Report calls for more security team involvement in tackling terrorism.

August 15, 2005:A report published today welcomes the role
played by private security teams event of terrorist attacks, and calls
for more involvement by private businesses in national security issues.


Giving examples of where security officers are already making a
contribution it highlights duties such as helping with evacuations and
manning cordoned-off areas.


The report, Joining Forces: From National Security to Networked
Security, has been released by the influential left-of-centre think
tank Demos.



Emergency involvement

The report’s author Rachel Briggs calls for business representatives to
join the Government’s emergency committee, Cobra, as a way of getting
the private sector more involved in counter-terrorism.

The report welcomes a number of developments including Project Griffin,
the partnership between the Metropolitan and City of London Police with
the financial and business community. Designed to mobilise an army of
over 1,500 private security guards as police support in the event of an
emergency, Project Griffin officers played a key role in sharing and
disseminating information to London-based businesses on the morning of
the 7th July attacks.


Last week the Commissioner of the City of London Police said that
businesses were not taking security seriously and that around half were
not prepared for a terrorist attack.



Source:Security helpdesk