Report from the Security Working Group Meeting- 20th April 2016

The Association of Event Venues Security Working Group had its first meeting of the year on April 20, at the VOX Conference Centre, Resorts World (NEC). The meeting included several new members from BDC, Goodwood, Ricoh Arena and the NEC, who were warmly welcomed by the chair, Andy Coulson of Farnborough International Ltd.
After the approval of the minutes of the previous meeting, and apologies, the floor was given to Gavin Macpherson from the National Counter Terrorism Security Office, the police unit that supports the 'protect and prepare' strands of the government's counter terrorism strategy.
Macpherson gave a brief background to 'Project Griffin', the City of London Police initiative, designed to encourage and enable people and organisations to work in partnership with the police to deter and detect terrorist activity, and then briefed the group on 'Project Griffin – Industry Self Delivery' – the scheme where organisations and businesses can help deliver the Project Griffin training to their staff through an approved, internal, training provider such as a head of security or facilities. Macpherson explained that given the dramatic events of the last 12 months, and the heightened security risk felt in all major population centres, Self-Delivery was an important part of Project Griffin's ambition to deliver its briefing to 1,000,000 workers, ten times the current level.
Macpherson also spoke to the group about the Project Griffin Stay Safe film, which provides advice to the public on what to do in the rare event of a firearms or weapons attack, including the core message 'Run, Hide, Tell'. Macpherson illustrated the power and importance of this film briefing with a clip of a Welsh police officer who implemented her 'Run, Hide, Tell' training during the terrorist attack on the tourist resort in Sousse, Tunisia, in 2015, saving her life and the lives of the people that followed her directions.
Macpherson concluded his presentation to the group with an account of his work on document fraud, an increasing problem with a serious security angle. Macpherson explained that his work also included training people to spot fake documentation that malign actors may use to infiltrate companies, open bank accounts and access restricted areas.
The group agreed that this was an important topic that deserved its own place on the agenda, and resolved to invite Macpherson back to present exclusively on document fraud.
The second presentation to the group came from Daniel Lawrence from the National Police Chiefs' Council and dealt with the growing problem of computer malware before introducing the Cyber-security Information Sharing Partnerships (CiSP), a joint initiative between industry and government to share cyber threat and vulnerability information. Lawrence explained that CiSP allows members from across sectors and organisations to exchange cyber threat information in a secure environment. The group expressed an interest in joining CiSP and setting up an AEV space for members to join.
The third presentation was given by Dave Humphries of the Security Industry Authority (SIA) as part of his regular updates to the group.
Humphries reported that in spite of the Home Office review that was under way at the time of the last meeting, no decision on the future of the SIA had yet been made. Humphries told the group that the SIA priority for 2015/2016 was working with the buyers of private security to raise standards, and asked the group for feedback on the initiative before launch. The group agreed to review the new SIA buyers strategy document and send their feedback to the SIA via AEV.
With the presentations finished, the group moved on to the discussion topics of the day. The vigorous discussion ranged over the efficacy of metal arches and full searches for security, displaying terms and conditions at venue entrances and advice sharing at a national level with stakeholders.
After round table news and general venue updates, the group requested some future agenda items including updates on drones and document fraud, and agreed to host the next meeting on Wednesday October 26th. Ricoh Arena generously offered to host the next meeting and this offer was accepted, before the meeting was closed.
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