Security Viewpoint

Speaking at a Reliance Security Services seminar held last month at the Training Headquarters of Strathclyde Police, Dickinson affirmed the Association's full support for the Scottish Executive, and welcomed its intention to regulate the security industry in Scotland using the same model that will be implemented in England and Wales next year.

"In recent months, the Scottish media has been full of horror stories about rogue security companies," said Dickinson. "There's a clear case for tighter control over who is legally eligible to work in this important and largely professional sector. These rogue outfits are a tiny but nonetheless powerful minority, and the sooner they can be put out of business by strict legislation, the better."

Dickinson added: "In the meantime, we urge customers to work only with those companies that have committed to self-regulation. The BSIA is in a unique position to offer peace of mind to customers because we ensure that our member companies commit to independently inspected standards, which include full and thorough criminal record checks."

Information Commissioner issues new CCTV guidelines
Following on from the landmark Court case regarding the Data Protection Act and its relevance to CCTV ('Defining moment', SMT, March 2004, pp32-33), the Office of the Information Commissioner (which overseas the enforcement of the Act) has issued new guidelines for system users – including a checklist. The guidelines can be downloaded at: www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk (or call the HelpLine on 01625 545745).

BSIA warns end users on police response to CCTV
Security system users could be jeopardising their ability to receive a timely police response if they fail to secure a Unique Reference Number (URN) for detector-activated CCTV systems, warns the BSIA.

Only those systems compliant with the new British Standard governing this area of surveillance monitoring – BS 8418:2003 – are now eligible to obtain a URN from the police.

Detector-activated (or remotely monitored) CCTV systems are becoming increasingly popular for large or exposed sites out of hours as an alternative to continual live monitoring of images. They alert a Remote Video Response Centre when an incident occurs and a detector is then activated, at which point images of the site can be viewed and action taken.

For more information take a look on the Internet at: www.bsia.co.uk/bsia_cctv.taf

New chairman for Physical Security Equipment Section
The new chairman of the BSIA's Physical Security Equipment Section is Martin Williams of C&P Security Systems Ltd. Martin takes over the role from Tim Strawson – managing director at Bradbury Security – who served as chairman for a two-year term.

Martin sets out his objectives for the future in 'The Big Issue' this month.

Conference programme announced for IFSEC 2004
The BSIA conference programme at IFSEC 2004 runs on the first three days of the industry's premier exhibition, which this year takes place on 10-14 May at Birmingham's National Exhibition Centre.

The major themes for 2004 are CCTV, retail security and partnering.

In this edition of SMT, we take a look at what's in store on Tuesday 11 May...

Focus on Retail Security Session 3 (10.30 am-12.30 pm)
(1) Learning about security from offenders: how they do it (Professor Martin Gill, director, Perpetuity Research and Consultancy Intl)

(2) Raid-control: the Croydon, Manchester and Enfield 'pilots' (Alan Townsend, crime prevention co-ordinator, MPS Flying Squad)

(3) The challenges we face (Caroline Demoulpied, group sales and marketing director, Securiplan plc)

Session 4 (2.00 pm-4.00 pm)
(1) RFID and Electronic Article Surveillance: an holistic solution to retail shrinkage (George Reynolds, vice-president RFID, Tyco Fire and Security plc)

(2) Payment card fraud: 2004 and beyond (Jeff Collins, manager, APACS Fraud Intelligence Bureau)

(3) Training for reality (Rob McHarg and Ian Kirke, directors, Training for Success Ltd).

To book your place call the BSIA Events Department on 01905 727714/727711.