drunks? Is your security force increased during the season?

We're getting into the swing of it here soon in Vermont for skiiers and (especially) snowboarders, so I expect many nights of college hijinks

Usually, if it's one of the tour groups that are well known up here, we are notified in advance and provided with the names, phone and room numbers of the group representatives, the specific units occupied and the names of all the guests in each unit; normally, we warn the unit a first time (noise, etc.), and a second complaint usually follows in short order, then we get hold of the rep's and bring them with us on the second visit... That sometimes does the trick...

Then we have the groups that are not college, but High School; A firm policy at my site is that ANY alcohol found in a unit occupied exclusively by minors is confiscated right off the bat. Sometimes we get the older teens that get their liquid courage up and mouth off, but then we tell them they are one speed dial away from a State Trooper to respond and notify parents and issue Alcohol Safety referral sheets...

I had a similar type group about 3 weeks ago, making Hella noise and blaring music at 2 a.m... I knocked on the door and told them the rules, and further violations would cost them between $200 - $400 in deposit. They said ok, and Myself and the other Officer who was with me waited outside in the stairwell for about 3-4 minutes to see if they clammed up a bit when 2 of the guys came out and down the stairs... The 2nd guy said something to the effect of "I'll punch that cop in the mouth", not seeing me in the stairs past his buddy in the lead. Once he saw me his eyes got a little bit clearer and he said "Just kidding" as they walked past and out to the parking lot...

[HotelSecurity]

We're getting into the swing of it here soon in Vermont for skiiers and (especially) snowboarders, so I expect many nights of college hijinks

Usually, if it's one of the tour groups that are well known up here, we are notified in advance and provided with the names, phone and room numbers of the group representatives, the specific units occupied and the names of all the guests in each unit; normally, we warn the unit a first time (noise, etc.), and a second complaint usually follows in short order, then we get hold of the rep's and bring them with us on the second visit... That sometimes does the trick...

Then we have the groups that are not college, but High School; A firm policy at my site is that ANY alcohol found in a unit occupied exclusively by minors is confiscated right off the bat. Sometimes we get the older teens that get their liquid courage up and mouth off, but then we tell them they are one speed dial away from a State Trooper to respond and notify parents and issue Alcohol Safety referral sheets...

I had a similar type group about 3 weeks ago, making Hella noise and blaring music at 2 a.m... I knocked on the door and told them the rules, and further violations would cost them between $200 - $400 in deposit. They said ok, and Myself and the other Officer who was with me waited outside in the stairwell for about 3-4 minutes to see if they clammed up a bit when 2 of the guys came out and down the stairs... The 2nd guy said something to the effect of "I'll punch that cop in the mouth", not seeing me in the stairs past his buddy in the lead. Once he saw me his eyes got a little bit clearer and he said "Just kidding" as they walked past and out to the parking lot...

I've witten about our problem a few times. We used to use the "2 warnings & you're out the 3rd time" at my hotels. This was before the legal department of the Montreal Police decided that an hotel room is a dwelling & a person can not be thrown out of his dwelling without due process. We were further warned that if we open a door to throw them out, we can be charged with break & entry

[HotelSecurity]

What do you guys think of the following?:

When we get an organized group of students (not just a bunch of friends who booked via the internet - which by the way is happening more & more), we only accept the group if they agree to pay for extra security overnight. The hotel insists on 1 Guard per floor. We then post this poor person on a floor with 29 rooms & 4 registered people per room plus unregistered ones & visitors. I say it's unsafe for the unarmed (not even pepper spray) guard. When I have my way I put 2 Guards together & have them patrol 2 floors. I'm told by my boss that this is wrong because the group is paying to have one per floor & if something were to happen on a floor while both guards were on the other one, the group would be right in refusing to pay for damages.

[flashlightcop509]

What do you guys think of the following?:

When we get an organized group of students (not just a bunch of friends who booked via the internet - which by the way is happening more & more), we only accept the group if they agree to pay for extra security overnight. The hotel insists on 1 Guard per floor. We then post this poor person on a floor with 29 rooms & 4 registered people per room plus unregistered ones & visitors. I say it's unsafe for the unarmed (not even pepper spray) guard. When I have my way I put 2 Guards together & have them patrol 2 floors. I'm told by my boss that this is wrong because the group is paying to have one per floor & if something were to happen on a floor while both guards were on the other one, the group would be right in refusing to pay for damages.

If you have one Officer per floor patrolling constantly, and taking note of and documenting room damages over the course of the shift, in particular catching a guest in the act of vandalizing private property.... If it is really that bad per floor with only one Officer per, I'd personally be issuing some ultimatums to problem rooms as I saw fit pending eviction... After all, you are at that time an agent for the client, so by Law or at least policy, you could happen upon a drunk guest peeing off a balcony at 3 a.m., and with that, issue a Notice of Trespass for disorderly conduct and have him off your property in less than an 1/2 hour...


I look at a few instances in a one person context; I put Myself in place of the client... say I patrol a condo unit down the street and find a dude pissing on the dumpster, having carnal knowledge of the person he is with in public, etc... if it were my house (or yours) and alla sudden, you see someone screwing on your backporch deck, you gonna pass it off or are you gonna call someone?

[james2go30]

hey hey

Getting extra officers here....done trained four this week and getting three more next week. Sadly in the point in time that we have been o one officer per shift for the off season...we've had a couple of incidents in the garage involving attempted auto break ins....and a ton of other stuff. We been understaffed all winter so I love the sprink beak bringing us new officers and getting us back to full staff

[mh892]

I've witten about our problem a few times. We used to use the "2 warnings & you're out the 3rd time" at my hotels. This was before the legal department of the Montreal Police decided that an hotel room is a dwelling & a person can not be thrown out of his dwelling without due process. We were further warned that if we open a door to throw them out, we can be charged with break & entry

One SO talks to the unruly individuals while the other video tapes the meeting. Being video taped instantly changes a lot of behaviors. Does the law or client have restrictions?

[HotelSecurity]

issue a Notice of Trespass for disorderly conduct and have him off your property in less than an 1/2 hour...

There is no trespass to property act in Quebec & again registered guests can not be thrown out of their room unless you get a judgement from a court.

[N. A. Corbier]

There is no trespass to property act in Quebec & again registered guests can not be thrown out of their room unless you get a judgement from a court.

Please see: "HotelSecurity is from Quebec, where they hate people."