Windsor racecourse was the venue yesterday for the 2023 ACS Pacesetters awards. Such is the increased number of nominations for the awards by Pacesetters member companies, that organisers added three ‘highly commended’ awards to the 13 ‘security officers of distinction’.
The highly commended were: Carl Groves, of Samsic UK; Foley Shenaike, of First Response Group; and Steve Mansfield of Churchill Support Services. The officers of distinction were: Sandra Perry, of Westgrove Group; Barry Roberts, CIS Security; Andrew Evans, of ABM Group (UK); Justin Matthews and David Lacey, of Venture Security Management; Samson Moses of Sodexo; Shani Baldwin of ICTS UK & Ireland; Lee Overton, of Land Sheriffs; Mirza Qasim Beg and Ishmael Brown, of SNSG; Ian Mitchell of Kingdom Services Group; Ellie Senior, of Incentive FM; Bill Boateng, of Corps Security; Duane Gardner, of Constant Security Services; and Roger Squire, of Atalian Servest.
For pictures and more about their citations, see the July print edition of Professional Security Magazine. Their actions that prompted the nominations and the settings were varied; on-street, at hospitals, shopping centres and college and university campuses; intervening as a first responder to people self-harming of attempting to commit suicide, or violent assaults, or after accidents.
Besides managers from ACS Pacesetters companies, those attending included guard firms’ clients; and staff from the industry regulator the Security Industry Authority, notably CEO Michelle Russell, who when a winner in the raffle (which raised £2258 for the prostrate cancer charity Prost8) asked that her prize go to one of the winning officers.
The speaker was Figen Murray, the campaigner for Martyn’s Law, a legal responsibility for venues to provide security to counter acts of terrorism. She is due to give evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee of MPs, which is beginning pre-legislative scrutiny of the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Draft Bill. Figen told the audience – which gave her a standing ovation – that while the proposed law had exceeded the expectations of campaigners, the pressure would continue until it became law. She is due to make the case for the law to the Select Committee when it hears evidence. The crunch for the proposal, as Figen identified, will be if it is included in the King’s Speech in the autumn, which sets out the Government’s proposed priorities for law-making for Parliament (before a likely general election in 2024).
About ACS Pacesetters
ACS Pacesetters, not connected to the SIA, is a group of guarding companies that are the highest scoring among the roughly 800 SIA-approved contractors. Visit www.acspacesetters.co.uk.
Orka was the main sponsor of the event and these companies also sponsored the awards; Security & Vetting Solutions, SSAIB, TrackTik, International Foundation for Protection Officers, First Response Group, Eurotech Monitoring and Professional Security Magazine, whose MD Roy Cooper was again the day’s compere. You can view some previous years’ winners at https://www.acspacesetters.co.uk/security-officers-of-distinction/.
