Security guards?

Last year many of us were surprised, and made a bit uncomfortable by the appearance of private security guards over night on the first night of the con. Not that we were doing anything wrong, but more of a “What the hell is going on here?”

They stood about, looking grim, arms crossed, practically glaring at attendees, moving around in packs of twos. Many people commented to me, as well as I felt it was a bit over the top, lent an uncomfortable air to the convention, and that they seemed to be there to intimidate attendees.

By the end of the con they seemed to move around more in singles, and a few seemed to have loosened up, but as a rule of thumb most were still quite unapproachable and not very friendly towards the attendees. I am curious if they hotel is planning to do this again this year, and if so, if the hired private security will get some training on what to expect, how to interact with attendees, etc. As paying attendees, and as a convention that not only rents out almost all available convention space, but fills large room blocks, I feel we should be accorded a bit more courtesy.

Personally, while I had no bad experiences with them, I felt they lent an entirely unnecessary, and inappropriate feeling to the conventions. No other convention I've attended across the country, Further Confusion, AnthroCon, Fur Fright for instance, has ever felt the need for this, nor did this current hotel our first year.

So what happened, and what will be happening this year?