‘Back in the Air’ programme to support the Aviation Industry and ICTS Sentinel Kiosks are being used at major airports to take passengers’ temperatures. As I write, preparations are being made for similar kiosks to be used in the Corporate environment. These have been designed to facilitate a Covid-safe return to work, by verifying identification, allowing access, and taking the temperatures of staff and visitors.
The next major milestone will be an economically viable solution which rapidly screens for Covid. Watch this space…
Whilst uncertainty remains as to what this new normal will resemble in 2021 and beyond, we have to remain positive and resilient. The security industry will continue to adapt and play a key role in ensuring the safety of our communities and their surroundings. ICTS is ready to take on the new challenges going forward as and when they present themselves.
What are the major challenges faced by the security sector for 2021 to respond to COVID-19?
Meanwhile, violence associated with far-right extremism was already increasing, a trend strengthened by the pandemic. The coronavirus is not a bio-weapon and the pandemic does not offer terrorists any new capabilities, but it gets them thinking. Bio- terrorism scenarios in particular resonate with the genocidal fantasies of white supremacist and anti-Semitic extremists. Be prepared for alarming hoaxes and low-level biological attacks.
I suspect we are going to see even more emphasis on securing physical spaces, renewed border controls, and inner perimeters with checkpoints, clearing some to enter while keeping out others, and still others quarantined. In the United Kingdom, this will be complicated by Brexit.
Health warnings will determine international travel, both going to and coming from. We may go back to widespread use of the “yellow card”, the international certificate of immunisations still required by some countries to confirm yellow fever and polio immunisations. Anticipate forgeries and other attempts to beat the rules. Will we see domestic versions of the yellow card as proof of immunity? Undocumented immigrants will be most affected.
Metros and trains are the only means of transportation for many in major European cities and the decline in use during the shutdowns has meant that even in developed countries, operators are strapped for cash. Security expenditures may face sharp cuts.
Many companies have rightly taken steps to protect their businesses by removing as many costs as possible; some less scrupulous ones have taken this as an opportunity to maximise profits by realigning their model under the ‘Covid Threat’. Regardless of the reasons, this generally points towards a clear reduction in the number of security personnel required, regardless of sector (commercial, retail, industrial, aviation etc.), and this will have a significant impact on the mid-term employment of many people.
As a company we have always been proud of our ability to learn, to be agile and be quick to react, upscaling and downscaling operations responsively and responsibly when and if the need should arise. With the anticipated increased need for cost saving, this is going to become an ongoing challenge for us and for every security business.
Providing blended solutions where there is a wider adoption of technology, mobile and manpower solutions, which require less dependency on people but still provide the ability to provide the best balance of risk vs cost and maintain resilience, is clearly going to become a focus.
Another challenge is going to be cashflow. We are all dependent on our customers making payments regularly and on time; in a bid to maintain their own solvency are they going to use service providers as a credit line? If their customers are in difficulty and start paying slower or, worse, go into receivership, then the knock-on effect could cause serious liquidity issues for some security companies.
As pressure grows, the fight for survival could become fierce as some clients will become too price-centric; any further erosion of already low margins could become a major concern for the security sector. Some companies wrongly see dropping margin as a way to survive when we all know that more often than not it has the opposite effect.
People frequently use the term “the new normal” to suggest that a different social and economic environment will prevail, but without knowing what that might look like.
We can expect 2021 to see a turbulent transition to an uncertain future. Terrorism continues. Jihadist terrorism appeared to be declining in 2019, but it surged in 2020 in Africa and other places, and it is by no means over, as the recent Paris suburb attack suggests. Social isolation and fear contribute to the spread of conspiracy theories, misinformation and radicalisation – which a return to normalcy does not automatically reverse.
A turbulent transition to an uncertain future
For most businesses, a major challenge is likely to be finding ways to operate sustainably and profitably within an increasingly uncertain Covid landscape, more so if and where providing frontline services or people is the bread and butter of a business. In such unprecedented times there is no way to ‘sugar coat’ the reality that security businesses, with the ongoing local and national lockdowns, reduced office usage and a move to remote working, are in for a bumpy ride, regardless of their size.
© CI TY S ECURI TY MAGAZ INE – WINT ER 2020 www. c i t y s e cur i t yma ga z in e . com
Finally, and most importantly, we all have a professional and moral obligation to look after our people – they work in an already difficult industry that is more often than not overlooked – and if and when tough decisions have to be made, have the decency to do it honestly and compassionately.
Continued on page 16 >
15
Brian Michael Jenkins Security Research Director, Mineta Transportation Institute
Kevin Ward Managing Director Ward Security
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36
