Now on desks is the April print edition of Professional Security Magazine. Pauline Norstrom of Anekanta Consulting was among the speakers at the spring quarterly meeting of the UK chapter of the security managers’ association ASIS International, beside the Thames in London. You didn’t make it? Pauline as she said to the meeting rather dashed through her subject of artificial intelligence and what it means in terms of data security and privacy, in 45 minutes before a tea break. It’s no wonder because AI is a big subject and it’s only getting bigger – we drove to her office and took a good chunk of an afternoon to go over what AI means for the security industry like any other – AI can bring automation (what will that mean for jobs) and comes with risks (you can do great things with AI, but would it be legal, or ethical, or fall foul of the data protection regulator the ICO?).
Our interview with Pauline has made one of our longer reads, but the subject merits it. Besides, it serves as an update on Pauline, who we last featured last summer when she set out on the BSIA stand at IFSEC 2022 the association’s study by Anekanta of the UK video surveillance sector (and video cameras like any other networked product can produce data for AI; but, among the questions Pauline posed to us, should you set up cameras specifically for site security, and others specifically for AI data-gathering?).
(As an aside, here’s what Microsoft founder Bill Gates recently had to say about ‘the age of AI’; and see a recent blog on the ICO website about ‘AI-driven discrimination’.)
We also bring you words and pictures from Prof Martin Gill’s UK OSPAs thought leadership summit and evening awards, and (on the same day!) the ‘innovation lab’ day at Manchester Central by the contractor Carlisle Support Services; from the launch of the South West Fraud Forum in Bristol; and the heart-warming and moving afternoon at Tate Modern to mark International Women’s Day, arranged by Satia Rai of IPSA and compered by Dr David Rubens of the ISRM.
We feature the opening event of the Security TWENTY year, ST23 Birmingham, when we heard from a senior policeman about last summer’s Commonwealth Games; and what the regulator the Security Industry Authority (SIA) has in mind for the approved contractor scheme and for further professionalising the sector in terms of the ‘skills agenda’. Staying with Birmingham, we returned to the regional public transport operator TfWM (Transport for West Midlands) where we’ve been before to see their considerable CCTV monitoring; this time, we had a demo (pictured) and heard about their developing use of drones, that can go and deliver value where cameras can’t.
Plus the latest on such long-running and important issues as the much-delayed replacement by the Home Office of the Airwave radio for the emergency services (and some related operations such as CCTV control rooms), and progress towards the Protect Duty, also known as Martyn’s Law.
Plus regulars such as Magazine MD Roy Cooper’s page of gossip about and for installers, manufacturers and distributors; and four pages of ‘spending the budget’ case studies.
You can read the magazine as a ‘page flip’ document and past months’ editions at the ‘magazine‘ section of this website. If you would like a print copy to come to you through the post, email the postal address to [email protected].
