Operation Relentless was part of an ongoing Derbyshire Police initiative targeting alcohol-related disorder in the night-time economy. In total, 34 separate premises were visited and 92 door supervisors inspected. 88 of them held valid SIA licences (although seven individuals were warned for not correctly displaying their ‘badge’). Four door supervisors were reported for possible prosecution for working without a valid licence from the Regulator.
Jacqueline Parker, an SIA head of investigation, told info4security: “This operation showed that 96% of door staff in Derby were working legally with SIA licences. However, a small number were found to be working illegally, and it’s imperative that door supervisors operating in positions of trust, so too those employing them, do not flout the law. This will not be tolerated by either our partners in the police service nor by ourselves. The public deserves nothing less than to be protected by trained, qualified and SIA-licensed door staff.”
Sergeant Katie Andrews from Derbyshire Police’s Licensing Enforcement Team added: “All in all, Operation Relentless was very successful. It has demonstrated that the majority of door staff operational in the city are licensed and have undergone the necessary checks to fulfil their positions, and that premises’ managers and security companies fully understand the need for their staff to be licensed. We will now take a look at the four individuals who were found to be operating without a licence and take the appropriate action.”
Matthews pays a visit to Glasgow
Bill Matthews – the newest member of the SIA’s Board – has made an official visit to Glasgow to meet various representatives from the private security industry.
Over the course of his two-day visit, Matthews met and talked with senior members of the Strathclyde Police, representatives from the British Security Industry Association and senior staff members of security companies operating north of the border.
Speaking immediately after the visit concluded, Matthews told SMT: “In my first set of meetings with SIS Stakeholders, I wanted to engage with the regulated industry and our police partners. It was very useful to hear about their experiences. I now plan to engage regularly with our Stakeholders to ensure the particular areas of interest pertaining to Scotland have a voice at Board level.”
Bill Matthews is director of management consultancy M2M2 Limited, working with a variety of public and private sector clients. He began his business career by spending 15 years with Motorola in Scotland and America, and four years at Sigtronics in Livingston, before co-founding Invint Limited to develop processes for electronics manufacture.
A chartered engineer and member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Bill holds an MBA together with first degrees in electronics and psychology. He is a non-executive director within Scottish Government, currently holding Audit Chair positions with the Corporate Audit Committee and the Board of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.
In early 2007, Bill was appointed to the Board of the Scottish Police Services Authority, where he also chairs the HR Committee. He’s a senior member of the Audience Council for Scotland – a voluntary body that represents the views of license payers to the BBC Trust – and joined the Board of the Regulator on 1 April this year.
In-house licensing questionnaire
The Security Industry Authority would like to emphasise once again that it’s inviting the private security industry, commercial and Government sectors to complete a questionnaire on the in-house licensing issue.
This is part of the Regulator’s broad-based study to discuss the potential for licensing in-house security operatives. The SIA will then make a recommendation to ministers on the possible way forward.
If you would like to complete the questionnaire, please click on the link to the right of this page. Return your responses to the SIA by 30 September latest.
