From 2011 Logue Corporate will publish their annual analysis of the regulated security sectorin September of each year in order to capture the current Security Industry Authority’s (SIA) Annual Report in the current review, writes Infologue.com Editor, Bobby Logue. Therefore this current review will run from January 2010 until the end of August 2011. The four most significant events that have impacted on the licensable private security sector during this period were; The ideological decision by the Con – Lib Coalition Government to abolish the SIA as part of the Bonfire of the Quango...

ADS and Skills for Security, the not-for-profit sector skills organisation for the UK private security industry, are pleased to announce the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) today (Thursday) that aims to increase the availability and quality of training available to everyone who works in the industry. The MoU aims to boost the long-term sustainability of the UK security sector by increasing the available skilled employee pool for the industry. The agreement will facilitate the sharing of information between the two organisations, co-ordination on mutually relevant issues and ac...

The British Security Industry Association (BSIA) will be using the forthcoming Total Workplace Management (TWM) exhibition at London Olympia (11-12 October) to advise facilities managers on Information Destruction (ID) best practice and to underline the growing security, and financial, implications for organisations who fail to take rigorous and timely steps to dispose of their data. Sadly from the BSIA's experience - and as frequent news headlines testify - despite numerous warnings a worrying number of public and private organisations still do not have robust procedures in place to destr...

A week long multi-agency operation targeting criminal activity within the city's pub and club trade concluded on Friday [23 Sept]. The joint campaign was launched by the Security Industry Authority, the Serious Organised Crime Agency and Avon and Somerset Constabulary. It aimed to support legitimate businesses that provide licensed staff to venues and to safeguard them from the threat posed by organised crime. As part of the operation, night time inspections were carried out on Saturday last week [17 Sept], with 10 venues visited and 45 door supervisors checked. All 45 operatives had a vali...

Four more high performing security companies have now joined the Infologue.com ACS Star Performers List, which consists of companies in the SIA Approved Contractors Scheme (ACS) who have achieved the highest 5% of assessed scores within the scheme. There are an estimated 36 companies who qualify for the Infologue.com ACS Star Performers List and with the new entrants the list consists of 56% or 20 of the companies eligible. The new entrants are CIS Security Limited, Emprise Services plc, Equinox Security Management Limited and The Security Group (National) Limited (trading as Bowles Security &...

New online research led by the University of Leicester reveals that over 200,000 people living in Britain may have fallen victim to online romance scams – far more than had been previously estimated. The study is believed to be the first formal academic analysis to measure the scale of this growing problem. In the 'online romance scam' criminals set up fake identities using stolen photographs (often of models or army officers) and pretend to develop a romantic relationship with their victim. This is often done using online dating sites and social networking sites. At some point during the...

The SIA is encouraging all its Approved Contractors to check their e-mail in-boxes for their invitation to the ACS forums. The London and Northampton dates are now fully booked, however approved contractors can still book places for the other dates/locations. Bristol; Thursday 20 October East Kilbride; Wednesday 26 October Chester; Thursday 3 November York; Wednesday 9 November The proposed agenda includes a general ACS update, licensing developments, ACS transition, the Olympics and a general Q&A session. SIA Approved Contractors Website...

Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe, the 26th person to hold the position of Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service, begins his first day in office today (26 September) by meeting as many officers and staff delivering policing and services to the people of London as possible. The Commissioner started his day at 05.30hrs in Romford where he met officers parading before their morning shift. From there he is working his way west through London, predominantly along the Thames on one of the police boats; stopping at Barking & Dagenham, Woolwich, Greenwich, Lewisham, Southwark, Westminster...

The government has published a consultation today inviting members of the public to have their say on how complaints against Police and Crime Commissioner’s are handled. Police and Crime Commissioners are at the heart of the government’s plan to cut crime and reconnect the public with the police. Elections are due to be held November 2012. Today's consultation focuses on how criminal and non-criminal allegations against Police and Crime Commissioners will be handled. Policing Minister, the Rt Hon. Nick Herbert MP, said: 'We will replace the bureaucratic accountability of weak, invisi...

Yesterday, Europol’s Director, Rob Wainwright, reported on the investigations into the two attacks which took place in Norway on Friday 22 July 2011, and presented a set of recommendations to the Council of Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs (JHA). Following these attacks, the Director of Europol activated the EU First Response Network (FRN)* and representatives from Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Poland, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Norway came together to form a First Response Team (FRT) at Europol headquarters in The Hague. The swift and positive response of these Member States...