Archive for October, 2009

A Derby nightclub where a doorman had his jaw broken by clubbers is under threat of closure after police called for a review of its licence.

Its not this one incident that has fuelled this review is the other 74 violent and serious assaults that have taken place in the last 10 months.

I wonder if the Door Supervisors there were interviewed or even consulted by the SIA prior to its plans to introduce Escorting and Dis engagement training.

I believe that although this is an extreme case of violence over a relatively short period of time It is NOT uncommon to have the types of violence used in Derby occurring all over the Country.

I will keep you posted.

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Well here it is. The SIA will introduce “Escorting and Disengagement” into the Door Supervisor syllabus.

This needed to be introduced, to ensure standard and professionalism throughout the industry. From what we have seen this is a half hearted and dangerous way to progress and is far far less than what needed to be introduced.

How there has been industry consultation is beyond us. Perhaps the SIA have spoken to “suits” but they certainly have not spoken to Door Supervisors on the front line. The draft document mentions Disengagement on one hand and non harmful methods of control and restraint and then further on mentions restrictive control and restraint.

How on earth can it be suitable and sufficient to have Door Supervisors doing Escorting and Disengagement? They don’t want to disengage, if needed they want to engage. Escorting is fine but what happens, when on a Saturday night in a Club in any Town or City across the UK, a fight breaks out. Escorting and disengagement have gone out of the window. Emotions are raised and now the DS has to ENGAGE and get people out. Its OK they have done Escorting and Disengagement…….

Our two main concerns are, What is going to happen when Escorting and Disengagement fail? and fail they will in some instances. Door Supervisors will have to resort to neck holds, prone restraint etc etc all of which have been PROVED to vastly increase the risk of death.

This is a dangerous precedent that does nothing to look after the men and women that have to do a very difficult and dangerous job every night of the week across the Country. The SIA has again sat on the fence, realised they have to do something and introduced a half hearted measure.

Secondly, who will deliver this new training? There are horror stories of Training Providers who WILL be able to deliver this but are far from suited. We phoned one who advocated use of basket holds, prone restraint finger locks etc etc. The first two have been PROVEN to increase the risk of death and why would you need finger locks? This is about Escorting and Disengagement.

Laughable.

New licence-linked qualifications are to be introduced next year, bringing the training up to date and introducing a modular structure.

This follows an industry-led review of the SIA specifications that drive training content. The new specifications reflect current industry best practice so that individuals working in the security sectors undergo good basic training for their role.

A new structure with core plus specialist modules means less overlap and duplication in content across the sectors. This will make it easier to get qualified to obtain more than one licence, as just the relevant and required training needs to be taken for each additional qualification.

The new qualifications are now being developed by the awarding bodies and will be offered by training providers across the UK from:

June 2010 for door supervisors; and
January 2010 for operatives in all other sectors (September 2010 in Scotland)

After these dates, all applicants applying for an SIA licence for the first time must hold either the new qualification; or a current qualification that is less than three years old.

There are reports of an explosion under a car in East Belfast, close to the home of a police officer.
The area around Kingsdale Park was cordoned off by police early on Friday morning. People in the area reported hearing a “loud bang” around 0700 BST. Army technical officers are at the scene and the road has been closed to traffic.

This follows on from reports that a van in Clady, Co Tyrone had a 600lb bomb in it. Police were alerted and cordoned off the area. The van had been abandoned on a bridge and had its hazard warning lights left on. A controlled explosion was later carried out

Two men, aged 34 and 28, have been arrested.

On the 15 October, Jonathan Evans (Director General of MI5 (The Security Service)) made a speech at Bristol University entitled “Defending the Realm”. Bristol University is in its Centenary Year as is the Security Service and Bristol University is also where the DG joined the Security Service from in 1980.

During the speech the DG reflected on the history of the Service and its current role in the “War on Terror”

The DG commented on recent reports of MI5 agents being complicit in the torture of detainees. While he made reference to the fact that as the cases were still being heard there was very little he could say but during the speech he did mention this very relevant fact.

“I have every confidence in the behaviour of my officers in what were difficult and, at times, dangerous circumstances. This was not just a theoretical issue. Al Qaida had indeed made plans for further attacks after 9/11: details of some of these plans came to light through the interrogation of detainees by other countries, including the US, in the period after 9/11; subsequent investigation on the ground, including in the UK, substantiated these claims. Such intelligence was of the utmost importance to the safety and security of the UK. It has saved British lives. Many attacks have been stopped as a result of effective international intelligence co-operation since 9/11″

He went on to quote an article by Alan Johnson and David Miliband.

Intelligence from overseas is critical to our success in stopping terrorism. All the most serious plots and attacks in the UK in this decade have had significant links abroad. Our agencies must work with their equivalents overseas… we have to work hard to ensure that we do not collude in torture or mistreatment. Enormous effort goes into assessing the risks in each case. But it is not possible to eradicate all risk. Judgements need to be made.

That is the reality of the situation: we do not solicit or collude in torture. We do not practice torture. But we are operating in a difficult and complex environment.

How prepared are you?

Fears are growing that many companies are paying lip service to Internet security during recession.

The fact is that 20% of all online attacks are directed towards UK companies. The only country getting more attacks is the US.

Unlike a physical attack on your premises an online attack can be instantly devastating.

We recently reported how Intelligence chiefs are concerned after a large Chinese firm carried out extensive work on the BT infrastructure in the UK. The fear being that software could have been hidden to be activated at a later date to cripple our telecommunications.

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Every Tuesday or Wednesday and Friday

Novartis are customers of Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), the largest contract testing lab in Europe.

Protests at HLS are difficult due to injunctions and banning orders so targets vary across the UK. Horsham and Southampton are 2 such targets.

Demos take place against Novartis in Horsham and Southampton who conduct primate experiments on site as well as funding experiments directly at HLS. Demos start at varying times each Tuesday/Wednesday and Friday.

Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) also hold multiple demos across the South Coast weekly. If you are a potential target of these demos then please ensure you and your staff are prepared.

If you require advice and/or Personal Safety training please call us immediately.

The current UK Threat Level is Substantial.

The Threat is assessed and set by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC)

Although the Threat has been reduced from Severe to Substantial JTAC admits that the reduction should have little or no effect on individual business alert states.

The Threat Levels are:

Low
Moderate
Substantial
Severe
Critical

The Response Levels are:

Normal (Low, Moderate Threat)
Heightened (Substantial, Severe Threat)
Exceptional (Critical Threat)

The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) has renounced violence and said it will now pursue its objectives through peaceful political process.

Its statement did not mention weapons decommissioning, but it is understood talks have begun and the government hopes the process will begin in months.

Established in 1975, many of its recruits were former members of the Official IRA.

They murdered Conservative Northern Ireland spokesman Airey Neave in 1979 by leaving a bomb under his car at Westminster.

The organisation was also responsible for the murder of 17 people at the Droppin`Well pub Ballykelly in 1982.

The INLA statement renouncing violence was issued through its political wing, the Irish Republican Socialist Party, at an event in Bray, County Wicklow today.

We recently reported how a suicide bomber was detonated by mobile phone with the explosives thought to be hidden internally.

As a result of this sinister turn of events air travellers face even more intrusive security screens, including a full body x-ray after fears amidst the recent attack.

Now intelligence officers fear suicide bombers could smuggle bombs on board like drug mules smuggle narcotics.

If the technique was used it would completely evade all security techniques currently used, leading to calls for a full body x-ray to be used.

We will keep you informed of any developments.