There are some things you get involved with because they make good business sense.
And there are others you get involved with simply because you believe in what they are trying to achieve.
For me, Ask for Angela is firmly in the second category.
When I was asked to become a Trustee, I felt genuinely privileged. Not because of the title, but because of what the campaign represents and the opportunity to play a small part in helping it develop.
Its premise is brilliantly simple.
Someone feels unsafe, vulnerable or uncomfortable in a participating venue. They approach a member of staff and “Ask for Angela.”
Those few words provide a discreet way of saying:
I need some help.
What happens next is where the real importance lies.
More than a poster on the wall
Most people will have seen Ask for Angela posters in pubs, bars, clubs and other venues.
But the campaign has never simply been about posters.
A poster creates awareness.
A person creates the response.
If somebody finds the courage to ask for Angela, the member of staff receiving that request needs to recognise what it means, listen, respond appropriately and help that person feel safe.
That requires awareness.
It requires empathy.
It requires communication.
And it requires people to feel confident enough to act.
For me, that is where Ask for Angela connects so strongly with much of the work I have done throughout my career.
Why Ask for Angela resonates with me
I spent many years in policing working with people during some of the most difficult moments of their lives.
As a detective, hostage and crisis negotiator, and through my work within safeguarding and child protection, I saw repeatedly how important it is to notice what is happening beneath the surface.
People don’t always tell us directly that something is wrong.
Sometimes they can’t.
Sometimes they are frightened.
Sometimes they aren’t entirely sure themselves.
And sometimes they communicate it in the only way they feel able to at that moment.
The responsibility then falls on somebody else to notice, listen and respond.
That principle has stayed with me throughout my career and is now embedded in much of what we do at The Bureau Consultancy.
It is also one of the reasons Ask for Angela means so much to me personally.
Security is bigger than security
When we talk about security, it is easy to think about guards, CCTV, access control, terrorism, hostile reconnaissance and emergency procedures.
Those things matter enormously.
But I believe security is a much broader ecosystem.
It includes safeguarding.
It includes organisational culture.
It includes psychological safety.
It includes communication.
It includes recognising vulnerability.
And fundamentally, it includes people looking out for other people.
A member of bar staff noticing that somebody has suddenly become uncomfortable.
A security officer recognising that a situation doesn’t quite fit.
A colleague checking in because somebody’s behaviour has changed.
A manager creating a culture where staff feel confident enough to speak up.
These may appear to be small interventions.
Sometimes they are.
Sometimes they aren’t.
The power of early intervention
Much of our work at The Bureau is built around a simple principle:
The earlier we recognise that something is changing, the more options we have available to us.
That applies in crisis management.
It applies in protective security.
It applies in leadership.
And it absolutely applies to safeguarding.
Intervention doesn’t always need to be dramatic.
Sometimes it is simply a conversation.
A question.
A moment of curiosity.
Or somebody recognising that another person needs help.
Ask for Angela provides a mechanism for exactly that.
But for the mechanism to work, people need to understand the responsibility that sits behind those three words.
A wider culture of vigilance and care
There is another reason I believe the campaign belongs within the wider security conversation.
We increasingly ask people working in public-facing environments to be vigilant.
But vigilance shouldn’t simply mean looking for threats.
It should mean being attentive to people and to changes in our environment.
Who looks uncomfortable?
What has changed?
Does this situation make sense?
Is somebody trying to communicate something without saying it explicitly?
Does something simply not feel right?
These are questions that sit across safeguarding and protective security.
And they reinforce something I strongly believe:
Good security is not just about detecting threat. It is also about recognising vulnerability.
The two should never exist in isolation.
A privilege and a responsibility
Being asked to serve as a Trustee of Ask for Angela is something I am incredibly proud of.
But I also see it as a responsibility.
A responsibility to help protect the integrity of the campaign.
To help organisations understand that adopting Ask for Angela means more than displaying the logo.
And to continue raising awareness of what good intervention, communication and safeguarding actually look like in practice.
Because ultimately, the success of Ask for Angela isn’t measured by how many posters are displayed.
It is measured in those moments when somebody asks for Angela…
and somebody knows what to do next.
