The launch of our new Skills Board in partnership with the Security Industry Authority is not just a step in the right direction to improve higher standards of professionalism within private security, it is a golden opportunity for our industry to change perceptions about who we are and what we do.

If you think changing perceptions about our industry sounds like a relatively simple task, then think again. Reputations take a long time to build and once they are established, it can be even harder to change them. Security has evolved far beyond simply providing a well-trained and smartly uniformed officer at the front of a building and yet that is the image most people conjure up when asked about security.

Security is complex. It is a specialism that draws from a multitude of high-tech solutions and intelligence, and uses risk assessment, strategic planning, and as such, combines a huge range of skills, expertise and knowledge in its delivery. It should be portrayed and valued in the same way as other professional service businesses, but currently our reputation lags behind the reality of modern-day security.

It is important that we champion our industry.  We have a lot to offer everyone; whether a school leaver, a graduate or someone looking to change career direction, there are interesting and fulfilling roles with great prospects.

To that end, my view is we all need to be firmly invested in continuous professional development, not least because if we improve professional development structures within our individual businesses then this will help us attract and retain the high-calibre people that we need to ensure we consistently deliver a quality service to our clients. To fully drive change from within the CSC has recognised the need for collaboration, and that is why the new Skills Board is so important. By joining senior leaders together who can not only lead on and agree new initiatives that will set new skills levels but also act on them within their respective businesses, we will ensure the industry upskills together and drives towards professionalism without leaving anyone behind. It will give a voice to the industry and shine a spotlight on its importance, as well as on the changes we are making to ensure high levels of professionalism.

Another training initiative we are working on collaboratively is a major incident protocol with the City of London Police. By working together, we are both learning how best to work alongside each other and how to sharpen our responses, which will make us more effective in times of crisis.

Ultimately, we all need to shout about what we are doing to make our industry the best it can be, more attractive to join and more valued by clients, and by introducing new initiatives like the Skills Board we will gradually change the perception and be a fitter industry for it.

Ashley Fernandes Chair of the CSC www.citysecuritycouncil.co.uk

Read more articles on the City Security Council (CSC)

Read more articles from the SIA 

The post SIA and CSC launch Skills Board for security appeared first on City Security Magazine.

The City Security Council (CSC) has lent its support to help prevent suicides by signing a pledge to the covenant created by the Security Consortium for the Prevention of Suicide (SCPS).  The pledge commits the organisation to working with the SCPS to help raise awareness of the issue and share information within the security industry.

The SCPS was founded in 2022 by Vicki Vidler and is a network of security organisations operating in both the public and private sector dedicated to preventing suicide.   The consortium is guided by a panel of experts in suicide prevention that includes representatives from the National Police Chiefs Council Suicide Prevention Group, City of London Police, The Worshipful Company of Security Professionals and The Samaritans.  Membership is based on shared values and each member signs up to the consortium covenant.

“Suicide is sadly a major issue for our society.  Every week 115 people die by suicide in the UK.” said Vicki Vidler, founder of the SCPS “Our mission is simply to save lives.  By pooling our resources, we can learn from each other, share skills, technology and expertise all designed to improve suicide prevention activities.”

Ashely Fernandes, Chair of the CSC explains why he has signed the pledge on behalf of the Council; “The security profession has an important role to play in suicide prevention.  Very often security officers are the first people to spot someone behaving unusually and will be the first responders to go to help someone in need.  As an organisation we can encourage our members to have conversations around mental health within the workplace, provide support, training and together we can seek new ways to work towards combating suicide.”

David Ward, founder of DW Associates said “Suicide is something that we often don’t feel comfortable openly talking about and yet it is an issue that affects us all and one that as a society we desperately need to help address and minimise wherever we can.

“Every week suicides sadly occur in the UK and during my career, I have encountered many situations where security officers have been involved with talking to people who are in a place where they believe they have no other option left than to take their own life.  Our industry has an important role to play in combating suicide whether that is in identifying people at risk, providing support, training, counselling, or other prevention activities.  Furthermore, we need to put robust support mechanisms in place to support any staff members who are involved with a suicide.

“This initiative by the SCPS is an excellent starting point and as an industry one we can surely all get behind and support”

To find out more about the SCPS and how your security organisation can join please seehttps://suicidepreventionconsortium.org/

Read more articles about the City Security Council

The post Joining the team to prevent suicide – City Security Council pledges support appeared first on City Security Magazine.

Ashley Fernandes

The City Security Council (CSC) are delighted to announce the appointment of Ashley Fernandes as its new Chairman with effect from January 2022. Ashley succeeds Neil Catton, who served as Chairman this year.

Ashley has over 24 years’ experience working at all levels of Security and Risk Management within the Commercial, Retail, Government, and Aviation Sectors across the EMEA region.  Currently a serving Magistrate, Ashley is also a Committee Member of the City of London Crime Prevention Association, a Fellow and Global Advisory Council Member of the Institute of Strategic Risk Management, a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute, a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Security Professionals (WCoSP), a Trustee of the WCoSP Charitable Trust, and a member of both the Security Institute and ASIS UK Chapter.

The City Security Council was originally established as a collective of premier security companies based in the City of London.  The key objective was to work in close collaboration and support of the City of London Police and City of London Corporation in times of crisis or when any significant event takes place in the City.  Since its inception the group has grown considerably in membership and its remit has also evolved.  The CSC is now recognised as a leading and authoritative voice of the security industry and one that represents the interest of thousands of security officers. The membership is now open to any UK based Security company who is ACS approved or is working towards the relevant British Standard.

Ashley commented “I’m delighted to be Chairing the CSC for the oncoming year and look forward to working with all of the member organisations as we continue to develop the capabilities and value of the Council. I’d like to thank the previous chair Neil Catton for his tremendous work this year, continuing to build upon the solid foundations laid by David Ward. Over the last three years, the CSC has continually demonstrated the value of collaboration between our industry and our colleagues within the Emergency Services, helping to showcase our incident response capabilities and raise awareness of the valuable contribution our frontline security professionals make to the safety and security of the communities we live and work in.”

David Ward, founder and former Chair of the CSC welcomed Ashley as the Council’s new Chair and said “Ashley is an excellent appointment to the CSC Chair.  He brings considerable knowledge and experience along with a huge amount of enthusiasm for the role. I am sure he will be in an ideal position to pick up from Neil and help continue to drive forward the council’s objectives during 2022.  We look forward to working with him.”

David added that he wanted to take this opportunity on behalf of all the CSC members to thank Neill Catton, current Chair, for his stalwart leadership through such a trying time for the industry and for all that he did in continuing to grow the Council for the benefit of all its members.

Ashley will assume the position of Chair from 1 January 2022.

The post Ashley Fernandes from ICTS appointed chair of City Security Council appeared first on City Security Magazine.

In autumn 2020, the City Security Council (CSC) opened its membership to all UK based security companies who are ACS approved or working towards the British standard. The CSC is now recognised as a leading and authoritative voice of the security industry and one that represents the interests of thousands of security officers.

The CSC has set out its objectives for this year and is well underway with achieving these. A key objective is to further integrate with the City of London Police (CoLP) through a joint communications platform. The platform will allow for real time sharing of intelligence and the uploading of information directly into the CoLP JCCR (Joint Contact and Control Room). The system is expected to go live in the late spring of 2021.

There is a strong appetite among the membership to work alongside the CoLP in operational objectives. This will include more access and opportunity to increase Project Servator deployments. In addition, the capacity to conduct a greater volume of joint test exercises is underpinned by private security and police hi-visibility deployments.

There are already plans to conduct hi-visibility operations and to demonstrate to those City workers hopeful to return to their offices, that their work environment is protected and a very safe place.

Security Officers have been working tirelessly throughout the pandemic in keeping businesses safe and effective. I think that they deserve a highly visual day of opportunity to show the value that they have been providing to the City of London work environment and hopefully this can be echoed throughout widespread media coverage.

People objectives include a recognition scheme for good work by security teams. There is a great deal of commitment from CSC members and supporters and we look forward to jointly recognising good citizenship every quarter. Training developments will focus on the uptake in existing platforms, with both ACT and Scan Training being promoted with a pledge for any new members that these should be encouraged for completion by all Officers within their organisation.

Looking to the future, we aim to increase membership by 50% this year and would welcome the night-time economy and in-house teams to consider application. Full details of membership are available on our website or by emailing enquiries@citysecuritycouncil.co.uk.

The CSC now represents 80% of the UK Security Guarding Sector. We aim to bring ideas to life, improve secured environments and promote the well-being of the most important people: our front-line Security professionals.

Neill Catton

Chairman,

City Security Council

www.citysecuritycouncil.co.uk

For further views on this topic, see related articles from our Police & Partnerships, Risk Management and Security Management categories.

The post City Security Council (CSC) sets objectives for 2021 appeared first on City Security Magazine.

The City Security Council (CSC) has announced its intention to open membership to all UK based security companies who are ACS approved or working towards the British standard.  The move to broaden its membership criteria follows the success of its collaborative approach working in partnership with the City of London Police and emergency services in London. It also reflects the success of the Council in using its voice to represent the security industry and the thousands of security officers that are at the heart of it.

Previously, any security company wishing to join the Council was required to have a presence working within the City of London, this was to promote the sharing of relevant information and effective collaboration between security companies, the City of London Police and City of London Corporation.  Now, after months of seeing the benefits of its work in practice the Council believes sharing information further afield will have a major benefit for other communities and can help to create stronger and more effective collaborative partnerships with police and emergency services nationally.

David Ward, Chair of CSC and founder of national security company Ward Security said “Since our inception in 2019 we have quickly grown in membership and impact.  We have successfully proven the benefit of working closely and collaboratively within the City of London and the CSC is now recognised as a leading and authoritative voice of the security industry.  During the pandemic we also showed that collectively as a council we were able to strongly voice and represent the interests of thousands of security officers at Government level.   Importantly, we were fundamental in getting these security officers the recognition they needed and status as essential key workers.

“We now believe our collaborative approach will have benefit for security companies, police forces, communities and security officers all over the UK.  We would like to welcome these companies to join the council and help them establish networks within their communities.  We also want to continue to promote high standards which is why we will continue to promote the ACS standard alongside our Charter to our members.”

For other articles on CSC and other partnership initiatives, see our Police and Partnerships category.

Membership of the council is free. For more information about joining the City Security Council see here www.citysecuritycouncil.co.uk

The post City Security Council opens membership nationally appeared first on City Security Magazine.

 Working collectively and collaboratively has continued to be the main theme and focus for the members of the City Security Council (CSC) over the last few months.

We have continued to dial in regularly on the City of London Police-coordinated Silver conference calls which has ensured that all our security teams are fully up to date with the latest intelligence and are aware of any potential threats direct.

Collectively, we have a robust presence in the City of London, and this also means we have a strong and united voice. We used this to good effect, lobbying local government particularly around the issue of recognising and reclassifying security officers as essential key workers. We, along with other Associations, argued successfully that the 10,000 security related staff based in the City of London are essential key workers who have a vital role in supporting and assisting the police and the public, and protecting the security of our country.

We raised awareness not just of the importance of frontline workers to the infrastructure of our communities nationally but of the wider significance of having essential worker status for the families of security officers, such as allowing their children to attend school and gain authorised travel within restricted areas.

We also raised our collective concerns around the financial impact of reintroducing the London congestion charge and the potential impact this would have on our security personnel trying to get to their buildings safely.

Unfortunately, on this occasion we were not successful, receiving a rather wordy response from the Greater London Authority stating their concern for road congestion and air pollution as the reasons for declining our request, and therefore our frontline teams continue to endure both the congestion charge and the emissions charge on a daily basis when travelling into work as they try to avoid public transport where possible.

So, while we have spent a considerable amount of time talking, we have also continued to be active in the field. A large number of the City Security Council members took part in a joint, hi-visibility patrolling strategy with the City of London Police, as part of a Project Servator style initiative to deter potential building attacks from protest group Extinction Rebellion.

The joint initiative was implemented over the May Bank Holiday weekend and saw combined patrols being set up across the CSC sites within the Square Mile. Approximately 1,000 security officers took part, supported by the police, who were out in force both on foot and as mounted police officers. Together we created a sea of security officers and police officers, all highly visible and acting as an efficient deterrent for any potential protestors.

This was an excellent example of why the CSC exists in the first place, with everyone working side by side and collaboratively with the police to provide a common goal of greater protection for our clients, their assets, and the public.

The largest project that the CSC continues to work on is for the provision of a shared communications with the City of London Police and the City of London Corporation. The specification requirements are being finalised and shortly interested parties will be invited to complete a pre-qualification questionnaire to demonstrate their ability to move onto the short list for presentation to a review panel.

The benefits of the shared communications platform are numerous, with the sharing of information from the security officers on the ground into the Police Joint Contact and Control Room (JCCR) and the briefing of security officers from the JCCR with timely and accurate information being two of the major benefits; also in the event of an emergency, there is the ability to detail available resources to assist in the immediate vicinity in a matter of seconds. It is hoped the successful supplier for the platform will be confirmed before the end of the year with the system then going live in the first quarter of 2021.

Over the last few months it has become clear that many companies who are not members of a trade body have no voice and so we welcome security companies who are currently not a member of the CSC to join us wherever they are based in the UK so that we can lobby on their behalf along with all of our other members. Although the membership remit originally was Approved Contract Scheme (ACS) members only, we would also welcome those accredited to or working towards BS7499, BS7984, BS7958 and BS8517.

Speaking of membership, we were delighted to recently welcome G4S to the City Security Council.  It is almost hard to believe that it was only twelve months ago that the CSC was formally established, signed a charter and started on our collaborative journey. Little did we know then just how important this collaboration would quickly become, both for the industry and for our officers.

Further details are available on our website: https://citysecuritycouncil.co.uk

David Ward, chairman City Security Council

Hot off the press CSC is now opening its membership nationally, read full article here: City Security Council opens membership nationally

The post City Security Council (CSC) in practice appeared first on City Security Magazine.

CITY SECURITY COUNCIL

City Security Council exists to support collaboration and the sharing of intelligence between security companies, police and emergency services in the UK

T: 02030772145

E: chairman@citysecuritycouncil.co.uk

W: www.citysecuritycouncil.co.uk

CITY SECURITY COUNCIL NEWS VIEWS AND ARTICLES

SIA and CSC launch Skills Board for security

Ashley Fernandes Chair of the CSC discusses how the new Skills Board launched jointly by…

Read more

Joining the team to prevent suicide – City Security Council pledges support

City Security Council pledges support to Prevention of Suicide campaign The City Security Council…

Read more

Ashley Fernandes from ICTS appointed chair of City Security Council

The City Security Council (CSC) are delighted to announce the appointment of Ashley Fernandes…

Read more

City Security Council (CSC) sets objectives for 2021

The City Security Council (CSC) is a collective of premier security companies formed in…

Read more

City Security Council opens membership nationally

City Security Council opens membership to security companies nationally The City Security Council (CSC)…

Read more

City Security Council (CSC) in practice

The City Security Council: Working together for a safer City  Working collectively and collaboratively…

Read more

City Security Council launches in City of London

 City Security Council (CSC) launches in the City of London to improve crisis response…

Read more

The post CITY SECURITY COUNCIL appeared first on City Security Magazine.

A collective of premier security companies have formed the City Security Council (CSC) in order to better support the City of London Police in times of major crisis and emergency incidents.

Over the last 12 months, key security businesses have collaborated to gather ideas and agree a CSC charter that standardises effective and efficient responses when there is an emergency.

The CSC members will pool resources in the form of information gathering and sharing as well as their physical presence from 1000+ security officers and associated services across the square mile.  This group will support the police with coordinating responses to any significant event that should take place within the City.

The formation of the group has been overseen by David Ward, CEO of Ward Security who said “The key purpose for the council is to galvanise efforts and improve incident responses of security companies in the city of London at times of crisis as well as to help the City of London police.  By establishing a charter and standardising how we operate when there is an emergency or crisis we will then all instinctively know what our physical reaction will be as well as how we can best gather and share information.  The City of London Police will benefit from knowing there is consistency in response from the security industry and how we are supporting them.  It will make us all more prepared and effective in the event of a crisis, which can only be a good thing.”

City of London Police Commissioner, Ian Dyson has given his full support for the creation of the new council and said “Alongside our police officers, the security officers are very often the first people who the public turn to for help when there is an emergency.  These officers provide a vital role in helping to support and guide people during a crisis and so having a collaborative and consistent approach will not only help them work through an emergency but helps my police officers understand what is going on the background when they are dealing with an incident.  The CSC shows just how much knowledge is out there in the security industry and the benefits of collaboration.”

The CSC will be chaired by Adrian Moore of VSG security who said “This collaboration will not only improve our effectiveness but will help us understand where we need to improve standards and training for security staff to ensure that we are all working to the same end.  It is an excellent example of how important our industry is in helping to safeguard the public and assist the police in times of crisis.”

 For more information about the CSC and how to join please see www.citysecuritycouncil.co.uk

The CSC founding security members are;

o          Allied Universal (Europe) Ltd

o          Amulet Security

o          Axis Security Services Ltd

o          CIS Security

o          Cordant Security Services

o          Corps Security

o          Global Aware International

o          ICTS

o          ISS

o          Kingdom Security

o          Profile Security

o          Securitas

o          Smart Sec Security

o          Ultimate Security

o          Unitrust

o          Universal Security

o          VSG

o          Ward Security

If you would like further information, or if you run an ACS approved security company that works in the Square Mile and would like to get involved please visit the website: https://citysecuritycouncil.co.uk

The post City Security Council launches in City of London appeared first on City Security Magazine.