Metal detectors / bag searches obligatory safety measure for big public venues

My son Martyn Hett was one of the 22 people murdered in May 2017 at the Manchester Arena whilst attending a concert. I wrongly assumed that since this tragedy event organisers have significantly increased security checks. I was at a concert last week and nobody checked tickets or bags.

I put my story on twitter and appeared on BBC radio Manchester. The response of people indicates that up and down the country security checks are very patchy. Some places do checks, some have metal detectors, some open doors at the interval for smokers, but then anyone can walk in from the street. There are some good examples too, but on the whole there is a feeling of unease about lack of security. This needs to be standardised as a legal (Martyn’s Law?) obligation, not a discretionary choice.

Thank you for raising this important matter and may we first offer our deepest sympathies to you for the loss of your son Martyn, and to all the families and loved ones of those 22 victims of the horrendous crime that occurred on 22 May 2017 at Manchester Arena.

Please be reassured that the Government is committed to improving security at crowded places. Every crowded place is unique, with a different geography, construction, usage, customer profile and security stance. The Government’s approach is to enable and support the owners and operators of crowded places to select and deploy a range of holistic and proportionate security measures that are most appropriate for their site, based on high quality advice and guidance. Obligating specific security measures in all circumstances could lead to those specific security measures being deployed by venues to achieve compliance, rather than selecting the measures that are most suitable to making the public and staff safer at that site.

The UK has an internationally recognised Counter-Terrorism Strategy. It is known as ‘CONTEST’ and its aim is to reduce the risk to the UK from terrorism, so that people can go about their lives freely and with confidence. It is regularly reviewed and refreshed in order to ensure that we can respond to the ever-changing threat that international terrorism presents. CONTEST brings together a number of Government departments and partner organisations to work together to reduce this risk to the UK. You can read the strategy and more about this work at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/contest.