Neill Catton, chairman of the group of London guarding companies the City Security Council (CSC), is interviewed in the February print edition of Professional Security magazine. As he mentioned, the CSC is launching in the spring an incident and crisis management platform to aid real time reporting into and out of the City of London Police JCCR (Joint Contact and Control Room) by security companies operating in the City.
Besides incident reporting – such as missing persons, suspicious vehicles and change of security alerts – it will provide the police with the ability to galvanise support to help set up cordons or support mass evacuations. One of the aims of the CSC is to work with police on exercises and on-street patrolling outside clients’ premises.
The software for the new incident and crisis management platform will be created by Zinc Systems, a UK based digital technology company that specialises in creating business intelligence, incident management and communications platforms.
Neill Catton is the MD of the guarding firm CIS Security. He said: “City Security Council members have been instrumental in driving this initiative forward. The collaboration between all organisations has been excellent and demonstrates the passion to create a unified approach to securing The City of London. The CSC would like to welcome other security stakeholders to be part of this fantastic initiative and to promote the professionalism of our security teams.”
David Ward, a founding member of the City Security Council and outgoing chairman said: “This new comms platform was a key part of our original strategy when founding the Council and I am delighted to see this vision now become a reality. The platform will allow us to share intelligence extremely quickly and allow the police to call on our support. This will help us work even closer in support of the City of London Police allowing our security officers to be even more effective in their role to help provide a safe and secure environment.”
Joe Zielinski, CEO and Founder of Zinc Systems said: “We are delighted to be a part of such a collaborative vision, that will see the City of London Police and Security companies come together, to closer support the City. Our platform, Synapse will be the engine of the City of London JCCR and via working with all the CSC members it will drive proactive intelligence sharing, as well as a rapid approach to incident and crisis management.”
Ian Dyson, Commissioner of the City of London Police said: “This unique and innovative initiative is one that I have always been supportive of since its inception, so it is excellent news to see the next stage unfold. It is vital in this day and age that we further develop our already excellent private-public partnership collaborations, and the CSC platform will bring many additional ‘real time’ benefits to further enhance the safety of all who visit, live and work in the City of London. With many thousands of additional security personnel to call upon in support of our officers this is going to be a real game changer in how we can respond to an incident.”
And Richard Woolford from the City of London Corporation, the local government body for the Square Mile, said: “The City of London Corporation is looking forward to supporting City of London Police and the City of London Security Council community in this new innovative real time solution, merging public and private sector to respond to incidents and crisis. This new system will be an invaluable resource and one that will further ensure that the City remains a safe and secure place for workers, residents and visitors.”
About the CSC
Members are Allied Universal, Amulet, Axis Security Services, CIS Security, City Security Services, Cordant Security Services, Corps Security, Frankton Group, ICTS, ISS, G4S, Kingdom Security, MITIE, Noonan Bidvest, Profile Security, Savills, SecuriGroup, Securitas, SmartSec Solutions, Trigion, Unitrust Protections Services, Universal Security and Ward Security. Visit www.citysecuritycouncil.co.uk.
