SI Editor's View: The ultimate column

01 Dec 09

My last editor’s view… It seems like only yesterday, or maybe the day before, that I nervously tapped out my first newsletter to the security audience online.

Better reflect the gravitas of the industry in 2005, I thought. So my first efforts were on the heavy subjects – regulation / legislation / altercation / registration…

But they soon found their natural level in sprinting grannies, terrorist trainspotters and consultancy cobblers.

What? The chance to air heavy, learned views to a captive specialist audience of security experts and he wastes it on “talking allotments” and “acne security”?

Too right. Not only because I can’t write that clever stuff but because, in my opinion, we take the whole thing a little too seriously.

Highly understandable when our specialist subject is crime and punishment, maiming, and shaming, the used and abused, the dregs of society, the criminally insane and the downright nasty.

What rubs off?

It’s said that a little bit of the subject matter always rubs off on the observer, ie, a good police officer starts to think like a criminal, a good installer eyes up the most vulnerable entry point in the same way as the intruder.

But if you’ve ever been to a party with a group of “health care professionals” – doctors and nurses – you’ll know that the biggest laughs of the night centre around death, disease and spare body parts.

The more seriously po-faced the industry, the more it needs to remind itself that it’s still human and lighten up a bit.

The chairman of this regulatory body / that legislative panel wasn’t born with a copy of the Data Protection Act in one hand and the draft EN standards in the other.

“Do you want to play football after school Fred?”

“No thanks, I’m reading the DB3F9 committee’s findings on setting up a proactive think tank to explore cross-party networking synergies that fertilize fast track regulatory benchmarks around the consultative process – or not.”

Muddy waters

I’ve sometimes suspected there are certain groups in the security industry who delight in making the waters as murky as possible.

The muddier they are, the more need for specialist bodies to exist to translate the legislative murk into language the poor overworked end user (ie, installer or anyone else trying to earn an honest crust under pressure) can understand.

It’s not limited to security, of course. Every industry has its regulatory “bodies” that sit on the back of the poor, working hippopotamus, pecking away.

Many of the national news stories concerning the dangers or shortcomings of this or that industry emanate from the bodies that have sprung up to regulate it.

The worse the publicity, the more these shortcomings are highlighted to the outside world, the more these bodies justify their own existence.

Common sense needed

Red tape has been a theme of this column and I have frequently written about efforts by groups such as the Forum of Private Business to make things easier for those security proprietors trying to succeed in tough economic circumstances.

As they say, “It can be a lonely world when you’re trying to run a business”.

While some regulation must exist to stop the cowboys, create a level playing field and a fair deal for customers, over-regulation and pointless hoop jumping only stifles competition, curbs development and sends honest traders to an unwanted retirement.

How refreshing to read the views of a door supervisor writing this opinion piece on info4security. There’s more common sense and good advice in that one short article than a stack of others I’ve waded through.

This for instance: “Maybe the money spent on acquiring all those accreditations could be used to top up the wages of your staff – you can imagine the level of service your clients will receive from motivated staff.”

Mentioned with frequency

One of the things I have found fascinating and have often highlighted in this column is the area of RFID, where developments go in leaps and bounds.

I’ve not had enough space to mention some of the amazing applications, not just RFID access control, but in every area of life from “smart rubbish” to “talking yogurt pots”…

Society will be changed in every way due to RFID technology.

Just a typical week and I read of these two applications: the RFID robotic guide dog and – of significance to more people – an “interactive wine kiosk”.

Pick up your chosen bottle and a tag activates information on a screen – what it goes well with … and, for the more patient drinker, when it should be consumed.

It doesn’t take much imagination to see how RFID will revolutionise shopping or, as they say, “the consumer experience”, and this is probably the “hottest” security related sector.

If you’ve got an idea – RFID or not – that you think will reduce retail crime, let the world know about it.

ID high

But “tagging” has its controversial side and while no one has actively supported the suggestion I’ve made a few times here of tagging babies at birth, I’m sure it’ll eventually go that way.

It may just be tagged cows or even migrating salmon today, but with the right, soft marketing campaign, emphasising the many advantages throughout the child’s growth – “Always know where little Jessica is and what she’s doing” – it could definitely appeal to today’s paranoid parents.

Upgraded at regular intervals for school dinners, bus travel, college vending, entrance to bars etc, by the time they were adults the tagged would not want to be without this convenient proof of the ID they couldn’t accidentally lose.

Outer tagging – say as an earring or body piercing – would soon become a fashion accessory.

It would only be a matter of time before compulsory ID tagging “in the fight against terrorism” became “embedded” for the good of society.

Only a few rebellious, old style rock stars would hold out – from “Don’t want no tag babe” to “I’ve got you under my skin”.

By that time there wouldn’t be any real freedom left to defend – which is why I’m glad that the national ID card scheme will never get off the ground, despite the comical and sometimes bizarrely nasty attempts by the Home Office to make it seem palatable – especially to young people via the infamous 'mylifemyid' site - which is no longer in operation.

Finger of suspicion

Yes, ID is the big issue and mixed up in the soup with biometrics, one of the access control sector’s most promising areas, despite its many years waiting in the wings.

Lucky for this industry people gladly accept fingerprint scanning to get in or out. It’s only when they fear their biometric will be stored and shared that they start to worry.

As the commentator in the article says, “Nobody wants to feel like a criminal” which is why the biometrics industry needs to show the same sensitivity to the application of their products as does the CCTV sector.

Saddled with coaches

I have nothing against “coaches” – consultants rather than transport – but most business bull can be traced back to their door.

Having convinced the MD that communal martial arts, power stream meditation, line dancing or haiku poetry sessions would be good for staff motivation, everyone has to jump through the hoop.

Having done some of these questionable activities, I’ve never found that the so called team spirit generated on the Welsh potholing weekend or abseiling day carried over any further than Tuesday morning. But maybe that’s just me.

Still but not dead

Some consultancy advice might possibly be useful.

The next time you go for a job interview, don’t worry too much about what you say in between – just concentrate on your bodily movements in the first and last three minutes of the interview.

But if you’re desperately trying to keep your head above water in your current job you might feel the need for some TLC via a computerised “Stillness Buddy”.

Yes, this little “buddy” helps you create very short on-screen breaks which encourages “moments of stillness” and “mindfulness pauses” at regular intervals throughout the day.

Sounds just the thing for a busy office. “I’m going for a fag break and then a moment of stillness”.

“Sorry, Tracy can’t answer her phone, she’s having a mindful pause.”

Get the latest stories first with info4security's newsletters: Click to signup

Post and bookmark this story at the following sites:

What is this?

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit	Google	Newsvine