Lone worker monitoring deters wardens attacks

Article published in Open Access Government.

Local authorities across the UK have been urged to ensure the safety of parking wardens and other members of staff classed as lone workers by adopting lone worker digital monitoring systems that can both prevent and record cases of abuse by the public.

Body cameras issued to parking enforcement officers in Yorkshire should be integrated with alarms to police if they are to be an effective deterrent to abuse or violent attack, a lone worker specialist has said.

Tom Morton, CEO of lone worker protection specialist Safe Shores Monitoring, welcomed the move to protect parking wardens from a rising tide of assault incidents. But, as local authorities across the UK adopt a variety of technologies to defend lone workers, he said safety would be improved further if the body cameras were also linked to lone worker digital monitoring alarms that dispatch police to the scene of the crime.

He said: “Integrating alarm systems with CCTV filming capabilities offers police and security services an easy and accessible way of capturing the evidence required to bring thugs attacking parking wardens to book. It also gives the warden or other lone worker peace of mind that not only will attacks be recorded but police will be there ASAP if required.

“Lone worker digital monitoring used to support lone workers is key in the battle against rising cases of abuse. Platforms such as Safe Shores Monitoring’s Archangel is capable of integrating any number of technologies and is adapted to collate all available event data including location, device and user activity. This enables the enforcement officer to record the abuse and successfully prosecute the offender.”