asset management and office concierge roles. It makes good sense to utilise the observations, skills and local knowledge of these individuals on the front line in a trained and co-ordinated manner. In fact, Project Griffin is open to anyone within an organisation with an interest in safety and security.


Project Griffin comprises four main strands:


• Awareness Days, staged locally by police forces, which focus on how to recognise, respond to and report suspicious activity and deal with incidents and emergencies


• Interactive online refresher modules to help keep participants engaged and informed


• Bridge calls by conference call, SMS, pager or email, which disseminate information and intelligence concerning issues or incidents


• Emergency deployment of Project Griffin registered personnel for activities such as setting up cordons or neighbourhood patrolling.


HOW GRIFFIN BEGAN


Following the tragic events of 9/11, Don Randall, MBE met Sir David Veness, CBE, QPM as part of discussions on how public private partnership working could be developed to meet the heightened security requirements. Under the guidance of then Superintendent Ken Stewart of the City of London Police, and with the endorsement of James Hart, CBE, at that time Assistant Commissioner of the City of London Police, the Project Griffin concept was developed to enable appropriate use of private sector security alongside public law enforcement.


Refresher training for City of London Police officers was identified as a key requirement. Although the City had been subject to terrorist attacks in 1992 and 1993 in particular, those currently policing the City needed up-to-the-minute information regarding where the threat was coming from, the methods used and the laws available to them. With excellent support from experts from the Metropolitan Police and the City Police Special Branch and


Training School, a training day was developed and delivered to the majority of the City Police uniformed personnel.


The feedback was overwhelmingly positive and a pilot project was launched bringing together the City of London Police, a private security company and three investment banks, with a view to sharing the police training day with the private sector. The common themes of partnership and trust stressed then have been embedded throughout the project ever since. Without these crucial elements, Project Griffin could not have achieved the success it has.


In April 2004, the first Project Griffin awareness day was held at the City of London Police Headquarters, attended by a cross section of security personnel. Over the next few months, four further awareness days were delivered, two in the City and two in Canary Wharf. Today its remit remains just as it was then – to advise and familiarise managers, security officers and employees of large public and private sector organisations across the capital on security, counter- terrorism and crime prevention issues.


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