With the threat of terrorism ever present our licensed premises must play their role in Keeping Scotland safe, says David BaMaung
WITHIN Scotland, we have a thriving entertainment industry, including high-quality public houses and night-time venues. These premises attract both locals and visitors to Scotland, and also generate considerable income for the Scottish economy. However, the threat from terrorism has never been more real across the world – and Scotland must also play its role in protecting its people.
The current threat level from international terrorism to the United Kingdom is SEVERE. This means that an attack is highly likely. Recently, there have been a number of terrorist attacks throughout the world with several attacks occurring in mainland Europe, with France, Belgium and Germany being targeted in particular.
Some of these attacks have taken place in crowded places and at, or in the vicinity of, licensed premises.
In Paris, in 2015, terrorists attacked Le Carillon café and bar, and the Café Bonne Biere. The night-time economy in Paris was also targeted during this co-ordinated series of events, with 89 members of the public killed at the Bataclan theatre. In 2014, a terrorist took 17 people hostage in a café in Sydney, Australia, killing two of the hostages. Earlier this year, a terrorist killed 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando.
In Scotland, we are working towards developing a safer community, and Police Scotland Counter Terrorism Security Advisers (CTSAs) are playing a key role in this process. The Police Scotland CTSA cadre is based throughout Scotland and these individuals are available to deliver advice and assistance to licensed premises, both large and small.
There are a number of products and services that are available. Project Griffin is a counter terrorism awareness product delivered by CTSAs to help people understand the threat from terrorism in the UK, provide guidance on what to do for those faced with a terrorist event or incident, and to enable people to recognise and report suspicious activity.
Events are free and can last between one and six hours depending on the time available and number of modules covered. The modules are reviewed and updated regularly and currently cover topics including the current threat, firearms and weapons attacks, hostile reconnaissance, bombs (IEDs), cyber, insider threat, among many others.
The National Counter Terrorism Security office (NaCTSO) is a national police body which co-ordinates CTSA activity in the UK, and on April 20, 2016, it launched a new Griffin initiative, Project Griffin – Industry Self-Delivery, and the UK Government objective is to have 1,000,000 people trained in Project Griffin.
This allows organisations to have members of staff trained in Griffin self-delivery, with the initial train-the-trainers courses being provided by CTSAs.
Companies wishing to deliver Project Griffin to their employees can apply to register with NaCTSO, which will provide them with the Project Griffin package relevant to their sector, as well as regular future updates. Essential criteria are that the organisation must be a PLC; have an existing corporate training structure using accredited trainers; operate in the “crowded places” environment; deliver all or any part of the NaCTSO Project Griffin product free of charge; and must sign a formal contract agreeing to abide by NaCTSO Crown Copyright terms and conditions of use.
Further details can be found on the NaCTSO website (www.nactso.gov.uk) and clicking to register will take you to Eventbrite, the registration mechanism and a simple process to follow. Should you require any assistance in registering for Project Griffin then please contact your local CTSA cadre (details at end of this article).
It has also been found that exercising has been a very effective medium to train and increase skills of staff members against terrorist threats. A counter terrorism exercising product has been developed by NaCTSO for the night-time economy under the title ARGUS – Night Time Economy.
The exercise is interactive with video scenarios, and takes participants through a number of terrorist pre-attack planning or actual attack scenarios. The exercises are delivered by CTSAs and are free. I would encourage you to contact your local CTSAs to arrange delivery of protective security training.
A key partner throughout this process has been the Scottish Business resilience Centre (SBRC) which supports the work of Police Scotland in developing resilience within the crowded places and licensing sectors. SBRC can be contacted at www.sbcc.org.uk.
Your local CTSAs can be contacted via the following email addresses:
SCDCTSAGlasgow@scotland.pnn.police.uk (West of Scotland)
scdctsaaberdeen@scotland.pnn.police.uk (North of Scotland)
SCDCTSAEdinburgh@scotland.pnn.police.uk (East of Scotland)
David BaMaung is Senior Counter Terrorism Security Adviser at the Organised Crime and Counter Terrorism Unit, Specialist Crime Division at Police Scotland