Since its launch fifteen months ago Prevent Violence against Women and Girls and Domestic Abuse – Our Safer City continues to make an impact. Here are some highlights:

Taxi Marshalling

Providing a safe place to wait for a black cab, the marshals, who are licensed black cab drivers, manage and control the queue, prevent conflicts, and encourage black cabs to attend this location at night. Since launch:

35,447   Total passengers

50.22%  Female passengers

33.1%      Lone female passengers

Perception Surveys

Two surveys have been carried out to identify perceptions of safety in the City, coupled with Oxford Partnership data on hotspots to highlight where to target resources.

Safe Havens

43 Safe Haven locations in the City of London – offering temporary refuge to support to someone feeling vulnerable or needing support for their journey home.

Ask for Angela

210 Venues support for those who feel vulnerable on a night out, with a discreet way to access help.

Awards 

Winner: OSPA for Community Security Partnership

Winner: Security Partnering Initiative of the Year (alongside the Safer Business Network and others) at the Security & Fire Excellence Awards.

Thank you to our partners and supporters including; City of London Corporation; City of London Crime Prevention Association; Eastern City BID; Aldgate Connect BID; The Worshipful Company of Security Professionals; Safer Business Network and QCIC Ltd.

Find out more at Our Safer City.

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I met Account Manager Evans Tumasi at Dior’s flagship store in New Bond Street – an impressive location to have coffee and find out more about this security professional.

Evans’ career in the world of security began following the recommendation of a friend, by working as a store detective in branches of the supermarkets Safeway, Asda, and Kwik Save in London.

Evans then had the opportunity of working in luxury retail with Assist Services Group as a security officer, was then promoted to supervisor and in 2016 became Account Manager for the seven Dior stores/outlets in the UK.

I asked about the best thing regarding his job and Evans explained that it is every aspect of his role: “Looking after the security and welfare of my clients’ staff and clients, my team of seventy officers and, of course, the overall security and loss prevention of the company’s assets.”

We discussed the most important skills for a role in security in this environment and Evans began by saying: “Good communication skills are key, with the ability to engage with a wide variety of people – also to have the ability to profile and assess people.”

Secondly, he believes: “Technology is also an important part of our provision through CCTV and personal communications between the officers in combatting theft. This is mostly through the sharing of information from known shoplifters/fraud gangs that share information through WhatsApp groups. This reflects the changes in my role over the years and how loss prevention has evolved from traditional shoplifting to fraud through various payment platforms (including payment by mobile phones).”

I asked Evans about the highlight of his career and not surprisingly (being the humble person he is) he says: “the recognition and being given the opportunity by Assist and Dior in my current position. Also, during COVID, it was a very demanding time whereby we managed to fulfil online orders/deliveries and retain a full complement of staff across all locations. Everyone pulled together under what were difficult circumstances, and I was immensely proud. I also enjoy helping others in their career development and seeing them progress.”

What advice would Evans give someone wanting to get into security? “You must have the love and the passion for the job and what you do, and you must also have integrity.” And how would he like to progress in his role? He replies with a smile: “To be a partner within the company.”

And why not? Evans has made the switch from high street supermarkets and worked his way up to luxury retail management. He is one of the good ones, and no doubt a great ambassador for the business.

Troy Hewitt, CEO at Assist Services Group, says of “Evans is a very dedicated hardworking person who shies away from the limelight and doesn’t like to take credit for the work he has done. He has had many successes over the years with changing people’s perceptions of security as he has (deservedly) gained promotions leading to his current position in the company.

Evans is a trustworthy, honest, loyal person who I hope I will continue to work with for many years to come.”

Followed with equal sentiment from Evans’ client, Geoffrey Bailey (Dior UK FM Manager): “I have not met a more knowledgeable retail security professional. His breadth of experience in luxury retail makes him an impressive operator, with a skill for handling any level of situation.”

Graham Bassett

City Security magazine

Editorial Committee

The post Focus on a Security Professional: Evans Tumasi Account Manager appeared first on City Security Magazine.

CSL GROUP

CSL provide secure connectivity for M2M & IoT devices. Lots of companies provide connectivity, CSL supply critical connectivity.

T: +44 (0)1895 474470

E: sales@csl-group.com

W: www.csl-group.com

Twitter: @CSLGroupLtd

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In the UK, 5.7 million businesses have fewer than 250 employees. It can be key to their survival for these Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to create coherent and effective security and resilience strategies.

What are the top tips for smaller businesses to be more resilient to threats to their people, property and assets?

1. Understanding potential threats

The starting point should be to understand the key potential threats to your organisation. It’s difficult to put measures in place that limit the exposure to risk unless the likely sources of potential threat are identified. City centre locations, or those close to major public infrastructure such as travel hubs, hospitals or universities, are likely to be at higher risk of attack than others, for example, if only because your business might get caught up in an attack, fire or explosion from a neighbouring building.

Know your neighbours and their potential threats because they could end up being your threats too. If your organisation is involved in, or supplies products or services to organisations involved in, potentially contentious activities, including financial services, oil and gas, meat production, animal testing, arms procurement, tobacco, gambling, then you may be at higher risk than others. Understand where you sit on the threat scale and you can then plan accordingly.

2. Carry out a comprehensive risk and threat assessment

Once you have a general idea of your threats, carry out a comprehensive risk and threat assessment. Undertaking an in-depth analysis of your activities and facilities will help you to identify the most appropriate security solutions.

Do you store a large number of high value items, for example, which would seriously threaten the continuity of your business if they were to be stolen?

Do you have sensitive manufacturing or IT equipment which needs to be kept secure? Are you in a multi-tenanted building?

Work out what’s the worst thing that could happen to your business and plan accordingly.

Also, be aware of what’s happening in the wider world and understand whether any events have safety implications for your organisation. For example, if you’re in the meat production industry and there are attacks on organisations in this sector, you may need to change your strategy and update policies.

3. Put together a security strategy

Once you’ve identified your threats, then put plans in place to mitigate them. You may prefer to use a security consultant to help you, but it’s perfectly possible for a small business to research the various options and create a coherent and effective security strategy. You should consider a mixture of physical security – fences, gates, doors, windows – combined with security personnel – officers and even dogs – and electronic security – cameras, sensors, alarms etc. An integrated approach is the most cost-effective and most powerful.

4. Don’t forget cyber security

Many organisations find themselves under constant barrage from hackers or phishing scams, including online systems being compromised by people purporting to be company directors extracting cash or information from employees. Hackers have even targeted building management systems and used them to access an organisation’s network. Work with your IT colleagues to devise a strategy for dealing with cyber attacks and include it in your physical security strategy. They should be completely integrated to be successful.

5. Be discerning when procuring advice and services

If you seek advice, look for professional credentials such as the Chartered Security Professional designation, and/or membership of the Security Institute, or Association of Security Consultants. Anyone can call themselves a security consultant, so ask for references and follow them up. Likewise, when looking to employ an external security service, only use companies that are designated as approved contractors by the Security Industry Authority (SIA) and make sure that their people are licensed.

6. Allocate the necessary budget

Make sure that there is money allocated to support the strategy. Some of the investment can be categorised as Capex and some as Opex, which may help mid-year expenditure. Ensure that security has a protected place in the budget in future years and always build in contingency – security needs have a way of changing quickly and you don’t want to be arguing about investment in the middle of a disaster.

7. Determine who is responsible

Irrespective of the size of an organisation, someone has to take overall responsibility for security. It might be the MD’s PA, the office manager or the FD, but the person needs to know they’re in charge.  This is particularly important in the event of a fire, robbery, explosion or other emergency, as a designated person will need to manage the crisis and make sure that the necessary safety procedures are implemented correctly.

8. Educate internal stakeholders

Everyone thinks that security is someone else’s responsibility, so it’s important to educate everyone in the organisation about their personal role in keeping people and property safe. It could be as simple, but crucial, as making sure windows and doors are locked or setting the alarm. Or people may have more complex roles in the event of an emergency. Depending on your specific risks, you may want to educate people on how to identify and respond to potential dangers. This will also give them confidence in your organisation’s ability to manage threats appropriately.

9. Everyone needs good neighbours

It is surprising how many businesses don’t communicate with their neighbours. Sharing concerns and passing on information can often help prevent unwanted and antisocial activity, as well as help to combat bigger threats, so make sure that those in a particular area are aware of any incidents that might affect them. This includes liaising with the police and being aware of local crime trends.

10. Don’t file your security strategy away

Once you’ve completed your security strategy, secured the budget and introduced the new way of doing things, it can be tempting to congratulate yourself on a job well done and put the security strategy in the filing cabinet. But just as you test a fire alarm on a weekly basis, you should regularly test your security strategy. Consider using a mystery shopper to test out your security procedures and see if they can gain access to your building. Don’t warn staff or your security partner first, so you can get a realistic picture of how good your systems are. Continually review what you do and how you do it and any potential intruders or attackers will move on to softer targets.

Mike Bullock CEO, Corps Security

www.corpssecurity.co.uk

See also:

Cyber security for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

A strategic approach to organisational resilience

The post Resilience for SMEs appeared first on City Security Magazine.

If you are worried about your companies’ data being stolen or lost, or just want to know how you can make your companies data as secure as possible, read on to find out about the best tools to help your company protect its data.

Train your employees online

Every employee that works for your business must fully appreciate what the security policy is and why it is so important not only for them, but for the company as well. It doesn’t have to be an expensive endeavour to teach all of your staff everything they need to know. It can be incorporated easily into the induction process for new staff, and there can be quick refresher lessons every year to bring existing employees up to date. Make sure you are aware of the right software you can purchase that is able to easily educate employees about the new GDPR legislation, with an emphasis on accountability and ownership when it comes to processing and storing personal data. It is important to remember that education and communication is just as important as tools against cybercrime and other types of technology you may use to protect your data.

Internal communication protection

Building an effective and secure environment for your employees to work requires clear direction from management about the behaviours of the team, what type of information is allowed to be shared, and the role of security within the company and what is needed in terms of security. If you have a lot of remote teams who often need to work together on projects, it is worth researching the best types of collaboration tools available to your company so that you are able to strike a balance between functionality, scalability and security. Buying a system on just one of these factors may lead to issues going forwards, as one or more of the factors may prove incapable of meeting future demands.

 Password management applications

When attempting to implement different data security tactics, many people are likely to forget about some of the most basic security errors. Make sure your employees do not end up using weak passwords to protect any of their data, as this will make the inofrmation on their computers vulnerable to being hacked. Companies also benefit from a password management application. A decent password manager will be able to generate strong passwords for you and your employees using a combination of letters, numbers and special character, and store them all in an encrypted vault.

 Utilise security audit software

If you are ever not sure about if your company’s data is susceptible to hackers, or you are worried you will not be able to effectively secure your data as well as you would like, hire a company that is able to audit your entire IT infrastructure. They will be able to look at all of your computers, networks and mobile devices to work out what it is that you need to do to stop hackers from getting any of your personal data. Security auditors will be able to help your businesses identify vulnerabilities on their computing devices, removing all guesswork and speculation about security within the IT infrastructure. The results of the audits help inform management and network administrators about known and potential vulnerabilities so that they can be addressed and managed. If you do not feel like you would benefit by hiring a company to do the work, why not think about getting security audit software?

The post The Best Tools to Help your Company Protect its Data appeared first on City Security Magazine.

We have begun a wide-ranging review of the licence-linked qualifications needed for the private security industry.

The current specifications will expire in December 2019 and the new qualifications will be available from January 2020. The review will examine the licence-linked qualifications, ensuring that they are fit for purpose. We are future-proofing them so that they are in line with private security industry working practice; to withstand new risks that might emerge and technological changes.

Scope of SIA Review

The review occurs every five years and a significant change for this review is that we have widened its scope. It will consider the mandatory qualifications and any further training required to be licensed as well as developing a strategic approach in collaboration with the private security industry. The aim is to work with others to help drive the broader skillsagenda, considering career paths, the development of a new apprenticeship framework and continuing professional development.

Learning and development for security

One aim of the project is to create a structure of learning and development in partnership with the private security industry that will help it to become a career of choice. The review also looks to ensure that there are robust assessment and quality assurance arrangements in place for the licence-linked qualifications. This will further assure us of the integrity of the qualifications and help us to reduce instances of training malpractice.

Working with industry to raise standards

Crucial to the success of this project is the engagement of industry and stakeholders.

Steve McCormick, our Director of Operations and Standards, says: “This is a very important piece of work because we have a statutory responsibility to raise standards in the private security industry. Our aim is to improve the professionalism of security operatives, drive standards in the industry, and help to protect the public in the UK.

“I believe that we can facilitate the development of a new set of qualifications to raise standards over time. We will also help to better define career paths and opportunities for those joining the workforce. This will assist the industry to improve the standards of service delivery, and help with recruitment and retention.”

The path to a new set of qualifications

There are several milestones to achieve this; the first one is the development of the content of the specialist qualifications required.

An initial consultation – which is an integral part of the development of the draft qualification specifications – has been running since September and has now concluded. To date, more than 840 people have participated in the consultation.

As part of the consultation process we have formed working partnerships with people from industry called expert working groups. These groups are made up of representatives from companies who are approved contractors, individual businesses and subject specialists drawn from each of the specialist areas to develop the content for the qualifications. The members of these forums made a significant contribution to the creation of the draft qualification specifications.

Another milestone that we are delivering on is the research programme that has been conducted by IFF Research, who had the brief to investigate the characteristics, working methods and what the future of private security will look like. The research comprised a qualitative and quantitative methodology and sought the opinions of a broad range of private security operatives, and focus groups with security businesses and consultation with expert stakeholders. The findings of the research are currently being reviewed.

Tony Holyland, our Head of Quality and Standards, says: “Employers and prospective operatives spend a considerable sum of money each year on these qualifications, and they need to be fit for purpose. We can achieve this only with the help of the private security industry.”

Following this primary consultation, the specifications will be re-drafted. The feedback from the research will also be included in the refreshed qualification specifications. The expert working groups will be asked to review them and the feedback will be captured. We will be working with them to design the new qualifications and develop quality measures to improve the delivery of training. The new version of the specifications will be made available to the public again for comment from December until the end of January.

The approach which we have taken will give us a broad and deep insight into the skills needs of the industry. Our aim is to improve the professionalism of security operatives, drive standards in the industry, and help to protect the public in the UK.

Security Industry Authority

The Security Industry (SIA) is the organisation responsible for regulating the private security industry in the UK.

www.sia.homeoffice.gov.uk

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This year the City of London Corporation is once again supporting a London wide Christmas alcohol campaign. Supported by the City of London Corporation, amongst other partners, the campaign encourages Londoners to be merry and have fun, but also look after themselves and get home safe and well.

The campaign is centred around three key messages or ‘three wise things’; eat before you go out, pace your drinks and plan how to get home. This year the campaign has also received support from London Ambulance Service, London Fire Brigade, Metropolitan Police Service, City of London Police and Transport for London.

The digital campaign launched on 26 November and will run to 1 January 2019 to cover the festive period. The e-toolkit is the main product of the campaign and will feature advice and tips to employers and the public on how to keep safe over the festive period. Social media adverts will also be delivered through multiple mediums such as twitter and facebook.

In addition to the toolkit and advertising there will also be an online interactive scratch card which provides a quick way to review drinking based on the AUDIT C tool which was developed by experts and has been extensively evaluated.

For more information on the campaign and access to the toolkit please check out www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/eatpaceplan. We would greatly appreciate your help to get the message out to party planners, employers, businesses and those working in London that a little extra planning for a night out can make it a lot more fun in the long-run for everyone. We would really appreciate your support to help share the campaign with any parties you think relevant.

The post #EatPacePlan – London Christmas safety campaign appeared first on City Security Magazine.

Our winter issue will be available soon in both print and digital format. Read this first by signing up with us today:

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In 2019, we will continue to bring you advice and knowledge from the leaders in security – so subscribe today and continue improving your security know-how with us.

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Meet us at International Security Expo at London, Olympia, Stand L2 on 28 – 29 November 2018 to find out more.

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