A ‘Protect’ duty – a new law to make venues responsible for security, on a par with health and safety law – was outlined by Shaun Hipgrave, of the Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism (OSCT) in the Home Office, on day one of ISWeek 2020, the online four-day event that is replacing the two-day physical event at London Olympia.
Hipgrave began with a new name for the term ‘crowded places’; instead, we should say publicly accessible locations (PAL). That’s anywhere the public can have access. He spoke also of four other terms – sites (such as concert venues); sectors (retail, leisure, tourism), zones (‘grey spaces’, where legal responsibility can be difficult to identify), and ‘groups’ (such as faith groups, LGBT, who may require protection, but do not necessarily have a particular physical place).
He spoke of a ‘Martyn’s Law’ – a legal requirement for premises to be accountable for site security, similar to health and safety – as the Government’s intention. He said that such a law would need to be proportionate. As he put it, the cafe that you are in for five or ten minutes for tea does not need to do bag searches of customers; but its staff should know how to lock the door, where the locks and exits are, and places to hide, should there be a terrorist attack that would trigger the need for a ‘run-hide-tell’ response. “That will not need to cost anything,” he said.
He admitted that the main driver for such a ‘Protect’ duty was the Manchester Arena attack of 2017; the Home Office announced early this year its intention to go out to consultation about such a law, before the Inquiry into the attack began in Manchester.
He said: “We don’t always wait for an attack; policy continually changes, based on the threat and the risk. So we do need to work hard to ensure that the UK public can have its democratic freedoms, can go about its business normally, but also they should feel that they are protected when they are going into places.”
Speaking after him were Figen Murray, as mother of Martyn Hett, one of the victims of the 2017 Manchester Arena terror attack, a petitioner and campaigner for such a law; Fay Tennet, Deputy Director of Security Operations, Houses of Parliament; and Barry Palmer, Head of Safety and Security, Tate Gallery. More in the January 2020 print edition of Professional Security magazine.
Hipgrave hailed Figen Murray’s campaign: “Figen’s work has been fantastic in amplifying this; but it’s important it stays in pace with the threat that we face as well.”
He went into some background, explaining why there had to be a new law rather than using existing health and safety law, the Crime and Disorder Act 1998; and alcohol and entertainment licensing. Hipgrave, a former head of Jsarc, the Joint Security and Resilience Centre inside the OSCT, added: “Technology is absolutely key and we still have a long way to go.”
Anticipating potential criticism of the proposed law – that delays due to security checking at entrances may annoy customers and may lead to queues outside venues that actually create a risk of terror attack – he said: “We don’t want to create dangerous space …. that’s where technology helps.” He added that the guarding industry had to evolve, to be professional: “It has to be well trained and understanding of the behaviours of terrorists and it has to have an ability to use technology that can screen, detect, and move people quickly, so we don’t want to create new threats in our effort to protect people.”
He denied also that such a law would be about ‘ticking a box’; rather, as part of a system, that helps to protect people, he said. As for how cafe managers and other non-security venue workers go about securing their premises, Hipgrave praised the UK official Nactso (National Counter Terrorism Security Office) and CPNI (Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure) advice as first-class; and spoke of an upcoming ‘single front door’ for online guidance, hosted by Nactso, with input from insurer companies and the counter-terror re-insurance body Pool Re.
He gave no indication of when the law might pass through parliament.
