Peter Houlis, the managing director of North Tyneside-based 2020 Vision is among the latest on the Register of Chartered Security Professionals.
Houlis, who has been at the helm of 2020 Vision since founding the company 21 years ago, becomes only the 49th to be listed on the register. He becomes the first from a technical systems background to gain Chartered Security Professional status.
The register is governed by the Chartered Security Professionals Registration Authority (CPSRA). The authority’s committee is chaired by Lord Carlile of Berriew, president of the Howard League.
Peter collected his certification from the Security Institute’s chairman and CPSRA management committee member, Emma Shaw at a recent London ceremony. He said: “I’m both humbled and very proud to have been accepted onto such an esteemed group.
“The security profession is governed extremely closely and exacting standards have to be met. Not only is this a very special moment for me personally, but also, I believe, a glowing testimonial to all the team at 2020 Vision. Without their own specialist skills, knowledge and expertise in pushing the boundaries of security and surveillance measures, I very much doubt I would have been recognised in this way.”
Peter had to show knowledge, skills, leadership, communications and professional commitment. The qualification also included having to write a 12,000-word thesis on the topics dominating the security industry, as well as interviews with the CPSRA board.
Peter said: “Degrees and professional qualifications in security are relatively new, but its great for all responsible practitioners that the CPSRA is taking the necessary steps to identify those who insist on offering a fully qualified service.”
Emma Shaw is a CPSRA committee member and chairman of the Security Institute, the UK-based member organisation who oversees and benchmarks professional standards in the industry and administers the register on behalf of the CPSRA. She said: “We’re thrilled to have been able to officially recognise Peter with Chartered Security Professional status. We welcome him as one of a very elite, global group of individuals who can proudly display their chartered status.
“Not only is he someone who has built an extremely successful business based on ethical and knowledgeable advice, but Peter is an individual who has always been so generous to others with his understanding of industry developments.”
About the man
He formed 2020 Vision in 1992 in North Shields. Specialising in private and commercial CCTV, remote site monitoring, access control and concierge systems, it has worked on prisons, casinos, hospitals, universities and sport stadia and produced a monitoring system that captured the first known footage of a puffin feeding its young in an underground burrow on the Farne Islands in Northumberland.
