Draft27-12

Editor’s Comment
Lord Imbert, a very capable policeman,
“ patron of the ASC, even in his later years
a man who took his duties seriously ”
Lord Imbert was already one of the editorial board of Professional
Security magazine when I joined in 1999; and to learn last month
that he has died has been difficult to take in. I only knew him
through the magazine, in his later years; I never saw the younger
and very, very capable policeman that he had been. The closest I came to
appreciating his earlier work was a book about the Balcombe Street siege in
1975. To cut a long story short - and the siege lasted six days - IRA terrorists
cornered in central London held a couple hostage in a room; eventually talked
out by Peter Imbert. In days of mobile phones and jihadists who shoot and
stab to kill until they are killed, such days feel far away. But don’t fall for the
error that those times of Irish republican bombers and bank robbers were
somehow more gentlemanly or quaint even, than now. The Association of
Security Consultants (ASC) can better say than I what a long-standing and
interested patron he was of the ASC, giving his name to an annual award that
he took pains over judging. Though he had reached the peak in his
occupation, as recognised by becoming a peer, he was ever willing to speak
to others; and, to stay with the ASC, to see good in UK private security. In
the last couple of years he was unable to attend the annual ASC lunch in
London. My last sighting of him was in the House of Lords, where he was
passing in the corridor, in a motorised wheelchair, speaking of some policing
business in the chamber. At an age when most opt for an easier life he was a
man who took his duties seriously.
Older readers may recall the 1980 UK Government booklet Protect and
Survive (‘how to make your home and your family as safe as possible under
nuclear attack’). It told you how to build an ‘inner refuge’ in a downstairs
refuge. If you lived on the top floor of flats? Knock on someone’s door on the
ground, or try the basement. Such grotesque advice did not go down well, but
in fairness, what would not sound hollow about such an extreme event?
Security and related managers when testing a plan or running an exercise
have the dilemma of what scenario to run (page 41). A worst case, like a
nuclear explosion? Better, a speaker suggested last month, to work on
something credible, if terrorism may be a threat, given your location.
And what is incredible in one generation or year, becomes credible or reality
the next. As featured in our September issue, the Intu shopping centre at
Lakeside in Essex may have armed police on patrol in a Servator deployment.
The head of security at Intu, Ian Pugh, echoes (page 42) what police said then
about a change since the Bataclan, Paris and other terror attacks in Europe
since 2015; businesses are more open to overt security, such as police
carrying guns on malls. Despite the terror threat, budgets for police are if
anything only reducing. A recent seminar in London (page 44) set out the
most pressing crimes for police; little was said about business. The sensible
implication to draw; business is well down the queue of police priorities - and
blame, if there is any, is futile. Businesses have to look to themselves.
The Team
Mark Rowe
Editor
mark@professionalsecurity.co.uk
John Cully
Chairman/
Editor-in-Chief
john@professionalsecurity.co.uk
07768 922302
Roy Cooper
Managing
Director
roy@professionalsecurity.co.uk
07815 184488
Mark Rowe
Editor
mark@professionalsecurity.co.uk
01283 544 511
TJ Mudan
General
Manager
tj@professionalsecurity.co.uk
07788 973984
Ryan Lunn
Sales
Manager
ryan@professionalsecurity.co.uk
07984 501403
Liz Lloyd
Business
Development
liz@professionalsecurity.co.uk
07970 271786
DECEMBER 2017 PROFESSIONAL SECURITY 7
p06,7 Contents b 27-12.indd 3 18/11/2017 11:16