A big cake, a blue sky, all day to learn from speakers and to chat and network – ASIS UK’s 30th anniversary event at The Oval, Kennington, south London yesterday had all the ingredients, writes Mark Rowe.
The event, as UK chapter chair Letitia Emeana said, had been a labour of love for the volunteer board, ‘as we truly believe in this association and that the benefits of membership, both here and abroad, are worthy of the passion and dedication we try to deliver in every interaction we have with our members and sponsors.”
The event ran from 10am into the evening – on the rooftop terrace overlooking the cricket field, where Letitia ceremonially cut the cake, and where one week earlier a crowd had enjoyed the World Test Championship match between Australia and India. Some of those attending took the chance of a guided tour of the historic ground during lunch.
The day opened with several speakers on diversity, including a panel on ‘building safe spaces’ for women at night, a discussion chaired by Judy Atkinson, Group Sales Director at the guarding contractor Lodge Security and featuring Sarah Walker (who spoke also in the afternoon, as the author of a Mayor of London-backed study of women’s safety in the night-time economy, as part of the Women’s Night Safety Charter, featured in the May 2022 print edition of Professional Security Magazine); Emma Kay, founder of CMO Walksafe; and Karen Whybro.
The morning also had a one-hour crisis management table-top exercise led by the incident management software company Everbridge, whose platform as chosen by UK Government to give public warnings was tested in the UK on the mobile networks of EE, O2, and Three in April.
Also speaking before lunch was Hannah Wadey, the chief exec of the London-based Safer Business Network, an umbrella group for business crime reduction partnerships. She gave an update on the work of SBN, such as Safe Havens into the south London boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark, in parallel with the ‘Ask for Angela’ scheme, in pubs and clubs whereby anyone feeling uncomfortable (such as on a date) can ‘ask for Angela’ and get help such as an exit; that’s also going into gyms, dentists and football clubs.
Hannah set out how the SBN gathers crime reports and turns them into intelligence for passing on to police in the capital – the background being that business crime is under-reported. She urged security companies to give to SBN details of their ‘top’ known offenders – the background being that such criminals may well be doing crime elsewhere, and other crimes than shop theft.
The main, afternoon seminar speakers were Nazir Afzal, a speaker at ASIS UK’s Manchester autumn 2022 seminar and now an ‘ambassador’ for the chapter, who went from the Oval to an event to mark the sixth anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire, as he was chair of an independent review of culture at London’s fire and rescue service, which reported last year that it found discrimination, harassment and bullying; Richard Thompson; and Peter Faulding, the founder of Specialist Group International (SGI) which is in its fourth decade of work to remove protesters, whether underground or in trees. Pan Macmillan recently published his memoir What Lies Beneath: My life as a forensic search and rescue expert (out in hardback, electronic book and audio-book; next year in paperback). Nazir Afzal also has a memoir, The Prosecutor; and his most recent book, Race to the Top, on structural racism, is just out in paperback, published by HarperCollins.
Among those attending were past chairs of the chapter – the immediate past chair, Russell Penny, who was congratulated by Letitia for last week being installed as the Master of the Worshipful Company of Security Professionals (WCoSP); Stuart Lowden; and Derek Webster. Before the evening was given over to conversation and good food and drink, there were brief talks by Prof Martin Gill (with experience of 29 of the chapter’s 30 years so far) and Patrick Rea of the charity PTSD Resolution, which offers support and therapy to veterans, and ASIS UK members; and a goodwill message from Peter O’Neil, United States-based CEO of the association.
Next events
The UK chapter has a CPD day in London on July 12; and the autumn seminar is in Bath on September 27. Visit www.asis.org.uk.
