Olympics ‘biggest security challenge since WW2′

The games are being planned on the assumption that the threat will be “substantial” rather than the current level of “severe.”

Speaking at the conference at the Royal United Services Institute in London, Lord West said: “The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games promise to be the greatest sporting event in UK history and quite possibly the greatest security challenge that the UK has faced since the Second World War.”

But the conference also heard from Sir Ian Johnston, director of security and resilience for the London Organising Committee, who said there would not be “blanket coverage” and security would be based on “an assessment of risk at the different venues at different times.”

Philip Graham, deputy director of threats and operations support at the Department of Transport body Transec, said they were still assessing the threats to public transport and that security plans would not be operational until April 2012.

Lord West reminded the conference on Olympic security that the July 7 terrorist attacks took place the day after Britain won its bid to stage the Olympics in 2012.

He added: “Since that tragic event the UK has continued to face a high level of threat from terrorism. We expect this threat to remain come the summer of 2012.”

The minister said the threat had evolved with the recent terrorist attacks against hotels in Mumbai, India and the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, Pakistan and added that those attacks “provide a sober illustration of the terrorists’ ability to use different methods and tactics.”

Lord West said they expected to sell nine million tickets and that 15,000 athletes from over 200 countries would be competing at over 30 venues, accompanied by around 14,000 coaches and officials and 20,000 members of the media, all taking place alongside celebrations for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

The security operation is costing £600 million but Lord West said it would have to balance risks against the need to have the games run smoothly.

“The Olympics and Paralympics are about sports not security,” the minister said. “We want the world to be inspired by the incredible sporting spectacle taking place here in London, one of the world’s greatest cities.

“Our security plans therefore need to strike a balance between visible and effective security and the welcoming and friendly atmosphere we all want.”

CCTV shows men fleeing murder scene

Police have released footage of two men fleeing the scene of a fatal shooting.

Edward Thompson, 29, was shot as he sat in the front of a car in Amhurst Road, Hackney, east London, last Sunday.

Two young men walked alongside the vehicle and approached the open passenger window, firing into the car before running off.

Warning over Security Alarm scam

Residents in North Lanarkshire have been warned to be on their guard against companies offering to install “free” home security systems.

Police said elderly residents in particular were being “frightened” into accepting alarms which they were then forced to pay maintenance costs for.

Seven incidents involving cold calling offers were reported in the past week.

The firms often quoted “inflated” crimes statistic and claimed the alarms had been recommended by the police.

In some cases those trying to sell the alarm systems had used the names of local police officers and said they had endorsed the product.

The firms also claimed to have the backing of the local authority.Community safety officer with Strathclyde Police, Pc Dougie Denholm, said: “Such companies quote crime figures which do not relate to the area and appear to be frightening people into purchasing alarm systems or taking ‘free’ alarms which then incur an annual cost to monitor the system.

“If you have any doubt as to the content or accuracy of such telephone calls, then contact the community safety department at your local police office for advice.”

Shiona Campbell, of Scottish Scambusters, the national Trading Standards enforcement team, said: “I would advise consumers not to buy anything based on a cold call.

“If the product or price you are being offered sounds too good to be true then it probably is.

“If you are making a major purchase, try to get at least three quotes from reputable companies.”

Teenager jailed for robbing security guards of £40k

Christopher McGovern, 19, pounced on the two men as they filled an autoteller at a store in Glasgow’s Gallowgate last November.
A drug-addicted teenager who robbed £40,000 from two security guards in Glasgow has been jailed.

McGovern, who had a £500-a-week cocaine habit, was caught after his fingerprints were found on a cardboard box lying in a nearby doorway.

The apprentice bricklayer admitted to the assault and robbery when he appeared at the High Court in Glasgow last month.

On Monday, Judge Lord MacKay jailed him for four and a half years.

He also ordered McGovern to be supervised for a further two years on his release. Members of his family left in tears as McGovern was lead to the cells.

The court earlier heard how the security guards had called at East End Newsagents in the city’s Stevenson Street last November 1 with cash for an ATM.

McGovern – who had been loitering nearby – followed them in and then pointed what appeared to be a gun at them. The masked teenager repeatedly demanded: “Give me the f***ing money”. Teenager jailed for robbing security guards of £40k Christopher McGovern, 19, pounced on the two men as they filled an autoteller at a store in Glasgow’s Gallowgate last November.

McGovern then snatched two security boxes with a total of £40,000 inside and ran off from the shop. Police were called and dad-of-one McGovern was recognised from CCTV footage.

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POLICE have been hunting the ringleaders behind the mass violence which saw the horrific return of 1970s-style football hooliganism.

Detectives are scouring CCTV footage in a bid to pinpoint the key figures in the shocking scenes of fighting between West Ham and Millwall fans.

They will study images from inside and outside the east London stadium where hundreds of fans fought running battles.

Police have arrested 13 people and have pledged to track down more offenders.

Troublemakers will face criminal charges and lifetime bans from football matches.

The Football Association are also conducting an investigation into the violence which once again tarnishes English football’s image on the world stage.

The timing could not be worse as the FA steps up its bid to host the 2018 World Cup.

During the riots a 43-year-old man who was stabbed in the chest was stable in hospital. He was among more than 20 people injured. The fighting began in the streets shortly after 6pm on Tuesday as fans headed to the West Ham stadium at Upton Park.

At its height up to 1,000 officers including 200 riot police were drafted in.
Investigators believe elements of the mass outbreak of violence were pre-planned and stage-managed by football hooligan “generals”.

They uncovered evidence that clashes between rival supporters were organised in internet chatrooms.

One message said: “Make sure you bring your bats and don’t bring your kids.”

But some thugs who invaded the pitch during the Carling Cup match were carrying their young children on their shoulders.

Play had to be suspended after yobs fought with stewards and police following three pitch invasions.

So out off all of this we have established a number of things – riots were orgnaised online? A riot in the wake of the FA’s bit to secure the World Cup…. Not the best thing to have happened However let’s ask ourselves as security professionals about the wider threats.

I suppose if were didn’t haven’t so many great products and solutions at our fingertips maybe we wouldn’t be in a position to take action against those thugs.

What do you think? Are you an installer , security guard? Tell us your thoughts….

1,000 CCTV cameras to solve just one crime, Met Police admits

Fewer than one crime is solved by every 1,000 closed circuit television cameras, the Metropolitan Police, Britain’s biggest police force, has admitted.

Each case helped by the use of CCTV effectively costs £20,000 to detect, Met figures showed.
Critics of Britain’s so-called ’surveillance society’ said it raised serious concerns over how police forces used CCTV cameras to fight crime.

Britain is one of the most monitored countries in the world, with an estimated four million cameras nationwide. An internal report released by the Metropolitan Police under Freedom of Information laws disclosed that more than one million of these are in London alone.

However, it cast doubt on the use of the cameras as a crime fighting tool.
It said: “For every 1,000 cameras in London, less than one crime is solved per year.”

The report, written by Detective Chief Inspector Mick Neville, who runs the Metropolitan Police’s Visual Images Identifications and Detections Office, found that the public “have a high expectation of CCTV and are frequently told they are captured on camera 300 times per day”.

Public confidence was dented when the police often stated there was no CCTV working when a crime has been committed, it said. It also said that increasingly members of the public were complaining that officers had not bothered to view available CCTV images when trying to track down criminals.

It disclosed a “significant rise in the level of complaints from the public, where it is perceived that police have not viewed CCTV. This is now approaching 100 per year.”

The report found that untrained officers were often downloading and viewing CCTV images in their hunt for evidence. The cameras were effective in crime-fighting if the images and information from them was used properly.

Detective Superintendent Michael McNally, who commissioned the report, admitted there were “some concerns” about how CCTV was being used.

The report also revealed concerns at Scotland Yard that the Conservatives could cut back on numbers of cameras or the way that they are used if the party wins the next general election, likely to be next May.
Under a section headlined “Strategic Issues”, the report said: “Potential change of Government – the Conservatives are not CCTV friendly – we need to start showing that we are targeting serious crime.”

Earlier this year separate research commissioned by the Home Office suggested that the cameras had done virtually nothing to cut crime, but were most effective in preventing vehicle crimes in car parks. A report by a House of Lords committee also said that £500million was spent on new cameras in the 10 years to 2006, money which could have been spent on street lighting or neighbourhood crime prevention initiatives.

A large proportion of the cash has been In London, where an estimated £200 million so far has been spent on the cameras. This suggests that each crime has cost £20,000 to detect. Britain has 1 per cent of the world’s population but around 20 per cent of its CCTV cameras – which works out as the equivalent of one for every 14 people.

David Davis MP, the former shadow Home Secretary, said the latest report “should provoke a major and long overdue rethink on where the Home Office crime prevention budget is being spent”.

He added: “CCTV leads to massive expense and minimum effectiveness. It creates a huge intrusion on privacy, yet provides little or no improvement in security.

“The Metropolitan Police has been extraordinarily slow to act to deal with the ineffectiveness of CCTV, something true both in London and across the country.

“A combination of overdependence on CCTV and ineffective use of the cameras means that this money could have been much better spent on more police officers.”

Chris Grayling, the shadow Home Secretary, said: “It’s just not possible to fight crime with technology alone, CCTV can help in some situations but there is nothing to beat getting more police back from behind their desks and on to the streets.”

Anita Coles, policy officer for campaigning group Liberty, said: “Being the world’s camera hub comes at a price; not just to our privacy but also to our pockets.

“CCTV has cost millions and yet as it’s not properly regulated there is little evidence of targeted and effective use. In these hard times our money would be better spent on proven methods of crime prevention such as better street lighting and more police on the beat.”

Eamonn Butler, the director of think tank the Adam Smith Institute, said: “It is obvious that the boom in CCTV cameras is not making us the slightest bit safer.

“There is no evidence that it saves us from gun or knife crime, or for that matter that it stops terrorists – many terrorists are only too glad to advertise their evil deeds.

“Nor are cameras much good in getting convictions. Evidence from them is only allowed in court if the images are securely stored and handled, so that there is no possibility that they have been tampered with.”
The National Police Improvement Agency is currently undertaking a review into the effectiveness of CCTV.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said the CCTV detection rate was based on “an estimate only and based on a small sample”.

She added: “They do not reflect the complete picture of cases resolved in London in which CCTV evidence is an important factor.”

The Home Office defended the use of CCTV, with a spokesman saying cameras could “help communities feel safer”.

CCTV being used following the recent riots in Birmingham

Angry shoppers in Birmingham blasted police for letting the right wing extremist Casuals United group hold its demo near another by Unite Against Fascism.

Over 35 people are currently being held and the police are using CCTV now to identify key offenders!

Peaceful Protesting …. i dont think so.

Dont leave yourself wide open!

I was told a story that we can all learn something by…It’s something that so simple but we just seem to ignore it..
Think of the scenario:
You take your laptop / desktop into be mended – and three days later you cant access your online banking and three thousand pound has gone from your back account…
But how:
It seems that computers track your every move, including your online banking URL.
So what’s the solution?
Clear the internet cache, your temporary files and cookies – this is a vital part to computer life, otherwise you leave yourself wide open!

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