Feature Security Management Best Practice Read more online at www.securitymattersmagazine.com
Brought to Book
Historically, security managers have tended to be sourced from either the Armed
Forces or the law enforcement community, but the increasing complexity of the
organisations employing them – along with rapid technological development – is now
forcing an evolution and expansion of the role. As Charlie Swanson observes, security
managers must meet this challenge in order to succeed in their field and successfully
protect the assets of their employers
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Turn the clock back two decades and
a conversation between a duo of very
professional security officers to which
yours truly was privy. “I couldn’t get a
job so I became a security officer” was
the gist of it. That specific sentence has
stayed with me ever since. To me, this
statement epitomised the security
industry at that time, and particularly so
here in the UK, but in my opinion the
sector has moved on since then (albeit
there’s still room for improvement).
The aim of my new book is not to
preach. It’s not for Charlie Swanson
CSyP to dictate how the security
community should evolve, but for at
least ten years now colleagues and
learners alike have been asking me to
commit my considered views about the
industry – and, indeed, any subsequent
ideas and recommendations that I may
have – to paper. Hence the recent
publication of ‘Professional Security
Management: A Strategic Guide’.
The book has been written for a
number of reasons, including a personal
challenge to understand my knowledge
of the security industry, but primarily to
reach out to colleagues in an effort to
communicate what I believe to be the
critical aspects of professional security
management. I wanted to say: “These are
my opinions about a number of critical
and, of course, contentious security
management issues. Please read them
and then form your own views.”
The book itself is divided into three
parts, with the inaugural segment
discussing private security and the
development of the role of the security
manager. This is a particularly
important strand of the book where the
evolution of public policing
(predominantly here in the UK and in
the USA) is examined, duly identifying
the seemingly symmetrical, but at times
uncomfortable relationship between law
enforcement and the security sector
either side of the pond.
Policing in the UK has been
decimated over the last decade or so to
the point where, as police officer
numbers dwindled, crime – and
particularly knife crime – increased
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