Maurice Parsons was honoured by fellow consultants at the annual Association of Security Consultants lunch in London on June 21.
Maurice, a former Metropolitan Police man, was awarded the ASC own award for the member who has made the most significant contribution to independent security consultancy. He was ASC secretary from 1998 to 2006. A security associations award went to Peter French of SSR Personnel, nominated by ASIS. Also nominated were Linda Sharpe of Skills for Security by BSIA; and Freda West of insurers Camberford Law (nominated by IPSA). The Security Institute did not nominate. <br><br>These awards and a university dissertation award make up the annual Imbert Prize, named after ASC patron Lord Imbert, the former Met Police Commissioner. While Lord Imbert and other ASC patrons were not able to attend the lunch, ASC chairman Colin Braziel stressed that Lord Imbert reads all the dissertations and that – as in previous years – it had been difficult for judges to decide on a winner. One student dissertation was submitted by Cranfield (Anthony McGee), Leicester (David Cresswell), Loughborough (Roy Burnett) and Portsmouth (Robert Jenkins). The winner was David Cresswell, of ARC Training, for his study into the application of a formal risk analysis methodology to assess risk to business posed by terrorism. Last but not least, Colin Braziel presented certificate of membership to new member Jerry Proffitt, head of security consultancy for Griffin Security Group. <br><br>The speaker earlier was Prof Martin Gill of Perpetuity, who gave the audience of 100 at the RAF Club an update on his Leicester-based consultancy’s research into the security industry, worldwide. He argued that while there were ‘pockets of brilliance’, the security sector has yet to emerge as a significant force in busienss enhancing activity. “The question is; are we up for the challenge and if we are, what are the routes we need to take, to sit at the high table and have some of the credit that comes from the wortk of professionals around the world.” <br><br>Among attenders, members and guests, were Tony Miller, chairman of Ex-Police in Commerce (EPIC); Derek Webster, current president of ASIS UK; Supt Brett Lovergrove of the City of London Police; Ivar Hellberg, who lectures on risk and security management at Cranfield University, in Wiltshire; NSI chief executive Andrew White, who before he joined the inspectorate last year in an RAF career reached the rank of Air Vice-Marshal.
