On 3 November Stephen and Brett Stocks of Fort Security plead guilty and were sentenced for working without a licence at Sheffield Magistrates Court. An investigation began when the South Yorkshire police arrested an unlicensed Door Supervisor in December 2015. The unlicensed operative admitted the offence but refused to state who had employed him. Further enquiries revealed that he worked for Fort Security. It was during this investigation that it became apparent that Stephen Stocks was responsible for supplying two unlicensed security operatives in June to the Eroica Festival in Derbyshire...

On 1 November, Elite Security (NW) Ltd and David Halliwell were found guilty and sentenced for deploying unlicensed guards, at Wigan and Ince Magistrates Court. In May 2015 Elite Security Ltd emailed an SIA Approved Contractor (ACS company) to ask them to supply a Licence Dispensation Notice (LDN) to one of their security operatives who was unlicensed. An LDN is an authorisation from the Security Industry Authority (SIA) to deploy security staff while their licence applications are being processed. This is only available to businesses that achieve Approved Contractor Status. An LDN was issued...

The Security Industry Authority has released the following update on their new licensing system. "In October we made 9,457 licencing decisions. This is the most we have made in a calendar month since the introduction of the new system. The figure represents a one third increase on the number of decisions we made in September and is in line with the number that we were making before the new system was introduced. "We have now issued over 25,000 licences using the new system. "There are many applications that are still in ‘Next Steps’, the majority of which are awaiting actions from ...

Last December, Dr. Matthew Smith happened upon a traumatic scene where a mentally ill man inspired by the killing of Fusilier Lee Rigby, had slashed the neck of American Musician Lyle Zimmerman. Along with a small group of other passers by, Dr. Smith showed conspicuous bravery. This week, the City of London Sheriffs decided that his bravery in the decisions and actions he took resulting in the survival of the victim, was worthy of their award. The City of London Sheriffs’ Award for Bravery was presented to Dr. Matthew Smith on 3rd November 2016 at Salters’ Hall, London by Sheriff Peter ...

On 1 November Platinum UK Facilities Management Ltd and its director, Lolo Daniels were sentenced for deploying unlicensed guards following a retrial. The case was previously heard in April 2012 when the director, Lolo Daniels, and Platinum were both fined. That ruling was overturned on appeal and re-tried at Inner London Crown Court on 4 October. Head of Investigations, Nigel Davies, said: "Today’s sentence reflects how seriously the courts view the use of unlicensed security operatives. Following the original verdict being overturned on appeal, it was important for us to pursue a retria...

The Security Industry Authority has released the following update on their new licensing system. "This week has seen us concentrate on moving forward the outstanding applications that have been in the system the longest.  We are sorting the applications that have been received, and payment made, into queues within Next Steps.  This process will allow us to prioritise where we direct our available resources and will make a difference to those people who have been waiting the longest. "We do know that there are a large number of applications that have not moved forward because we are wai...

The Security Industry Authority has released the following update on their new licensing system. "This is the latest of a series of information bulletins released by the SIA. You can see all of the updates on our website. "We have continued to deploy our staff in order to get the most out of our resources, which has had an impact on the reduction of queues. We have employed more temporary, security-cleared, staff to help deal with outstanding enquiries. "Decisions are being made at a faster rate than in September. This is having an impact on the volume of incoming messages, as applican...

In Part Two of the Liz France Infologue.com Big Interview we examine ethnic diversity and career progression within the security industry, as well as diversity within the Security Industry Authority itself. The following has been added to provide context to the interview. The Equality Act 2010 created a public sector equality duty (PSED) which replaces the race, disability and gender equality duties. The Act requires public sector bodies to eliminate unlawful discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations. The Act protects people from discrimination on the basis...

After the success of the first two 2016 Infologue.com Big Interviews with Alan Clamp, CEO of the Security Industry Authority and Peter Webster, CEO of Corps Security, we decided to return to the Security Industry Authority in mid-July and meet with Elizabeth (Liz) France CBE, writes Infologue.com’s publisher Bobby Logue. Liz France, the long serving public servant and current Chair of the Security Industry Authority (SIA) Board, has been influential in driving the SIA’s recent Equality and Diversity initiative. The following has been added to provide context to the interview. The Equal...

In Case of Emergency (ICE) is a handheld personal security device designed to provide alerts at the touch of a button. The device, which is set to launch this month, can share signals with emergency services, ICE users within the local vicinity and pre-designated ICE contacts. Infologue.com spoke to Marc Lewis, founder of ICE and the Dean at the School of Communications in London, to gain a further understanding of the product. It was an opportunity that I couldn’t turn down... Ryan Gordon, News Desk at Infologue.com, began the interview by asking Marc about his background at the School...