Now free to read as a ‘flip page’, digital edition online and landing through physical letter-boxes is the March edition of Professional Security Magazine. Its major feature is the Police Reform White Paper, promising more of everything from the Labour Government; more tech for police, more professional performance, and a continued stress on neighbourhood policing.
As we show, however, the White Paper fails to acknowledge the reality of pavement policing on high streets – for not only are private security the first responders and most routine sight in semi-public space such as shopping centres, but hired security has taken on police-like roles of uniformed presence in a town or city business district, and responding to shop theft or anti-social nuisance, and only calling in police when an arrest is necessary. We detail the near 20-year-old CSAS (community safety accreditation scheme), which is about to be relaunched – with the support of police and contract guarding companies alike. Both sides see the benefit in having ‘accredited’ officers, vetted and trained beyond SIA licence standards, and given some police powers, such as the right to take name and address (such as to issue fines for nuisances such as littering).
We also report about central London, where the feeling is that thieves have turned more brazenly violent, and that the public police alone are not enough to guard the high-end retail, hotels and commerce of the West End. We also single out the railways, which besides going through general change as Labour nationalises the remaining franchise train operators, is looking towards a different, more integrated, mix of hired security and British Transport Police (BTP).
We also enjoy a Saturday afternoon at the London Stadium, where West Ham continued their revival as they hope to avoid relegation from the Premier League. It’s a climactic time of year for professional football, and spectators can get angry at the best of times. Also featured is eavesdropping (TCSM, technical counter-measures to give it a fuller title); and how a cyber security recruiter uses LinkedIn to find likely candidates, which is testament to the need to give attention to how you present yourself on that platform, if you seek another job.
Plus the regulars such as information security consultant and trainer Mike Gillespie; Magazine MD Roy Cooper’s page of gossip for installers, manufacturers and distributors of products and services; and four pages of ‘spending the budget’.
Among the features in the April edition will be protection of the night-time economy; pubwatches and ‘safe buses’.
If you’d like a regular print copy of the subscription magazine, email your address to [email protected] for an inspection copy. Subscription starts at £40 for one year.
Photo by Mark Rowe: hotspot policing officers on patrol in the centre of Bath, rainy February afternoon.
