In the News with Allied Universal Higher Education: COVID-19, shutdowns and unrest cascade across the guarding world

This article was previously published by Security Magazine

Recently, Allied Universal was featured in the recent publication from SecurityMagazine.com with Texas A&M University.  During the pandemic, Allied Universal helped provide the university with support in patrolling its indoor facilities, parking lots, and added extra security to help socially distance classes.  Below is an excerpt from the article.  To learn how Allied Universal can help you and your campus return to school safely, click here.

“In normal times, Texas A&M University School of Law in downtown Fort Worth, which offers Master of Laws (LL.M.) and Master of Jurisprudence (M.Jur.) degrees in addition to the standard J.D., is buzzing with activity. Located about 200 miles away from the University’s main campus in a stand-alone building, the law school hired Allied Universal a year ago to patrol its indoor facilities and outdoor parking lots.

In Allied Universal’s first weeks on the job, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and Texas Supreme Court made separate appearances at the school to hear cases. “It required a higher level of security to make sure everything went smoothly,” says Matt Pellegrino, Facilities Manager with the law school.

Given the downtown location and proximity to highways and public transportation, you never know who’s going to walk in the door, Pellegrino says, nor do you know who’s going to meander onto surface parking lots in an area with a sizable homeless population. “[Allied Universal is] managing the parking lots but also being the eyes and ears inside the building,” he says.

The level of activity in and around the building has dropped somewhat since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, although the school reopened this fall after closing in the spring. Allied Universal has needed to add a fourth guard to the mix, because, in order to socially distance classes adequately, Texas A&M has rented conference room space in a nearby hotel, Pellegrino says.

“Prior to spring break, we were very, very busy with different events, and a lot of different people coming in,” he says. “Then the pandemic came in and put the brakes on everything.” This fall, “Large classes are over at the hotel. It’s not quite as busy over here at times, as it would be in a normal semester.”

The law school has made a number of changes to access amid COVID-19, including closing off access doors to the main building to channel everyone through the front entrance; made hallways and stairwells directional; limited elevators to two people; and also made masks mandatory. Pellegrino notes that the guarding staff is responsible for politely but firmly enforcing all of those new changes.”

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Mahsa Karimi is Manager, Education at Allied Universal.  She has worked extensively with Allied Universal’s K-12 and Higher Education clients to help them achieve their goal of creating safer learning environments. Mahsa has a BA from the University of Texas and MBA from Long Island University. Allied Universal®, a leading security and facility services company in North America with over 265,000 employees and revenues over $9.5 billion, provides unparalleled security services and technology solutions. Additional information about Allied Universal is available at www.aus.com. Mahsa can be reached at mahsa.karimi@aus.com.