The winners of the 2017 Duty of Care Awards were announced at a gala event in Berlin on Thursday, 29 June. Hosted by the International SOS Foundation, the awards took place following the Duty of Care Summit, honouring organisations and individuals making a significant contribution to protecting their people while travelling or working remotely.

All three finalists in the ‘Security Consultancy’ category of the UK Outstanding Security Performance Awards (OSPAS) were drawn from the Association of Security Consultant (ASC) members:

 Praemunitus Ltd, Police Capacity Building Team, Somaliland

ASC members Joe Connell & Steve Beels

 RFM Solutions

ASC member Bob Martin

 Ian Johnson Associates Limited

ASC member Nick Johnson

 ‘This was a great achievement for the ASC’ says ASC Chairman Joe Connell ‘2017 is the first year these global awards came to the UK and it is hugely gratifying that all three finalists in the ‘Security Consultancy’ category were drawn from the Association of Security Consultants, which of course is the UK’s leading association for independent security consultancy. This is a win, not only for the finalists, but for all ASC members who represent a hugely diverse range of security-related skill sets backed by a strong code of professional conduct’.

Praemunitus Ltd went on to win in both the ‘Security Consultancy’ and ‘Investigator’ categories based on their extensive police capacity building programmes conducted in Somaliland between 2011 and 2016

The Outstanding Security Performance Awards (OSPAs) recognise and reward companies and individuals across the security sector. The OSPAs are designed to be both independent and inclusive, providing an opportunity for outstanding performers whether individuals or companies to be recognised and their success to be celebrated. The OSPAs are set up in collaboration with security associations and groups across many countries.

The importance of organisations working together to reduce crime was made by Secured by Design (SBD), the national police crime prevention initiative, during a presentation at the Association of Security Consultants’ Business Group at Armoury House, London, in February 2017.

SBD Chief Executive Officer, Guy Ferguson, a former Met Police Detective Chief Superintendent, told a packed meeting that SBD seeks to be a major catalyst and focus for crime prevention around the UK.

SBD operates altruistically by working with a large number of different organisations to encourage crime prevention to be built in at the design stage as well as encouraging manufacturers to achieve Police Preferred Specification on their products, such as doors and windows.

The winner of this year’s ASC Imbert Awards is:

Major Paul Ramsay, Cranfield University with his dissertation on:

DECEPTION IN HUMAN INTELLIGENCE: IMPROVING VALIDATION AT THE POINT OF COLLECTION

The two runners up are:

Andreas Trondalen, Brunel University, London with his dissertation on:

WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT FOR WESTERN INTELLIGENCE SERVICES TO COUNTER, DISRUPT AND DISMANTLE TERRORIST AND INSURGENT GROUPS

Rethar Schmidt, Portsmouth University with his dissertation on:

A DANGER FORESEEN IS A DANGER AVOIDED: THE ROLE AND RECOGNITION OF FUNDAMENTAL AND CONTEMPORARY SECURITY APPROACHES WITHIN SUPPLY CHAIN SECURITY MANAGEMENT

The 2017 IAPSC Charles A. Sennewald Distinguished Service Accolade is the IAPSC's most prestigious awards for a security leader who has made an outstanding and significant contribution to the security profession. Jack Case’s leadership within the industry as an accomplished author, educator, mentor, with a successful career as a security executive, combined to make him the perfect candidate to receive this award. Jack will be honored in absentia on May 8, 2017, during the Annual Conference at the Sheraton Austin Hotel at the Capitol, 701 East 11th Street, Austin, TX 78701. 

On the 17th Novemeber 2016 the ASC held another Buisness Group event in London.

Michael (Mike) John Tennent 14.11.43 – 02.05.17

We have lost a lovely, lovely gentleman!

This obituary is based upon my knowledge of Mike for a period of 29 years of which I worked closely with him in Tavcom Training for over 21 years.

Mike started in electronics when God was a boy!  He was involved in electronics since his time in the RAF where he was working with components that glowed in the dark.  If they didn’t glow, they were “broken”.  Tubes were then still in vogue when Mike spent a number of years in South Africa, where he was instrumental in the installation of the television broadcasting system across the whole country.

Back in the UK he was involved in two early CCTV companies, Vision Research where he was involved in the development of the first CCTV video multiplexer, the Krammer and also with Frowds, where he was involved in the sales of video cameras including the 1” tube camera, the “Surveyor 6”, microwave fence perimeter detection systems and the first of the “Slow Scan” transmission systems.

Tavcom was started by a great desire to bring professionalism into the “cowboy” market that we had in the early 1990s.  At that time there was, to the best of my knowledge, only one other CCTV trainer around, Charlie Pearce, in the USA, who was a bit like Robin Williams on speed!

Tavcom’s first training was carried out in an alarm company’s offices in the Portsmouth in 1994.  I joined Mike in training in 1996, having been conned by Mike when I visited the training centre, to see what he was doing!  I was invited to talk about the “decibel” for five minutes, and that’s where it started for me!

Mike and I carried out the first International training in Dubai, where we had delegates from some 12 or more Arab states.  Our trip to the Souk was very interesting and nothing like Dubai nowadays.  Some other early international training in Cairo.  Before we got there, Mike asked “which side of the road they drive on”, I replied “the right until that’s full then the left as well!!”  On that trip, Mike unwittingly shared a lift with President Mubarek and his minders!  It was a very interesting course and we learnt to take into account some of the “local” needs, such as midday prayers!

Tavcom has developed to be, probably, the most extensive CCTV/security training company who has carried out training in: many Arab states, the USA, Egypt, Australia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Pakistan.  This is all thanks to Mike’s dedication and determination to improve the quality in CCTV.

If you ever wanted to “wind” Mike up, all you needed to do was to say that LCD panels are better than CRT screens!  Mike was also insistent that, it is CCTV not VSS, as we are now told it should be!

Mike was always passionate about the quality of the training delivered by Tavcom and would not allow the general licensing of the training courses abroad, because the quality could not be controlled to his satisfaction.

In the early days Mike was involved with SITO and also consulted with the SIA regarding the regulation and training of CCTV operators and managers.  He was also involved in many other committees and spent quite a bit of time on the train travelling to and from Winchester to be able to partake in meetings all over the country.

Mike became a member of the ASC in 1999 and subsequently became a Board member.  He had the responsibility for developing the early Marketing Plan, from which the ASC has since benefitted greatly.   He won the ASC Consultant’s Prize at the Imbert Awards in 20011.  He was always quite outspoken regarding training and the standards of installation etc.

Mike was an ardent photographer, he founded the local photographic club and has had a number of pictures exhibited at local exhibitions.  He had over the last few years, had a number of charity cards made from his photographs and has raised, to date, £1,600 for cancer charities from their sales.  His CCTV expertise was, of course, a great benefit to his photography.

This is a very sad loss both for the industry and for me personally.  Mike will be very well remembered by us all.

Written by Jon Laws

The ASC are sad to announce the passing of John Benton, its first Chairman.  John started at Chubb Lock & Safe and later becoming responsible for their Western Hemisphere business. Later he joined the Stratford Safe Co owned by Walter Runcimen. At about the same time Runcimen acquired John Tann the oldest safe maker in the UK where John became Managing Director. He was also a Director of Killby-Tann Security – a jointly owned company with Killby & Gayford.John gave his support and experience to many organisations such as British Standards (Bsi) where he chaired the Committee on Secure Enclosures, also the American Association for Industrial Security (ASIS). He was a member of the Editorial Committee of the ‘Journal of Security'. He was a Fellow of the Institute of Directors and also he was made a Freeman of the City of London for services to Financial Institutions.

 Following a spell with Schroder’s the Banking giant John turned to Consultancy and it was in 1991 he, together with Mike Cahalane and Mike Collier set up the ASC, an organisation which represents the interest of Independent Security Consultants. Initially with just seven members it now, some 25 years later, has over 200 members.  John, the first ASC Chairman, served five years in that position. He was instrumental in many ways, helping to form the ASC, and his links with the political world lead to him introducing early patrons Lord Nicholas Bethel and Sir Rhodes Boyson. 

After a fall on Christmas evening,Johnwas admitted to St. Mary’s Hospital Paddington where he died in the early evening of Thursday 16^th February at the age of 91, having contracted Bronchopneumonia. Our thoughts are with his wife, children and grandchildren.

The Association of Security Consultants‘ chairman Joe Connell opened CONSEC 2016, thanked the sponsors and exhibitors and welcomed faces old and new to the best attended CONSEC to date. He writes:

I explained the threat comes in all shapes and sizes and so must the responses. ASC is adapting to reflect that broader scope of experience and has expanded over 25 per cent in the last year. All ASC events are aimed at ‘Learning, Sharing and Networking’ with like-minded professionals, but CONSEC is specifically aimed, not just at examining the here and now, but also taking a peep over the horizon at the emerging threat and the future threats; and considering how best we together, as advisers and providers of solutions legal, technical and human, can be best prepared and to provide effective solutions for our wide-ranging base of clients. I referred to the rich selection of speakers drawn from government, industry and academia, the strong representation of technical exhibitors, and the diverse audience all contributing to the value of CONSEC 2016. Quoting Henry Ford that ‘The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability’ I claimed that’s exactly what CONSEC is about: Knowledge, Experience and Ability.