Well, goodbye and good riddance to 2020! I won’t dwell too much on the COVID nightmare we’re still living through, except to wish you all a healthy and hopefully more prosperous 2021.
In this issue we take a closer look at “Mobile Security & Monitoring”. A big field containing CCTV, alarm response, control room operations and a great deal of technological advancement. We also have contributions from some internationally respected industry stars including Mike Gips, Tony O’Brien, Mike Hurst, Chris Aldous, Mark Chapple and many many more.
We are also launching the NEW International Security Industry Champions list. ‘ISIC’ will include those that are working to make a better industry, that share their knowledge for the benefit of others, and that are THE industry roll models and genuinely inspirational leaders. You certainly don’t need to be a big company CEO to make the cut, but rest assured, if you make it on to the ISIC list you are doing great work, and it has been recognised by the men and women in the engine room of the security industry, the front line professionals!
This time last year I was talking about optimism with regards to the moves being made to finally start working towards a more professional and respected industry. Then the world ran for cover, locked itself indoors and shouted “go away!” through the letterbox. So apart from learning that you probably shouldn’t back my racing tips, where do we stand now?
Much of the industry proved highly resilient and the sectors that were effected worst, event security and door supervisors, proved remarkably flexible with workers taking up interesting new rolls in retail and static guarding.
Unfortunately BIG problems have reared their ugly head, and can not go unchallenged.
The scandalous increase in violence against security industry professionals can’t be tolerated. Nor can the apparent amnesia of central Government who needed a huge shove at the start of the COVID crisis to categorise front line security professionals as “Key Workers”, and now seems to have forgotten about our industry when announcing any initiative designed to assist “Essential Workers”. Given the results of the ONS research last year which stated that male security officers had THE worst mortality rate of any sector in the UK, you’d have thought we deserved somewhat more consideration.
There does however seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel.
The new Guild of Security Industry Professionals is rapidly gaining support and has launched a research initiative looking at the scale and full extent of the violence we face at work and will be using it to support a campaign to get the Home Office, employers and law enforcement, to acknowledge the problem and finally ACT to protect the protectors! Have a look at the new website: violenceagainstsecurity.info for an idea of just how bad things have become. You can find out more about, and join the Guild, at GSIP.co.uk
TPSO magazine and the Guild of Security Industry Professionals are also 100% behind a petition started by our friends at ‘Working the Doors’, which can be found at: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/323006 which asks for front line security workers to be included in legislation which increases the maximum penalties for those convicted of assault against emergency service workers. More on this later in this edition. So am I still optimistic? To be honest, I’m rather hesitant to say the word, but if the Security Industry was a horse, the form seems to be improving, and I’d put a few quid on it to finish strongly!
