Knowledge on display

The Certified Protection Professional (CPP) designation is the world’s pre-eminent (and most widely recognised) certification in security management. Since its inception in 1977, no less than 8,000 security professionals worldwide have earned this coveted designation. Holding the qualification not only demonstrates advanced knowledge in the discipline of security management, but confers on the holder the credibility of formal qualification in the discipline.

Gaining CPP accreditation can significantly enhance a practitioner’s career prospects. A recent survey of current CPP holders in the US suggested that more than half of all respondents sought the credential primarily to increase their professional advancement within the security business sector.

For many years now, ASIS International’s UK Chapter 208 has been one of the most vociferous supporters of the CPP certification programme. Over 100 of the Chapter’s current 650 members are CPP holders. To ensure that the examination is relevant internationally and to the UK constituency, Chapter 208 – through its Item Development Group (IDG) – actively contributes to the pool of questions.

Content, validity and reliability

ASIS certifications are overseen by members of the independent Professional Certification Board (PCB). Those examinations are developed independently by leading PCB-certified security professionals who are subject matter experts and testing professionals.

ASIS also performs continuing job analyses to ensure that all certification testing reflects the most current requirements of professional practice, while the examination process itself follows internationally accepted procedures for content, validity and reliability of scoring.

In addition, UK security professionals benefit from sitting an examination paper modified to incorporate specific UK and European Union legislative criteria. Such is the value placed on the work carried out by the IDG that its leader, John Gilliland, was among three UK recipients (out of just 18 worldwide) to receive the annual ASIS International Regional Award for services to the certification programme (of which more anon).

In the UK it has always been the security manager constituency that most actively engages with the CPP programme. However, the establishment of the Security Industry Authority (SIA), and the implications this brings for the regulation of the security consultancy sector, has now energised consultants to explore ways of underpinning their skills with formal credentials. Not surprisingly, perhaps, the CPP has emerged as the most relevant and widely-recognised option.

Contract guarding managers assigned to corporate sites have also been quick to recognise the value of the CPP. One 2005 candidate from a major guarding company remarked: “I found that a few corporate security managers tended to look upon contracted staff as being less intelligent, less qualified and, as a result, valued them to a lesser degree. In taking the CPP, I wanted to equal or exceed their own qualifications and disprove that theory.”

It must also be said that the CPP certification holds huge potential appeal for service leavers wishing to enter the security profession, in particular those exiting with the rank of senior NCO and officers. Recent years have seen a number of high-ranking, retiring officers sit the examination before taking up very senior security positions in the business world.

The benefits of certification

For the UK-based security manager, the clear benefit of CPP designation is professional credibility. This is hugely important for those practitioners who interact internationally with other organisations, and who seek a means by which their security management credentials might be instantly recognised and benchmarked. Skills sets need to be – and need to be seen to be – transportable. This is what CPP certification achieves.

In designing the multiple-choice format questions, special attention has been paid to Blooms Taxonomy, a framework constructed to test candidates’ knowledge, comprehension, application, analytical skills, their ability to synthesise and their evaluation skills

The manager of a major, UK-based international security consultancy recently remarked: “The CPP designation has afforded me recognisable status with US-based clients. The fact that the US Government funds – either directly or indirectly – the majority of all reconstruction efforts in the major ‘post-conflict’ areas of the world has meant that clients have been able to benchmark who they are looking for against the CPP.”

In a similar vein, the director of security for a major UK-based utility is unequivocal in his support for the CPP. “It’s the only truly portable international professional security qualification. It has certainly established my credentials in the eyes of my peers and demonstrated my expertise in the professional specialism I chose to the wider world. Should I ever seek alternative employment in a different sector, it will provide evidence of an independent assessment of my ability.”

The CPP is also important in evidencing to employers that the holder has not only acquired the knowledge and skills necessary to keep pace with ever-changing and increasingly global workplace demands, but also remains at the forefront of constantly evolving security management Best Practice. This is achieved through the need to recertify every three years. Over 50% of the recertification credits must be achieved through ‘educational’ activities such as seminars, courses and online learning. These need not be ASIS-specific events.

Examination structure and content

The CPP examination comprises 200 multiple-choice questions covering tasks, knowledge and skills in eight broad subjects identified by CPPs as being the major areas of relevance to security managers. Those areas are physical security (which accounts for 24.4% of CPP examination questions), security principles and practices (22.8%), investigations (12.4%), business principles and practices (11%), personnel security (9.9%), emergency procedures (8.5%), information security (5.5%) and legal aspects (5.3%).

The format of the examination has been carefully designed to ensure that it satisfies the essential criteria for validity and reliability, these being the two key elements of any professional certification test. Each question is linked to a specific task and knowledge statement, ensuring that the CPP certification is directly related to the security manager’s job. The test specifications – which indicate the percentage of questions to be asked in each major area on any one examination – are generated at the time of the job analysis. Adherence to them enhances validity.

Have a look at this sample question... The three most important supervisory practices to encourage employees’ voluntary reporting of security incidents are (a) Frequent encouragement, prompt recognition and prompt response (b) A written policy, monetary incentives and prompt recognition (c) An open door policy, public acknowledgement and time off or (d) A rule requiring it, strict enforcement and financial rewards?

If you think you know the answer, contact the UK Chapter 208 representative (details are provided at the end of this article) for details on how to enrol for the certification programme and examination in 2007 (which takes place on Saturday 3 November).

Reliability is ensured through statistical equating such that the standard across the examination remains the same. Importantly, candidates testing repeatedly should obtain approximately the same score if their ability level remains constant. Ability can change due to greater study and different job experiences.

In designing the multiple-choice format questions, special attention has been paid to Blooms Taxonomy, a framework constructed to test candidates’ knowledge, comprehension, application, their analytical skills, their ability to synthesise and their evaluation skills. As befits a high level professional examination such as the CPP, the emphasis is in the latter three categories of the taxonomy.

Quality assurance to international professional standards is overseen by Professional Examination Services (a leading, internationally-recognised authority in the development and quality control of examinations in a host of professional arenas).

Are you eligible for CPP?

For the UK-based security manager, the clear benefit of CPP designation is professional credibility. This is hugely important for those practitioners who seek a means by which their security management credentials might be instantly recognised and benchmarked

To sit the CPP examination, candidates should be able to demonstrate nine years (or seven if they are a University graduate) of relevant security experience, of which at least three must have been spent in a security position of “responsible charge”. Armed Forces or police service experience is valid in this context.

The examination questions themselves are drawn from a selection of leading texts in security management and related disciplines, including ‘Effective Security Management’ (4th Edition), ‘Fundamentals of Criminal Investigation’ (7th Edition), ‘Managing Today’ (2nd Edition), ‘Risk Analysis and The Security Survey’ and ‘The Management of Information Security’. UK-specific books include Blackstone’s ‘Police Manual: Crime’ and ‘Employment Law’. In all cases, the books have been chosen because they are continually updated to reflect international security management Best Practice.

There are three ways in which to prepare for the examination. The first is by way of self-study. Although candidates have passed the examination using this method, it’s not recommended due to the sheer complexity of the texts. The second option is to enrol – via the ASIS International website at www.asisonline.org/certification/cppreviewonline.html – for an online review course. It’s perhaps too early to determine the success of this method of study because few UK candidates have chosen this route.

The third – and most popular – option is to enrol on the residential CPP study programmes organised jointly by ASIS UK Chapter 208 and ARC Training International. These take place twice every year, in June and October. With an ongoing candidate success rate of 80% or higher (the envy of other ASIS International Chapters worldwide), the study programme attracts 20 or so candidates each year.

The programme is led by CPP Review Programme overseer Barry Walker – twice an ASIS International Professional Certification Board Award recipient in recognition of his services to CPP development – and administered by Janet Ward, the general manager at ARC Training and another ASIS Award recipient in 2006.

Peter Horsburgh was also honoured this year for his development of the Physical Security Professional Certification Programme that serves as a sister qualification to the CPP.

CPP Review Programme

The CPP Review Programme focuses on all aspects of examination development, with close attention paid to the recommended reading texts. During the recess period between the three-day June study programme and the three-day, end-of-October study programme, candidates are encouraged to read as many of the books as possible. Guidance is given as to which parts of which books contain the most relevant material.

The end-of-October review session, which then leads into the examination, is characterised by its emphasis on presenting candidates with practice examination questions on each subject, similar to those which may be encountered in the examination proper. It should be stressed at this point that ASIS International prohibits the use of actual examination questions for this exercise.

Programme cost is £1,000 + VAT (excluding examination registration and books).

Any practitioner operating in the international arena should now be giving serious thought to attaining the CPP.