TPSO Issue #6. Foreword.
Welcome to issue #6 of The Professional Security Officer magazine.
Firstly, an apology. The planned ‘Fire Safety & Prevention’ edition has been moved to September as the COVID-19 crisis became the big topic of conversation across the industry. We have a great deal of content for that special edition all ready to go, and a lot more to come, so it will be bigger and better than anticipated and our Fire Industry VIP guest editor, Stephen MacKenzie, is still onboard and champing at the bit to get stuck in……
It’s been a tough couple of months, and it may still be some time before most of the country gets back to normality. I say most of the country because the majority of our industry just kept plugging away as normal. Admittedly, many of our number had to change their way of working dramatically and I salute the fantastic Door Supervisors and Event Security professionals that suddenly found themselves enforcing social distancing and preventing disorder at supermarkets up and down the country!
One thing that did upset me, and took a huge amount of campaigning to put right, was the Government’s failure to categorise private security industry professionals as ‘Key Workers’, from day one of the crisis. It was a sad demonstration of Central Government’s lack of comprehension when it comes to the value and scope of the vital roles performed by security industry professionals, across the nation, every day.
This ‘institutional ignorance’, along with a lack of public understanding and appreciation for our work, is going to be the battle we will fight over the next few years. A big part of our counter attack will be the increase in SIA basic training and development standards, much of which I talk about later in this edition.
The focus of this issue however is very much COVID-19 and the many and various effects it is having, and will continue to have on the security industry. I hope you find it interesting.
All that remains is for all at TPSO to wish you and yours the very best of health.
Be Safe.
