Action Counters Terrorism (ACT) is a new official app. It’s powered by Urim. The ACT app is free for businesses and has been developed with security industry input from retailer Marks & Spencer, and the training company Highfield eLearning. You can access:
– advice and guidance to help you protect businesses, plus details on how to respond in the event of an attack;
– information on Counter-Terror Policing’s ACT training products, plus access to online e-Learning;
– NaCTSO guidance videos;
– reference documents and publications;
– ACT online reporting form and confidential hotline;
– Emergency response and post-incident guidance; and
– Live-time news updates from UK Protect.
Download the Urim app in Google Play or App Store. Then email [email protected] to request a user name and password.
More features will be developed based on user feedback, the police add. Senior National Coordinator for Protective Security, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Lucy D’Orsi, says: “We have made crucial information available for our business partners even easier and quicker to access and the added bonus is that it is free. The feedback we have received during the trial phase has been overwhelmingly positive and I encourage everyone working in crowded places – particularly those with a security role – to sign up to use this new tool. We would like everyone to feel that they have a role to play in national security and making the UK a hostile place for terrorists to operate. For me the ACT app is a further example of how collaboration and integration between police and the private sector can enhance national security and collectively work to make all communities safer.
“For some time we have talked about ‘Dare2Share’ and by continuing to embrace and push this thinking we are developing innovative and powerful solutions to security. Importantly the ACT app enhances communication between industry and CT Policing. Our global world is fast paced and there remains an insatiable appetite for immediate information. The feedback from Industry has helped us to design this this ACT app to service that demand – free, readily available and fast to access.”
The UK regulator the Security Industry Authority (SIA) is encouraging security businesses to sign up – note the app isn’t for general use. SIA staff were part of the testing group. Ian Todd, Chief Executive of the SIA, says: “Everything you might need is there on your phone, ready to access at a time that suits you – day or night. The verdict from the SIA is that the ACT app could be a vital tool in helping prevent or mitigate against a terrorist incident.”
