Just recently, I’ve completed a dissertation for a Masters Degree in Law. That dissertation is entitled ‘The Privacy Laws and the Private Security Industry: can they co-exist?’ Any of you that have ever embarked on such a course of study will I’m sure agree that a good reference book is worth its weight in gold. Well, in my view The Handbook of Security is one such reference work.
Aside from being edited by Perpetuity Research and Consultancy International’s director Professor Martin Gill, one of the security industry’s foremost academics, the 592-page tome contains incisive contributions from numerous other ‘notables’. Notables like Professor Michael Levi – well known to all who are involved in looking at fraud cases. Or Professor Paul Wilkinson, who was educating the world of security on matters relating to terrorism long before it became popular to do so. I first met Paul in Switzerland during the early 1980s. He was worth listening to then, and is most certainly worth a read now.
Professor Joshua Bamfield – who introduced an alternative civil solution to shop lifting offences to good effect – is also present, as are the ‘Morecambe and Wise of the Security World’ – step forward Bruce George MP and Dr Mark Button of the University of Portsmouth.
Bruce’s humour in delivering important security issues has, over the years, entertained many of us, while Mark has embarked on much serious research and shared that with the security community in the pages of some notable publications (including SMT).
The final contribution in The Handbook of Security emanates from professor Gioranni Manunta and Roberto Monunta. I’ve heard Gioranni on numerous accessions, and will always be grateful for his formula on security which has helped me greatly over the years when trying to explain the concept of our profession to my civilian clients.
The above is just a small taster of the quality of the subscribers to this excellent reference book. There are 37 in all, their thought-provoking and challenging views spread across 27 chapters which, inevitably, cover a fair cross-section of the security process.
There’s not enough space in this review to do full justice to the book, but I’ll try my best by referencing the chapters I found to be of most value. At this point, I hasten to add that any paucity of understanding I had was due to my own lack of knowledge and not the presentations made by the authors!
A History of Security
Robert McCrie’s words are particularly interesting. McCrie offers a history lesson with references as far back as the early Egyptians.
This chapter may not help you solve a current security problem, but I would suggest it demonstrates that the security issues we face today are not dissimilar to those of yesteryear. If you’re faced with the difficulty of justifying the security process to your company or client, then McCrie provides compelling arguments.
I particularly liked his reference to Human Rights (which part of my dissertation addressed). “Without security, civilization could not have developed”. Without the continuance of security, future progress is imperilled because of the uncertainty from danger or loss.
Security is not only a human need, it’s also a human right. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations in 1948 began: “Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world”. Then Article 3 goes on to state: “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and the security of the person.”
McCrie’s views fall under the section entitled ‘Security as a Discipline’. This contains six other chapters:
- the study of national security versus the study of corporate security: what can they learn from each other?
- engineering principles for security managers
- the contributions of environmental studies to security
- forensic security and the law
- the study of intelligence and its contributions to security
- criminology and security
The second section deals with ‘Crimes and Organisations’, and comprises of seven chapters. The first focuses on employee theft and staff dishonesty. This chapter is a riveting read if somewhat diverting from my personal task at the time.
Unfortunately, that’s the downside of research. It’s so easy to be seduced by yet another interesting topic that has no – or only a minor – connection to your own research.
This chapter contains a section sub-titled: “Why do employees steal and engage in dishonesty?” I felt this was applicable to any industry in which the security manager finds themselves operating. It looks at the extent, nature and responses to workplace violence globally, combating white collar and organised economic crimes and reflections on the role of security, commercial burglary and terrorism.
Discussing information security
There’s also a hefty nod to information security. As to be expected, this is quite a ‘techie’ inclusion. I was disappointed that no reference was made to the threat to information security by the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The Act wasn’t introduced until 2005, and this book was published a year later. I can understand, then, that it was being written throughout 2005 and possibly 2004. However, the Act was in the form of a Bill from the late 1990s, and its potential impact on the confidentiality of information was a matter of discussion.
Also available for digestion were the experiences of our cousins in the US, who have had to deal with the security issues raised by their Freedom of Information Act for over 25 years. The authors of this chapter are eminent academics, and I would have been extremely interested in their views of the impact of the Freedom of Information Act on the security function. I’ll have to wait for another time.
Part 3 of the book is headed ‘Security Services’. Alison Wakefield kicks this section off in her own inimitable, well-researched and straightforward style. Talking about The Security Officer, Alison poses questions throughout. What is a security officer? How many security officers are there? What do security officers do? What sorts of people are they? What are their personal characteristics, working backgrounds and aspirations? What are their working conditions like? How about their pay and training? What sort of relationship do they have with the police service?
Having posed the questions, Alison proceeds to answer them, supporting her findings with statistics and reference to various surveys that have been conducted. Once again, another chapter that gave me an interesting interlude away from my own research.
Loss prevention in focus
This section is followed by discussions on store detectives and loss prevention, so too private investigators – a subject close to my heart, having been involved in the investigations scene for over three decades.
Inevitably, CCTV pops up. Is it effective? Thankfully, this section deals with the subject in a non-techie way. Being a non-techie myself, I appreciated that there was a particularly lengthy section on ‘Privacy and Civil Liberties’ (which I referenced liberally).
The section on shrinkage and Radio Frequency Identification – prospects, problems and practicalities is, for me, a bit like the Curate’s Egg: good in parts. I have discussed this chapter with a colleague who expressed great delight over it. He proceeded to recall it in great detail, which only reminded me as to why I wasn’t too taken with it. Then his eyes glaze over as soon as I mention Data Protection. The expression ‘Horses for Courses’, anyone?
The final two chapters of The Handbook of Security are the meat. The topics they address should be those constantly reviewed by the senior security manager. In truth, I would go so far as to say that they should provide the backbone to the development of any corporate security strategy.
Security Management deals with pure security management, risk management, disaster and crisis management, issues in security, the regulation of private security, models for analysis, corporate security: a cost or contributor to the bottom line?, trends in the development of security technology and ‘theorizing’ about security.
If your view on security is encompassed by that old adage: “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it” (a saying I’ve never really understood) or based on the: “It hasn’t happened yet” syndrome, then these two sections might not be for you.
However, if you’re a career security manager and you don’t read the rest of the book, do visit these two sections. I suggest that there’s enough in there to greatly assist most strategic arguments you’re likely to face during the course of your career.
Making the recommendation
I wouldn’t recommend The Handbook of Security be scoured by the front line security operative who’s just starting out in the business. I say that because I believe there are better books to introduce them to security.
On the other hand, I would recommend it to the ‘student’ of security. The bibliography and the references provided will save you hours of research. Trust me on that. If you have access to the ‘Athens’ database through your university, most of the papers referred to will be readily available.
I’d recommend The Handbook of Security to the security manager, not only to develop his or her own knowledge but to help them prepare arguments whenever the value of security is (if only in part) in question. I’d even recommend it to the security manager who collects learned publications (like Security Management Today, for example), puts them on the shelf and hopes that by some form of osmosis, the knowledge this book contains may find its way into the thinking process.
The Handbook of Security is a reference work par excellence, but I’d suggest that it’s not a good idea to sit down and attempt to read it cover to cover. Reading it will not make you a good security manager. If you are already a good security manager, I would suggest that it could help you to become an even better one.