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Churton On City

by msecadm4921

Nigel Churton, chief executive of consultancy Control Risks Group, was interviewed on Radio 4’s Today programme on July 15.

He was commenting on City of London Police security advice for businesses after the July 7 suicide bombings in the capital. Nigel Churton, last interviewed in Professional Security in the November 2004 issue, described the police advice as a ‘timely reminder’.<br><br>Admitting it is difficult to stop an invidiual who can walk into your offices (and yet proves to be a suicide bomber), Nigel Churton said: “So people have got to be more vigilant. It is right to say since 9-11 a lot of the work we have done is get stand-off distances from buildings for large vehicle bombs and a suicide bomber who can come into a lobby of a building is much more difficult to contain. So we will have to think about that more.” Earlier, he made the point that Israel, when first faced with suicide bombers, found it difficult to identify them, but the authorities worked on educating the public.<br><br>Nigel Churton mentioned the ‘ring of steel’, the security work seeking to stop vehicle bombs from reaching iconic buildings in central London. Suicide bombers – known in Sri Lanka and Israel, and Iraq, and a topic of an article by Sri Lankan Arjuna Gunawardena in the May 2003 edition of Professional Security – is a new phenomenon for the UK and indeed western Europe. What is there to be done to secure people and property?<br><br>Nigel Churton said: “You have got to take reasonable precautions; we have got to try to protect our staff; otherwise people will not go to work. There has got to be a reasoned approach to security, from Government to employers; and employers have a duty of care.”<br><br>City buildings can hardly be knocked down and rebuilt more securely. Rather, Nigel Churton said, you have to balance security with making as little disruption as possible. He said: “I think the City has demonstrated extremely well over the last four years we can get a balance between security and freedom of movement. I think we have just got to look at what has happened and see if we can improve what we are doing.” Rather than expensive rebuilds, we have to look at practical measures, to give [City business] staff confidence, he added.

For the City of London Police advice and a link to the force’s counter-terrorism web pages, see separate article.

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