Now on desks in physical form and in email in-boxes electronically, is the July 2024 edition of Professional Security Magazine.
We speak (at the office of Mitie, at The Shard in London) to the police detective in charge of Opal, the ‘national intelligence unit focused on serious organised acquisitive crime’ as the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) puts it, and which has – thanks to money from numerous retailers – taken on such crime against retail. So far so good, is the word from the police; and, we wonder, might this model work in other fields for going after high-end business crime?
A most visible example of private security doing work in public are the patrollers in town and city centres, employed by business improvement districts (BIDs). We go to the Birmingham city centre office of one BID, covering the Colmore district, to hear about their security officers who have been growing in numbers and tasks for some years. Related to that, we take (another) look at security on the trams, trains and buses of the West Midlands conurbation.
We pride ourselves on getting around the UK to report in person on industry gatherings, and so we feature the walk from Manchester to London (pictured, on a rainy morning, May 22, the anniversary of the Manchester Arena terror attack, marchers going through Wellington Arch on their way to Downing Street) accompanying Figen Murray, on her latest campaigning for Martyn’s Law, a legal requirement on venues to take measures to counter terrorism. Also: a thank-you evening hosted by Corps Security at their London offices for the very largely volunteers who make the CSyP (Chartered Security Professional) possible; the (regrettably rainy) Women in Security golf day at The Belfry outside Birmingham, the ACS Pacesetters annual lunch and ‘officers of distinction’ awards at Windsor, as always a most moving and inspiring occasion, and in London enjoy the hospitality of body armour providers PPSS and the experience of being hit with a baseball bat, to find out for ourselves what their products can protect against.
Plus suicide prevention, countering violence in hospitals, an insight into the protest movement Just Stop Oil, ‘lessons learned’, artificial intelligence, four pages of ‘spending the budget’, four pages of new products and services, and magazine MD Roy Cooper’s gossip page for installers, manufacturers and distributors.
You can read the latest edition, and previous ones, freely on the ‘magazine‘ part of the Professional Security website. If you would like to take a look at a physical magazine with a view to subscribing, email your name and postal address to [email protected].
