The security week: Security Excellence Awards winners – and a documentary

Please be gentle. I am nursing a fairly virulent, vengeful hangover. It’s all the fault of last night’s impossibly glamorous Security Excellence Awards, where the cream of the security crop in the UK gathered to celebrate, and, inevitably, drink to excess. I’ve spent this morning putting some photos on the website – you can have a look at some of them here, and then there’s the photos of winners, and there are even more photos of entertainment and things of that nature as well.

In addition to this melange of Excellence-based excitement, there’s the opportunity to get yourself involved in a new security-themed documentary – or at least to help get one made by offering your wisdom and contacts and security know-how and whatnot. It sounds to me like it could be even better than those ones about kids born with five heads or the man who ate his legs or people who like to pretend they live in a slightly more attractive postcode then the one they really do live in. Even better than those! Yes, it is possible.

Also read the latest diatribe from SMT Editor Brian Sims. It deals with the downfall of former Met Police chief Sir Ian Blair, and from what I gather, ‘scathing’ would be a fairly apt word to use when describing its contents.

To balance that out, this week’s Song About Security comes from lycra advocate Olivia Newton-John. As far as I am aware she has never been in charge of even a tiny provincial police force, let alone an organisation as large as the Met.

Elsewhere there are updates on the network standards and interoperability front, from both ONVIF and the PSIA. And Alan Hyder gave us details of a new study prompted by levels of school violence.

Thankyou very much for reading this far. This has taken me much longer than it would have normally, and I appreciate your indulgence. Here is a game about my current status. Enjoy!

The security week: Cybercrime and stadiums

This week on I4S we took time out to consider the motivation behind cybercriminals. These nasty types are absolute rotters, I am reliably informed.

We also pondered stadium security, particularly in the wake of the Beijing Olympics and some event that those in the know are calling ‘London 2012’. And as the article in question deals with the use of sensors, I briefly considered headlining it ‘Sensor Perspective’. But then I came to my senses. Or sensors! Hahaha. Sorry.

In more fun news, you can play an online game with QED that involves flinging dome cameras down London streets, and win one of the Midas domes yourself.

And you can laugh knowingly at the Danish employee who inadvertently tested his firm’s security capacity by setting off their fog system. You silly man.

Brian Sims gave us his SMT Editor’s View on a hero of 9/11, terror suspects, PCSOs, and MI6, in the very same week that Honeywell opened a new installer training centre. Coincidence? I’d imagine so.

But this is no coincidence – we have two lovely conferences coming up, one of which is about Next Generation CCTV, and the other on The Threat Within (which is dastardly employees.) Feel free to attend one or both.

It’s Friday, so it’s Songs About Security day. This week it’s the turn of those lovable scamps AC/DC, and their catchy ditty about prisoners escaping from their place of incarceration. Note: this sort of behaviour is technically illegal.

And for those of you who enjoyed last week’s ridiculously sweary parrot – here’s another instalment. But again, though, be aware that it’s not for the easily offended and it’s not for kids. And it’s possibly not safe to have blaring out in the middle of your office, depending on how blue your workplace is.

Camera tossing, and an Editor’s View

Today Brian Sims looks back at a hero of 9/11, and is somewhat surprised by an MI6 job ad. Read all about it in his SMT Editor’s View.

Ah, London. Where the streets are literally paved. And now covered in the remains of dome cameras that have been flung willy nilly over buses and other obstacles in an attempt to reach some mythical ‘maximum distance’. Except this is actually an online game – a novel promotion by QED for its new generation Midas dome. Not some sort of dystopian future world where CCTV cameras are ironically deployed as thuggish weapons by wild-eyed street urchins and vicious mercenaries. Or is it? No, it’s not. It’s a game.

Or is it the Next Generation of CCTV? No. That is a conference. When you attend, be sure to enquire as to the chances of the aforementioned dystopia occurring. I am quite certain the answer you’ll get back is “minimal”.

Elsewhere, SIA investigators finally had some good news to report on the licensing front – a visit to some door supervisors on the weekend found they were all properly licensed! A pleasant turn of events.

And make sure you visit www.jobsforsecurity.com, as it’s a one hundred percent doozy of a site – particularly if you are interested in jobs for, in, and about security. That’s what it’s for!

The security week: Buses, loaders and Threats Within

There’s a bit of a transportation theme this week. Check out our story about the CCTV system that survived a fire on a bus. It’s quite impressive.

We’re also bringing you the tale of the little JCB that could – it was stolen and tracked all the way to the Middle East, where it was retrieved and brought home. What a delightfully happy ending!

We’ve got venerable SMT editor Brian Sims with his column on the dangers of social networking sites, and looking back at 9/11. He also popped over to Ireland (he flew there in an aeroplane, which is another form of transport) for the opening of a brand new G4S monitoring centre.

In a somewhat similar but unrelated story, Security Installer boss Alan Hyder has written about an online service that could cut out monitoring centres. Who will win in this battle of the editorial giants?

Songs About Security this week comes courtesy of trip hop types Massive Attack. Sublime!

And in addition to the keenly anticipated Next Generation CCTV conference, there’s also The Threat Within – the return of the event focusing on employee crime and how to make it not happen. Useful. Very useful.

Burning buses and online dangers

You know when you’re waiting ages for a bus, and there’s no bus turning up, and more and more people are gathering at your bus stop, and some of them are lighting cigarettes in an effort to make the bus come, and others are starting to mutter swear words to themselves, and everyone’s just getting really agitated – when suddenly three buses appear? And one of them is on fire? Well, there’s a chance that the cause of the fire may have been caught on CCTV and recorded on a remarkably resilient DVR. Some parts of the above happened in a story we are featuring today.

In his Editor’s View, venerable SMT boss Brian Sims lends his formidable rhetorical skills to the potential dangers of social networking sites, as well as looking back to 9/11 and the effectiveness, or otherwise, of security responses to the event.

Also on the agenda today is the return of highly popular and important conference The Threat Within, which takes place on November 19, and focuses on reducing employee crime. It’s a good’un.

Don’t forget that the Security Excellence Awards are just around the corner. If you’re not sitting at a table there, you won’t have anything to drink yourself under.*

*Please drink in moderation. Also, pay attention to the awards being given out.

Apprentices and monitoring centres

Today we feature the Support Installer Apprenticeships campaign from Security Installer magazine. Editor Alan Hyder says “the installation sector needs a well trained workforce to tackle a job that is increasing in its technical complexity” – and the new campaign is a means to encourage more companies to become involved. Read the feature by Gerard Honey and lend your support to this superb initiative.

And SMT editor Brian Sims was in Belfast just the other day for the opening of G4S’s brand new state of the art Monitoring Centre – worth a cool £3.4m. He’s also penned a little bit about the launch day itself – and his memorable journey home.

This month our Access Control Doctor looks at networked systems, while there’s also a story on a new battery tester designed to save time – and hence money – for installers.

Oh, and beware: renowned industry Don Juan and Security Installer columnist Orson Carte is on the lookout for love. Do you know anyone desperate enough?

The security week: Monsters, unemployment, Beckham, MC Hammer

This, the first week of September, has been a week of firsts here at I4S. It’s certainly the first time we’ve featured a story about a monster in a Swedish lake captured on video analytics-enabled cameras. There’s a link there to some video as well.

And it’s the first time we’ve had a story about David and Victoria Beckham, despite their constant badgering.

The other big ‘first’ is the appearance of MC Hammer in our Songs About Security feature, with his impressive thoughts on access control.

Elsewhere, a Yorkshire training firm has suggested security as a safe career option in the face of impending economic gloom, while Brian Sims brings us news of the £1m partnership between G4S and the British Judo Association.

There’s also top notch opinionating from Security Installer editor Alan Hyder, and your chance to register free for IFSEC India if you happen to be around the Indian subcontinent.

Why not have a look at our latest Bench Tests? And visit Jobs for Security, the rightly acclaimed site about jobs for, in and of security. Oh, and have a look at our conference about Next Generation CCTV.

After all of that, you deserve a reward. So here it is: a website about people falling over. It’s intrinsically amusing!

Install and battery

Y’know, sometimes I think that we don’t talk about batteries enough – not just on I4S, but generally. Today we attempt to redress the balance somewhat with a story about the impact of a new EU directive on security installers. And yes, it’s battery-based!

They’re pretty progressive in Sweden, or so we’re led to believe. Cut-price supermarket chain Netto is certainly living the dream, installing IP cameras and video management software from Milestone to protect against all manner of retail badness.

And don’t forget that if you, like many others out there, hold concerns about ticket touts and their impact on safety at sports and entertainment events, then a read of Brian Sims’ Editor’s View column may help keep your blood simmering.

Later this year there’s a conference being held on Next Generation CCTV. We’re supporting it, so I obviously think it’d be a good idea to check it out.

Ticketing treachery and access assistance

Today I4S takes the ticket touts to task in inimitable fashion via the medium of Brian Sims’ SMT Editor’s View.

There’s also a useful guide available from the good folks at the BSIA with information and assistance on access control installations.

Don’t forget about the opportunity to register for our interesting and wonderful conference which looks at Next Generation CCTV.

And get yourself over to www.jobsforsecurity.com not only for the best security jobs – naturally – but also fantastic advice on furthering your career. Del Hunter of SSR Personnel Services Ltd has written an excellent guide to security careers in the UK which is valuable for anyone looking to get into the business.

The security week: Guarding debts, pub CCTV, and revolution

It’s been another action-packed week at info4security. Brian Sims reported on a report which suggested some guarding companies could be heading debtwards – and there was a celebrity-endorsed DVD which aims to put CCTV in more pubs and clubs.

Brian also gave us his Editor’s View on matters Premier League and pointy, while his erstwhile colleague, Alan Hyder of Security Installer fame, provides us with this week’s Song About Security.

One enterprising installer has teamed up with a salmon smokehouse to offer us a fish eye view of the London Olympic site development. And speaking of the Olympics, Monday is the deadline for security companies to express their interest in tendering for the 2012 games.

And, horror of horrors – TODAY is your last chance to vote for the Security Manufacturer of the Year in the 2008 Security Excellence Awards. So don’t just sit there – sit there and vote!

While you’re at it, visit www.jobsforsecurity.com and peruse the wonderful jobs on offer. Or read some advice about getting a job. Or post a job vacancy on there. It’s totally sweet.