Articles in Professional Security have covered the university and museum security sectors: both have groups whose members may only be of three figures or less, but who have much common ground. Small can be beautiful when it comes to regional, even county, groupings of security managers – who want more than a tea and biscuits gathering and who get things done. Here?s two examples.
Fire ravaged a Georgian building in the heart of Colchester on Sunday, September 17, 2000. A borough council CCTV operator spotted smoke coming from the shop at 5.30pm and alerted the emergency services. The fire took all night to control and traffic had to be diverted for days. How that event was handled is of interest to all security managers based in built-up, heritage urban centres – yet the news got little coverage beyond Essex, and it could be months before the case gets aired at an industry gathering. A handful of Essex local authority CCTV managers happened to have a meeting the following week – so they could find out all about it. Bob Carroll of Tendring District Council was host, after earlier meetings at Colchester and Chelmsford. Those places, and Clacton, Southend and Dagenham are anything but similar, but the CCTV managers are doing the same job, points out Robert Needham, Colchester?s CCTV and alarm monitoring manager. They are supplying the same county police force with tapes, yet have different procedures for giving that evidence. Thus a meeting with an Essex Police headquarters senior officer is a priority. Other issues where shared experience is welcome are:
equipment – what performs best, given that several councils have bid for Home Office grants and may upgrade or buy extra cameras soon?
Human Rights Act – what will it bring?
best practice – given that central government wants councils to work to a Best Value regime, what is best value?
These managers are not forsaking national bodies – Robert is a member of the CCTV User Group, and ASAP – the Association of Social Alarm Providers. Yet a local forum offers benefits and does not take up much time in travelling.
The Sheffield-based South Yorkshire Security Association is a big tent – security managers such as Brian Mole at the University of Sheffield (SYSA treasurer) and Chris Burden at Northern General Hospital (secretary) rub shoulders with installers, manufacturers, insurance assessors and police. Brian Mole recalls that 15 years ago the association was geared towards intruder alarms and police responses. Over the years, it?s covered other topics – regulation of the private security industry, the pros and cons of property marking, what digitial technology and alarm systems are on the market, vandalism on buses, and CCTV and the Data Protection Act. Perhaps only a few dozen attend meetings, but they serve their purpose – else very busy people would not give up a couple of hours for it. The SYSA gives members more clout in other forums – Brian Mole is a member of Sheffield?s crime and disorder panel – than they might have in another city lacking such an association. Another long-time member is Ray Smart of Smart Alarms in Sheffield, who agrees that the chance to mix is a benefit to all. As an installer, he does rate highly meetings of the nationwide Aquila Group where fellow installers can talk things over.
The British Security Industry Association reports that record numbers of new members have joined the BSIA in 2000. Customer Relations Director Stephen Adams says: ?We continually assess the services we offer to ensure that we are meeting the needs of our membership; the benefits of joining the association have clearly been very attractive to our new members.? The newcomers include: (access control) Deister Electronic; (associate) AccessIT Systems Ltd, Airline Security Consultants, Assco Group, Aviation Security, GLobal QA Management Consultancy, Motion Media Technology, Resolutions Worldwide, Security Management Systems; (CCTV) Derwent Systems, Hudson Vision, Securi-Lex (CCTV and Systems); (information destruction) Brian Perry Waste Paper, Capital Security Shredding, Confidential Data Shredding, Hays Secure Destruction, MM Recycling, Papersafe UK, Securished, SELCHIP, Shredaway Ltd; (manned security) Cobra Security, Elizabethan Security, Eurotech Montoring Services, Evensure Management, Mison Security, Oakpark Security, Resolution Security, Sawley Security Services, Solo Service Group, Wilson James; (physical) Initial Packaging, Security Care; (manufacturers) Advanced perimeter Systems; (systems) Aegis Alarm Systems Ltd, Benn Security Services Ltd, Keybury Security Systems, MJ Quinn (Electrical), Nutec Security Systems, Securi-Plex (CCTV and Systems); Sound and Visual Systems.
