The annual dinner of the Register of Chartered Security Professionals (CSyPs) has become one of the most distinguished events in the UK private security calendar. We put on our dinner jacket to attend the 11th anniversary dinner last Monday.
Baroness Ruth Henig as president of the Security Institute gave an introductory speech of welcome, saying that she was pleased by the growth in demand for CSyP status, and hailed the 260 CSyPs as ‘important pioneers’. She praised also the mentors and assessors, each giving their time voluntarily. Among the back-room staff who do the admin around the CSyP, Baroness Henig praised Vicki Smith, who had taken over the management from long-serving Di Thomas. Baroness Henig noted that there were bespoke workshops for UK central Government departments, through the Cabinet Office, for those in the civil service interested in seeking CSyP status, besides the more general sessions for those interested.
Among the top table was, from the Worshipful Company, the present Master Paul Miller; Jane Gyford, Cambridgeshire deputy chief constable; past Master Peter French; past chair of the Institute Prof Alison Wakefield; Institute treasurer Bob Martin, who gave the loyal toast; and Institute chair Peter Lavery. Don Randall, who gallantly gave his arm to Baroness Henig to accompany her down the stairs from the mezzanine (where pre-dinner drinks and conversation were enjoyed) to the dining room, gave a call to order and asked for a minute’s silence in memory of Queen Elizabeth II.
Panel registrar and a past chair of the Institute, Garry Evanson, read out the biographies of the new CSyPs; and listed some 12 CSyPs who have passed ten years on the register which qualified them for a further certificate, and lapel pin.
There are CSyPs in 20 countries; two from the Republic of Ireland, Garry Bergin and Paul Kellett, were among the diners, as two of the 25 to gain CSyP status so far this year. Garry, who’s completing a doctorate in business administration, is a director at the guarding contractor Manguard Plus; while Paul Kellett is chief officer at Midlands Prison in the Republic.
To briefly go through the other recipients of CSyP on the night, they show the academic rigour and the sheer variety of the ‘gold standard’ of security management in the English-speaking world. Nor is the CSyP a shoo-in for those who apply; Baroness Henig mentioned that the CSyP has had some 420 applications.
Garth Allsopp is a principal nuclear security inspector; Thomas Balogun leads a cyber security team in the Ministry of Defence; James Bore is a director of a tech, information and cyber security company; Ed Cudmore, 22 years in the Met Police, is now in Amazon’s protective services department; Stephen Deakin is MD of data, security and technology architecture for global functions technology at Citi; Lee Garner, is a nuclear security inspector, at the ONR (Office for Nuclear Regulation); Niall Griffin, 32 years with Sussex Police, is now the general manager of barrier product company Hardstaff Secure; Jane Gyford, featured in the August print edition of Professional Security as the 250th registrant; Chris Middleton is the security and client services director at ABM UK (who the following day was one of a panel of speakers on diversity at the International Security Expo at London Olympia); Tom O’Driscoll is head of security strategy and intelligence at National Highways); Robert Stenhouse is a former Royal Marine and policeman, now security advisor at the combined Cheshire West and Chester Council; Brett Taylor is the associate director, safety and security at Diriyah Gate Development Authority in Saudi Arabia (who was there on the night); George Trebess is a Met Police counter terror security coordinator; Brian von Kraus is CEO of risk management company FireWatch Solutions in the United States; and David Ward now a consultant was founding chair of the City Security Council, a City of London-based group of guarding contractors.
Earlier this year, other CSyPs were presented with their certificates of registration in the City of London – Tony Cooper, Charlie Frank and Bill Nelson; and Andrew Donaldson, Neil Evans and Angela Vernon Lawson, the Security Institute’s new COO, by Princess Anne as patron of the Institute at the Institute’s AGM.
After the meal, the Government chief security officer (CSO) and head of the Government security function Vincent Devine, based in the Cabinet Office, who took over from Dominic Fortescue at the turn of the year, spoke.
More in the November print edition of Professional Security magazine.
About the CSyP
Applicants need to show they work or advise at a strategic level and adopt a strategic approach and view of security disciplines. This is not necessarily reliant on holding a directorial or equivalent position, but there must be clear evidence of strategic personal practical or advisory
contribution or within a very high-end operational security context. To qualify you have to hold a security-related degree, or an academic degree plus a security qualification; or, if academic qualifications are absent applicants complete a written portfolio comprising three essays totalling 7,500 words from a list of given questions including one mandated by the document assessors. Visit https://www.charteredsecurityprofessional.org/.
Under its Royal Charter, the Worshipful Company of Security Professionals as the 108th Livery Company of the City of London was able in 2010 to create a Register of Chartered Practitioners. It’s managed by the Security Institute for the Worshipful Company. Successful applicants may use the post-nominal CSyP.
