The aim of this advice is to provide advice to security managers of crowded places following the recent terrorist attacks. There are a number of operational and tactical options you may wish to consider. Terrorism threat levels are designed to give a broad indication of the likelihood of a terrorist attack. They are based on the assessment of a range of factors including current intelligence, recent events and what is known about terrorist intentions and capabilities.

2.    Threat Level Definitions

There are five levels of threat which are defined below:

The Response Levels provide a general indication of the protective security measures that should be applied at any particular time. They are informed by the threat level, but also take into account specific assessments of vulnerability and risk. During any incident leadership is key, make a dynamic risk assessment and take responsibility. Decisive individuals will save lives.

3.    Response Levels

There are three levels of response EXCEPTIONAL, HEIGHTENED and NORMAL.

Response levels equate to threat levels and tend to relate to sites, whereas threat levels usually relate to broad areas of activity. There are a variety of site specific security measures that can be applied within each response level, although the same measures will not be found at every location. The security measures deployed at different response levels should not be made public, to avoid informing terrorists about what we know and what we are doing about it.

To support your planning the threat level and response levels are combined in the table below:

4.    Additional Information

There are some simple, practical actions you can take immediately to help improve the security of your venue:

Risk Assessment
• Carry out a risk assessment that is specific to your venue

Building Response Level
• Regularly review the response level for your site or venue at security meetings
• Clearly display signage informing staff of the building response level. This should not be displayed in public areas

Security officers posture and activity
• Proactive engagement and staff briefings. One of the most disruptive measures to counter terrorists and wider criminality is a security force that appears to be vigilant and proactively engages with the public. Terrorists and criminals do not want to be spoken to by any member of staff and will actively avoid engagement – this should be polite but professional. If they are spoken to it is likely to make them feel very uncomfortable and exposed. Staff briefings will enable your security officers to understand the importance of proactive engagement and they should be encouraged to do this where practical and reasonable to do so. For example, if security officers patrol to areas in a car (such as a car park), encourage them to get out of the car and engage with people, as simple as saying good morning.
• Unpredictable security measures. Unpredictability results in uncertainty and erosion of confidence in the mind of the hostile who need these predictable security arrangements so that they can plan for likely success. Where practical and reasonable build in unpredictability for example, timings and types of assets and search regimes deployed at your site.
• ‘Recruit’ staff to be vigilant for and immediately report suspicious activity and items. Use existing staff communications such as shift briefings, intranet etc. to inform as to what suspicious activity may look like, to trust their instincts and report immediately to the security control room/police. In these communications convey how their reports will be taken seriously and investigated and where possible showcase where previous staff reporting has led to outcomes, both where there have been benign and security outcomes; this helps promote confidence in reporting.

The counter measures to be implemented at each response level are a matter for individual premises or organisations and will differ according to a range of circumstances. All protective security measures should be identified in advance of any change in threat and response levels and should be clearly notified to those staff who are responsible for ensuring compliance. It is important to train staff and the conduct rehearsal exercises for each response level. The list below provides a number of protective security options you may wish to consider.

Security Checklist

INITIAL ACTIONS
1. Review your security plans
2. Identify your risks, based on the current threat
3. Review your Business Continuity Plans
4. Decide what you need to protect, identifying critical operations and functions
5. Increase staff vigilance – through briefing
6. Review Evacuation, Invacuation and Lockdown procedures. Ensure you have plans for vulnerable staff and visitors. Designate marshals to support this activity.
7. Identify ‘protected spaces’
8. Review your Emergency Assembly Point

PREPAREDNESS
1. Ensure First Aid Kits are fully stocked and staff know where they are kept
2. Ensure Crisis Incident Kits (grab bags) are available and up to date

COMMUNICATION
1. Brief staff – ensure they understand their roles and responsibilities
2. Engage with neighbours, partners and suppliers
3. Ensure you are able to alert staff and visitors of any imminent or immediate threat or incident
4. Provide prior notification to staff and visitors of enhanced security measures, encouraging them to arrive in plenty of time and encourage them to bring minimal possessions
5. Monitor news and media channels
6. Develop pre-scripted messaging and alerts and determine how these will be communicated to staff and visitors

PERSONNEL
1. Maintain an up to date list of personnel (Do HR update leavers and joiners?)
2. Consider extending staff shifts where appropriate
3. Consider cancelling leave where appropriate
4. Consider cancelling non-urgent business or visitors where appropriate to your venue
5. Identify if you have sufficient staff for critical roles such as your control room
6. Review requirements for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for security staff

TRAINING
1. Ensure staff understands how to respond to a terrorist incident.
2. Are staff first aid trained?
3. Review and deliver training to your staff and conduct rehearsal exercises

STAFF VIGILANCE
1. Do ALL staff understand how to respond effectively to reports of suspicious activity, behaviour and items when reported by the public? Who they should report to internally and when to report to police.
2. Disrupting hostile reconnaissance: Ensure staff understands how to identify suspicious behaviour
3. Suspicious Items: Ensure staff understands how to respond to suspicious items.
4. Ensure all staff and visitors wear passes
5. Where entry is restricted, check the visitor’s identification prior to allowing access to the site

PHYSICAL SECURITY
1. Enhance your security presence where appropriate; consider staff patrolling in high visibility clothing
2. Ensure CCTV is working effectively and monitored
3. Review your access controls. Where appropriate close unnecessary entrances to prevent unauthorised access
4. Ensure infrastructure, such as signage, lighting, floor level signs, stairs etc. are clearly marked and labelled.
5. Prepare floor plans
6. Establish if your control room is capable of being operationally effective against different attack types and can be secured and protected
7. Check critical systems and equipment such as PA systems
8. Ensure control rooms have alternative means of communication such as mobile phones with spare batteries, chargers etc.
9. Consider the protection requirements for any queues of people created by additional search measures (CCTV, position of the queue etc.)

SEARCH AND SCREENING
1. Business as usual search and screening (looking for prohibited items) should, when done well, provide a very good capability to detect larger threat items concealed about the person
2. You will have a finite amount of security and screening resources; focus on addressing your highest priority threats
3. Be clear about what the search process is aiming to detect, who you need to screen and where you will conduct the process
4. Define lists of prohibited items. Communicate this both to customers and personnel conducting the search
5. Prior notification (at point of sale or media) of these extra security measures and encouraging people to arrive early, will smooth peaks and allow safe and effective searching
6. Provide effective public address messaging to people as they approach, asking people to prepare for additional search and screening. This should reduce unacceptable delay
7. Consider initial search and screening on the approach or outside the venue, for example a visual check inside jackets and bags
8. Conduct search and screening measures efficiently, effectively and politely. Aim to maximise screening throughput (to minimise queues that may be targeted)
9. Bags and other items should be searched to the extent required to provide confidence that no items of concern are present. Manual bag searches should be, proportionate, systematic, consistent and safe for the person conducting the search. Always look where you are searching
10. Manual person searches should be considered to the extent required to provide confidence that no larger threat items are present. Engage the customer and obtain their permission. Consider whether search should be a condition of entry if it is not already. Search systematically from head to toe. Pay particular attention to bulky and baggy clothing. Continue the search to the end, even if something is found. Do not be intimidated or distracted. Use hands in a firm sliding motion. Screeners should always be the same sex as the customer. Where appropriate ask the customer to remove pocket items. Consider the privacy needs of the individual
11. Ensure your site or venue is searched on a regular basis but not at predictable times or in a predictable way
12. Ensure you maintain your search regime for the lifecycle of the event including prior to the commencement, during and post event
13. Determine whether you allow vehicles into your venue and if you intend to search vehicles entering your venue
14. Train search staff to search safely and effectively
15. Ensure all staff are aware of the response when they locate threat items

SECURITY PERSONNEL
Depending upon their responsibilities an effective security guard must be able to demonstrate they can respond effectively to a number of scenarios including:
1. Do you security staff understand how to respond effectively to reports of suspicious activity, behaviour and items when reported by the public. Who they should report to internally and when to report to police?
2. Initial actions at a terrorist incident.
3. Ensure you maintain your search and patrol regime for the lifecycle of the event including prior to the commencement, during and post event. Consider a patrol sweep of the public areas before, during and after an event looking for suspicious items and behaviours. Patrol areas might include areas close to the site, pick up zones and transport hubs. Ensure those staff can communicate effectively with a control room.
4. The different terrorist threat levels, building response levels, and different activities required should there be an increase in threat
5. Hostile reconnaissance, how to patrol effectively to disrupt activity, identify and respond to suspicious behaviour
6. Chemical, biological and radiological incidents, how to recognise and respond
7. Firearms and weapons attacks and the Run, Hide, Tell principles
8. Evacuation, invacuation and lockdown procedure demonstrating knowledge of the emergency assembly points
9. How to Search a site effectively
10. The basic principles of good housekeeping and how it reduces the opportunities for an attack
11. How to respond appropriately to a bomb threat
12. Using emergency equipment such as defibrillators etc.
13. Use of incident logs and checklists that facilitate an effective response to incidents such as terrorist incidents, bomb threats etc.

GOOD HOUSEKEEPING
1. Where your risk assessment determines it is necessary, examine opportunities to reducing reasons for crowds to dwell such as reducing or removing or relocating activities that are attractive, such as street entertainers, mobile food outlets etc. Consider increasing patrols in these areas. Consider carefully where these activities take place.
2. Have you reviewed the use and location of all waste receptacles in and around your venue or event, taking into consideration their size, proximity to glazing and building support structures? Consider repositioning to areas that are not crowded
3. Are the bins emptied regularly?
4. Are external areas, entrances, exits, stairs, reception areas and toilets kept clean, tidy and well lit? Where possible reduce areas where items can be concealed
5. Do you keep furniture to a minimum to provide little opportunity to hide devices, including under chairs and sofas?
6. Do you use seals/locks to secure maintenance hatches, compacters and industrial waste bins when not required for immediate use?
7. Consider arranging vehicle deliveries for times where the fewest number of people are on site. Consider adopting time windows where no deliveries will be accepted.
8. Do you screen all your mail and can you isolate your mail processing area?
9. Have you tested and exercised for a terrorist incident in the last 12 months? Do staff understand their roles and responsibilities?
10. Are relevant staff and deputies trained and competent in managing bomb threats?
11. Do you regularly check the content of first aid kits, crisis management packs and firefighting equipment?
12. Have you checked your CCTV to ensure it is working effectively and has sufficient coverage inside and outside?
13. Have you taken into account the location of street vendors (e.g. flower sellers, newsstands and refreshment stalls) so as not to impact upon evacuation routes, assembly points, exits or entrances?

14. Are cycle racks and lockers positioned away from crowded areas? Is CCTV monitoring necessary?

There are many reasons for installing an alarm system in an area. One of the reasons is the reduction of probability of theft taking place, but also the reporting of the event to a monitoring station.

Security systems operate with the so called zones, that are from electrical point of view earth loops. Each zone can have certain characteristics such as being a 24-hour one, with entry/exit delay or direct. In each zone the installer connects detectors of movement, magnetic contacts in the doors, glass break detectors, smoke (fire), Carbon dioxide, humidity, etc based on the needs of the protected area.

Biometric systems are used mainly for access control. Instead of the use of some card the user is checked biometrically (for example with his of the fingerprint). Other technologies allow the recognition of a person by face, iris or even voice recognition. All these technologies differ in prices and possibilities.

The closed circuit of television (CCTV) allows the user to see the all incidents in the supervised space. The CCTV cannot prevent a crime from taking place, but it can deter somebody from committing one. Moreover the video that has been recorded it can constitute an exceptional source for the police investigating theincident.

·        Basic operations of the recording system (DVR)

·        The DVRs combine digital recording of video and sound, multiplexing and input/output for interconnection with an alarm system.

·        Simultaneous recording and playback.

·        Remote monitoring via an application that allows access in the DVR from anywhere in the world via Internet (requires connection via xDSL in the controlled area or alternative use of 3G /4G router).

·        Detection of movement for the evasion of continuous recording. If no movement is detected from a camera there is no need to record video images. In this way the same hard disk allows longer time video recording and keeps them for higher periods before erasing them with newer events. Possibility is copy video footage to external medium (e.g. USB stick).

Operations in the cameras

·        There is a great choice for cameras for indoor and outdoor use.

·        Common installations make use infra red for night use.

·        Cameras start from simple analog video Megapixel (4K support).

·        Support of PTZ camera  (pan-tilt-zoom) where via remote control the user can turn the camera where it wishes and also zoom depending on his needs.

An installation of a security system without interconnection to a Central Monitoring Station (CMS) and only using a siren does not only constitute any serious security operation. The CMS allows on a 24-hour basis the complete monitoring of the protected area as well as possible problems (e.g. power failure that remains for very long time) that will have to be checked.

Other choices are the use for panic, medical help but even the monitoring of refrigerators and freezers in shops with use of relative sensors.

Our company offers systems for access control in entry and exit.

Formal process of Entry and Exit:

• The door is equipped with appliance of recognition (proximity reader). In order to allow the entry, the individual should keep the card/key in front of the reader

• The reader once it reads the card, transfers the information in the control unit that in turn forwards it to a relative software running in a computer.

• If the particular card holder is recognized and has access in the particular area then a relative order is given to the equipment checking the door so that it opens.

• Then this individual enters the controlled area.

• The system can also activate turnstyles that allow an individual to enter/exit at any time.

• In the event of possible violation, the system can trigger the alarm and activate the DVR in that area.

• For the exit the same process is followed. The system in the case of using an exit button will not know which individual came out of the controlled area.

• In case of need (e.g. fire) the gates open automatically so as to allow faster exit.