Sir – On reading the July edition of Security Management Today, I noticed your News Update item on the Metropolitan Police Service Alarm Performance Awards 2006 (‘False alarm attendance costs fall by £24 million over last decade’).

In the fourth paragraph of this News Update story you have declared that our awards celebrate the ongoing work of the alarm installers, the British Security Industry Association and the National Security Inspectorate (NSI) when it comes to cutting back on false activations.

I feel that reference to the NSI alone is wrong. The NSI makes a major contribution, that’s true, but so too does the Security Systems and Alarms Inspection Board (SSAIB).

While the Metropolitan Police Service is very pleased to receive press coverage of our events, we do not wish to be associated with any political bias towards a specific association or, in this case, security inspectorate.

If, in your view, the SSAIB was not worthy of a mention for any particular reason then I’d be most interested to learn why.

Andy Hammerton, Police Inspector, Security Systems Office, Metropolitan Police Service

The Editor replies: First of all, Andy, many thanks for reading SMT! I hope you are continuing to find the journal's contents both interesting and relevant to your everyday operations with the Metropolitan Police Service.

In terms of the comment you make re: SSAIB, I totally agree. It was remiss of us to neglect to mention them in conjunction with this story, as said organisation continually makes a major contribution in the alarms sector. Indeed, this is one of the reasons why, each year, Geoff Tate (the organisation’s chief executive) sits on the Judging Panel for our own Security Excellence Awards.

SMT also totally respects and fully understands your need and desire for impartiality. That is crucial for the police service, and we would never begin to suggest – nor imply – otherwise.

Source

SMT