Posts Tagged ‘Risk’

It is quite alarming to see reported that teachers have gone on strike due to poor student behaviour in School and the lack of backing from the Head-teacher when teachers try and maintain order in the school. The daily Mail reported that teachers had be assaulted including one who was head butted by a student. Read the rest of this entry »

On Tuesday Police arrested a 40 year old dog handler working for a security company on the Olympic site in East London on suspicion of possessing explosives.  2 more arrests have been made in connection with this incident. A43 year old male was arrested in Wales on Wednesday on suspicion of possession of explosives. On Friday a 61 year old male was arrested in East London on suspicion of supplying an explosive substance.

The arrests were made by the OSSU (Olympic Site Support Unit) Police said that site safety had not been at risk

Well the World has gone mad…………It has been reported that the Police Royal Protection Officers will get X26 Tasers capable of delivering a 50,000 Volt shock at a range of 21 feet as a mobile non leathal option when carrying out Close Protection duties. Until now Taser has only been available at static locations and in light of the student protests when Prince Charles and Camillas Rolls Royce was attacked by students chanting “off with their heads” Taser will now be deployed on Royal Protection duties full stop.

The real fact of the matter in all this is that the police didnt show great restraint in not drawing their weapons on the evening of the student riots, they were probably to scared to because of unworkable rules of engagement which says that drawing and pointing constitutes use of a firearm. If chanting “off with their heads” and poking Camilla with a stick through a broken window does not constitute a risk to life then I don’t know what does.

The police don’t need another weapon and more rules of engagement they need someone with some balls to stand up and tell it as it is, give them proper rules of engagement and above all, sort out the intelligence shambles that put the Royal car in that situation in the first place.

This should have been a wake up call and it would seem it hasn’t woken anyone at all. All it has done is probably brought more policy and high ranking Officers pontificating about things they have no idea about.

Recent AQ events have suggested that tactics are shifting away from the spectacular to the vulnerable.

Events in Stockholm last weekend have highlighted how easy it is, or can be to cross borders and carry our an attack against innocent people going about their everyday lives. The plotter was not high on the intelligence radar and as such had relative immunity from intrusion by the Security Service. He had been asked to leave his local Mosque in Luton because of his extremist views. The leader of the Mosque when asked admitted that he had not contacted the authorities about the expulsion as he thought it was a view and nothing more sinister. How many of us fall into this trap? How many times have you seen something that you instinctively thought as not being right only to dismiss it and carry on regardless?

Events in Stockholm and Maryland have shown that more attacks are being orchestrated by radicalised individuals who are below the radar of suspicion but  then rise, at a time and place of their choosing to commit or attempt to commit mass murder in the name of a twisted ideology. The security Service and the Met Police Service have launched another campaign highlighting the risk and reminding us that we ALL have a duty to remain vigilant and report activity that is suspicious or out of the ordinary.

We have been publishing since this time last year (2009) that Britain was at risk of a Mumbai style attack. Back in 2009 a report appeared that suggested that Police were concerned that there was a Terror Cell in or around London that had the capability and resources to carry out such an attack. The threat never went away during 2010 but its only now that so much emphasis has been given to this topic with plans afoot to up arm and train the Police in offensive tactics. Giving them fully automatic weapons and training them to fire and manoeuvre.

In the past few days security forums and websites have been saying its a matter of “when and not if” there is a Mumbai style attack in Europe. Lets not be complacent about this threat. Any City is at risk. It doesn’t have to be London, Paris or Berlin. There is on constant in all of this and that is how long is it going to take to respond? In Mumbai over 160 people were killed in the first minutes. Could officers get to the scene and find fix and contact the Terrorist in minutes? this is the big unanswered question.

The UK is to set up a Maritime Control Centre to monitor shipping after new evidence shows increased electronic traffic concerning the traffic and movement of radiological material.

The Security Minister Lord West has said the increase in piracy around the Horn of Africa and the seaborne Mumbai terror attacks has highlighted the need for such a centre.

With the proliferation of freely available shipping information we feel this is a step in the right direction. Currently anyone can get information on vessel location size cargo destination and current location based on its AIS signal.

There would be absolutely nothing preventing the targeting of such vessels in our waters. Passenger vessels including ferries and cruise liners are at risk and we know from recovered intelligence that places of public gathering are a prime target. What better target than a cruise liner with 1 or 2 thousand people aboard.

Sent via BlackBerry® from BT

Figures released by the HSE following a British Crime Survey show an 11.6% increase in physical assaults and threats of violence towards workers.

The 2008/09 survey indicated that 176,000 workers were threatened with violence and 168,000 were subject to an actual assault by members of the public.

In terms of RIDDOR 1995 reported injuries violence was the cause of 6190 cases of harm including four fatalities and 928 major injuries.

The total of 626,000 incidents of violence recorded in 2008/09 found that 36% were repeat victims.

The survey found those employed in the protective service were most at risk.

Sent via BlackBerry® from BT

A man returning from Slovakia to Dublin after his Christmas Holidays was arrested on Tuesday after explosives were found in his luggage. It has now emerged that the explosives were planted by the Slovakian Authorities at Bratislava Airport on unsuspecting passengers. 8 types of explosives were planted and 7 of the 8 were detected however 90g of Research Development Explosive (RDX) failed to be detected.

The 49 year old man was released without charge after the Slovakian Authorities alerted the Irish Governmemt. The Slovakian Minister for the Interior has expressed his profound regret at what happened.

The Irish Army have said that no passengers were at risk as the explosive was stable and was not connected to any other key components that would constitute a viable explosive device.

A Kenilworth takeaway could be forced to reduce trading hours and even employ a bouncer in a bid to stop rowdy behaviour late at night.

This is a snapshot of another incident surrounding licensed premises and highlight yet again why the SIA introducing Breakaway and Disengagement is a farce.

Worryingly this article mentions Bouncer and not Bouncers. Under no circumstances can or should any restraint be attempted alone and Door Supervisors should not be expected to work alone.

From a Health and Safety point of view there would be no justification or defence for using a lone Door Supervisor on any licensed premise. By the very nature of having a Door Supervisor on a premise would suggest there is a risk of unruly behaviour as in the case of this takeaway.

Watch this space for more information of the new changes to the Door Supervisors course.

Every Tuesday in the UK demos take place across the South against Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) vivisection labs, the largest contract testing lab in Europe. Novartis in Southampton and Horsham are regular targets of activists.

As we reported a while ago because activists have been all but banned from targeting HLS HQ they have turned their attentions to any company that may have links, directly or indirectly to HLS.

Some at risk firms may be unaware they are or could be targeted. Law firms, packaging firms accountancies etc etc. If you believe you could be targeted then talk to us.