Security is integral to the wellbeing of an organisation and requires properly qualified professionals to manage it.
That was the message delivered at IFSEC International 2015 by Angus Darroch-Warren, director of the Linx International Group – a role he took on following a police career in South Africa – during a seminar about security in the 21st century.
Darroch-Warren explored the relationship between security and risk and underlined the ongoing need to update perceptions about an industry that has become increasingly sophisticated and multidisciplinary in recent years.
As traditional crimes become less frequent virtual crime is filling the gap with phishing attacks, viruses and hacks just some of the proliferating methods by which criminals and terrorists steal data or cash or disrupt the functioning of business and government.
“Terrorism has no specific target,” the speaker told attendees. “Obviously, it is not possible to stop working, travelling or producing. For this reason security protection has the duty to guarantee that all work activities could be carried out safely.”
Fluid, integrated
In an increasingly complex risk landscape security professionals must cleave to best practice (albeit with the flexibility to innovate and adapt to particular circumstances). And technological change demands a more fluid, integrated approach.
“Working in this field, there needs to be a social responsibility which is based on ethics and compliance,” continued Darroch-Warren.
“It is also essential to converge and integrate all security functions like building access, interior security area, CCTV, lighting, parking gates to demonstrate the symbiotic value of security.”
One of the biggest sea changes in security over the past couple of decades is the industry’s professionalisation. If the police and military remain the biggest sources of fresh talent and offer many transferrable skills then a background in either career is no longer sufficient to thrive in private security.
Security is now a respected academic subject and training and education is essential for the ambitious.
“Our responsibility is to put competences in security because skills help to manage risk better and increase security levels,” the director of Linx International Group, which provides training in security protection and management, risk analysis and information security among other disciplines, told the audience.
“Consider that 62% of security managers have no vocational qualification and 38% haven’t attended at least one external training course.”
Nevertheless, academic knowledge must be allied with skills acquired on the job – through coaching, on-site mentoring and secondment, according to Darroch-Warren.
Independent research has revealed that holding professional qualifications boosts earning power by an average of £81,000 over a lifetime, he added.
Free Download: The Video Surveillance Report 2023
Discover the latest developments in the rapidly-evolving video surveillance sector by downloading the 2023 Video Surveillance Report. Over 500 responses to our survey, which come from integrators to consultants and heads of security, inform our analysis of the latest trends including AI, the state of the video surveillance market, uptake of the cloud, and the wider economic and geopolitical events impacting the sector!
Download for FREE to discover top industry insight around the latest innovations in video surveillance systems.
