The February 2023 print edition of Professional Security Magazine rounds up the latest on the counter-terrorism Protect Duty, after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Home Secretary Suella Braverman, pictured, gave a commitment to bringing forward a ‘Martyn’s Law’, a legal responsibility on venues (with capacity above 100) to take steps to counter terrorism.
While the commitment is still light on necessary details, such as what the minimums will be for compliance, and what inspectorate will enforce those minimums, Professional Security has already heard industry voices that they don’t want the Duty (whatever it may turn out to be) to be ‘watered down’.
Dr Dylan Aplin OBE is a Visiting Research Fellow at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London (KCL). He told Professional Security that some early spring cleaning revealed a now redundant ‘Project Griffin’ badge, pen and tabard, circa 2004. To recap for those whose industry memories don’t stretch back that far, Griffin was a pioneering for the time scheme whereby police involved private security in countering terror, in the wake of the 9-11 and 7-7 terror attacks.
“It started me thinking about the future of counter-terrorism (CT) training for workers in crowded places, or should I say ‘publicly accessible locations’ (PALs) under a Protect Duty. Over the last five years I have been speaking to security professionals, shop floor workers and CT practitioners about their experiences of CT training. I am shocked.
Counter Terrorism Security Advisers [CTSAs] tell me that despite their best efforts, the pressure was always on them for quantity of events over quality, with minimal evaluation of learning. This emphasis stifles innovation and the development of new and improved products. Vastly experienced security professionals are patronised, and their experience not incorporated into sessions. Front-facing workers are instructed to attend sessions with little understanding of why, to tick a box, and with little regard of their local knowledge.
“Why is this important? Simply because, as the UK terrorist attacks of 2017 found, it is these workers and particularly security staff that will be the first on the scene of an emergency. These employees are the ones expected to help prevent, cope, and recover from attacks.
“In 2017, the Federation of Small Businesses repeatedly called for more support and CT training for the ‘largely forgotten smaller businesses’ to help build resilience. But now, six years after the attacks and with initial findings from the Manchester Arena Inquiry, what exactly has been happening? Griffin morphed into Project ARGUS, then to ACT [Action Counters Terrorism], but my research has found a security industry calling out to be more involved in the co-production of training, so that the needs of their staff can be better understood. This is all in the context of a post covid 19 economic downturn, with less staff and more responsibility. I sincerely hope that after all this time, the opportunity to be brave and innovative will not be wasted ….for the sake of us all.”
For background on the Protect Duty visit the https://www.protectuk.police.uk/ website.
