The possibilities offered by a new platform that integrates disparate building and security systems into a common management system – namely PSIM – are revealed by Luke Percy-Dove, principal consultant at Matryx Consulting.

In the last newsletter, we spoke of how facial recognition technologies have evolved and how they are being applied with good results in the commercial world.
Specifically, we spoke of their use in major shopping centres and how they can be adopted to track and monitor peoples activities.

Facial recognition can be used in a whole range of non-security applications.

You may have heard the phrase “Internet of Things” or IoT over the last few months and wondered what it isMobile-Duress-Device all about.

IoT allows electronic devices of nearly any nature to communicate between each other seamlessly using mobile telephone networks.

I have been advising on the use of CCTV for over 20 years and have seen the very best and very worst of CCTV over this time.

My view is that until you have a clear understanding of what CCTV can achieve in your environment, you should delay any buying decisions.

During an interview on 2GB recently, I was asked what security measures should be implemented in shopping centres following the Westfield terrorist threat.

It is a difficult question to answer because to properly advise Westfield or any other organisation about counter-terrorism specific security practices, you first need to qualify the level of risk.

Facial Recognition is a technology that has been over promoted for many years. Much of the attention has come from Hollywood where it has magically solved all manner of crimes on television and in the movies.

In recent years, it has been implemented in commercial applications with good levels of success.

How equipped is the private security industry to detect and respond to terrorism activities?

In the wake of the terrorist tragedies that have occurred both locally and globally, the issue of counter-terrorism has unfortunately capitalised a lot of our news. For the business world, it has raised two important questions – what can and should we be doing?

As businesses strive to create efficiencies and improved return on investment (ROI) against their physical security spend, we are seeing a subtle shift away from traditional security practices such as patrols and alarm response services.

I am not necessarily an advocate for CCTV but as a 20 year veteran of the security industry, I understand how and where CCTV can add value. CCTV is just one available component of a good risk management strategy and exactly where CCTV fits, if at all, depends solely on the application.

CCTV is being promoted as the answer to all things security. Through recent industry articles and promotional material I have learnt that the installation of CCTV cameras will do everything from stopping terrorist attacks to eliminating shoplifting and preventing burglaries. This is simply not the case and let me explain why.

People responsible for detecting and preventing a serious incident within the organisation need to be working to a formal strategy that is specific to the local environment. This will cover everything from security staff roles and responsibilities, detection methodologies and incident response and containment.