Here Mark Rowe concludes his three-part round-up of the courses on offer to the security professional, whether about security management or risk and other related subjects. Whatever your field, it’s not standing still; so should you?!
No matter how ancient the institution, courses change with the times, and that’s seldom more pressing than training for emergencies. The Emergency Planning College at Easingwold at the foot of the North York Moors has been through numerous iterations already – air raid precautions before the Second World War, then planning in case of nuclear attack, then as the EPC to offer training in peacetime disasters such as air crashes and large fires. While it sits under the Cabinet Office, it’s been run by the contractor Serco, offering one, two or five day courses in public safety at mass gatherings, exercising crisis plans, and debriefs (to name some of those run so far this year). According to the UK Government’s Resilience Framework published in December, the College is due to turn into a ‘UK Resilience Academy’.
For investigators
Official inspections have set out how the UK police are short of investigators; a recent inspection in the north east for example found that Cleveland Police doesn’t have enough skilled personnel to meet demand in financial crime: “The force reported that it has a backlog of over 20,000 SARs [suspicious activity reports] that have built up over several years.” Besides putting a case together legally, including by forensically examining devices, among the skills are use of data science (to make connections between, say, mobile phone use and ANPR tracing vehicle movements) and keeping a covert investigation (including sources) secure. Non-police investigators might be in HM Prison Service (what might organised crime be carrying on, while serving a prison sentence?). Liverpool John Moores (LJM) University has about a thousand students taking policing courses; and last year won a Ministry of Justice contract to design a professional qualification for probation officers. LJM offers a MSc in policing and criminal investigation which can touch on ethics, informatics (the science behind processing of data) and the psychology of interviewing.
Economic crime
If police are falling short in their pool of investigators, add to that their shortfall in fraud cases generally. The City of London Police are the national lead force for fraud, and their Economic and Cyber Crime Academy dates from 2012, which offers courses to other forces, besides businesses and charities; covering besides actual investigating skills, the managing of investigations and case reviews; cyber; anti-bribery; and counter-fraud. Some courses are for police only, including ‘to address a training need identified by the Electoral Commission’ about election-related frauds.
ACFE credential
You don’t have to go through a university. Staying with fraud, you should look for a course that’s passed by the Counter Fraud Professional Accreditation Board (CFPAB), run since 2019 by the University of Northumbria; including for fraud trainers. For example, the counter-fraud trade association Cifas runs three accredited courses in skills for investigators a year. Each has 15 teaching days, spread over five months, given online through Moodle software; cost is £2395. The US-based Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) offers its own credential, the CFE, that requires you to pass an exam; and then pay annual membership dues and keep up your continuing professional development, as with the Worshipful Company of Security Professionals’ CSyP (Chartered Security Professional) status, managed by the Security Institute.
Perpetuity, part of ARC Training, are the exclusive education partner to the Security Institute, delivering their online security management courses: a BTEC level three certificate (equivalent to an A level), BTEC level five diploma (foundation degree level), and advanced diploma at level seven (master’s degree equivalent). ARC also deliver CPP, PSP and APP exam preparation training courses, for you to take the Certified Protection Professional, Physical Security Professional and (for someone one to four years into the sector) Associate Protection Professional exams, belonging to the US-based security management association ASIS.
Three men
To name three men of long experience who offer courses: David Cresswell of ISMI is Programme Leader, in the Certified Security Management Professional (CSMP) Level 6 accredited diploma. It has 12 units, starting with security risk analysis as a methodology, and goes on to crime prevention, the daily nuts and bolts of managing a security function; generic management skills; surveying; perimeter and building protection, access, video surveillance, facility counter-terrorism, and protecting of information, and at-risk personnel (whether travellers from kidnap, workplace violence, armed robbery, or active shooters). On the ASIS side, he’s a past holder of the Mervyn Davies Award from the UK chapter, has held volunteer positions with ASIS in the UK and overseas, and as a trainer has taken hundreds of candidates to the CPP and PSP exams.
Dr David Rubens was interviewed in the February print edition of Professional Security, as the founder of the four-year-old ISRM (Institute of Strategic Risk Management); wearing the hat of Deltar Training, he offers various courses from level four to seven. For instance, five-day courses in Corporate Risk and Crisis Management; and Terrorism Awareness and Management, commissioned by the terrorism data-sharing group TinyG, and taking in planning, a risk register, and response to an attack. David got his own MSc in security and risk management through Leicester in 2006 that included a thesis titled ‘War on terror and crime prevention, competing strategies in the 21st century’.
Likewise the TINYg-CSARN Global Cyber Academy’s Level 5 course in Terrorism Awareness and Management is designed for students at work in multiple sectors and levels, or the police, and others, writes Richard Bingley, director of CSARN – City Security and Resilience Networks. The online course addresses roles, responsibilities and critical thinking necessary for ‘competent persons’. He writes: “This is the new national and emerging international business standard and designation for those responsible for delivering counter-terrorism, emergency and resilience outputs within their organisations.” Richard’s Academy offers various cyber and business diplomas.
Read also your career options part one; and two.
