Industry Sector Leaders,

We are keen to share a briefing overview of current Counter Terrorism Awareness and supporting assets available to all relevant partners in support of the overall safety and security approach we can all take together to deliver a safe and successful event and allow local partners to safely and effectively operate their business as usual.

Counter Terrorism Digital Communication Assets freely available
Please consider the use of the linked CT Comms resources prior to the event that are available free to use, print, display and share where possible that promote CT Event Safety for this event. These can all be found at the following link Summer Campaign Digital Toolkit | ProtectUK and include football related digital assets as well as more general printable assets you can use to promote local vigilance and safety.

Counter Terrorism Awareness Briefing for all staff
I am hoping to finalise a short slide deck with notes to share with you so that you can brief your teams and inform and empower them to be able to respond appropriately to any concerns identified. In the meantime and in the interests of time please use the briefing below for your teams.

In the interests of all partners we would encourage all staff to complete ACT Elearning at the following link ACT Awareness e-Learning | ProtectUK and to complete the SCaN For All Staff individual session at the following link scan.highfieldelearning.com as a minimum.    

In addition the CT briefing is as follows:

Be Alert Not Alarmed
1. Vigilance is key as always and especially with the event being held in a busy shopping area in Central London – Be Alert – Not Alarmed

Inform
2. National CT Threat Level is currently at Substantial – An attack is likely. There is no specific threat to this event from a CT perspective however there have been attacks across Europe in recent times and to maintain the safety of all persons involved in the event (including you) we need to remain vigilant to allow the event to take place safely and report anything that doesn’t look right. We all have a part to play.

Empower    
3. We want to give those involved in the delivery of the event and those that are conducting their business locally, alongside the event, the confidence to raise concerns so we can all work together to prevent issues turning in to problems.

4. When considering the recent threat there are a number of attack types that we assess and risk manage and although some areas are assessed as being more likely, it’s important that Government and Policing assess all attack types.

Although not exhaustive the main types of attack are:

• Person Bladed and other Weapons Attacks
• Using Vehicles as a Weapon Attacks 
• Explosive Device Attacks
• Fire as a Weapon Attacks
• Chemical Biological Nuclear Radioactive
• Cyber

5. There are 3 key messages we want all partners to understand as a minimum so that they can feel empowered to ACT accordingly if they feel something isn’t right.

1. Suspicious Items – Be aware of your area of operation.
Keep a look out for any items that seem to be unattended, out of place or left abandoned. Trust your instincts and if it doesn’t look right report it to your supervisor or a Police Officer. Use the HOT protocol Incident procedures | ProtectUK to assess whether anything is suspicious and report anything that doesn’t look right.

2. Suspicious Activity – Be aware of your area of operation.
When you arrive at your post / area, find out who is there with you. Security teams and Police officers are deployed all over the event footprint. Speak to them and find out who is in charge of them and get to know what they are doing and where and what they are responsible for. An early chat can save valuable time later when it is busy and things need to be done quickly. Security supervisors and Police Sergeants and Inspectors will be in charge of areas, speak to them and get to know them. Then you know who to speak to and share concerns with if you have any during the day. We would MUCH rather you told us of a concern that turned out to be nothing to worry about rather than you say nothing and it turns into a problem. Trust your instincts and if something or someone doesn’t look right, raise it to a supervisor or police officer.

Use the Power of Hello – this can be used to deter anyone with hostile intentions.
By using your customer engagement skills to politely ask those in your area if they need any particular help – you are helping those customers who may need some assistance or guidance but you are also indicating to anyone there with hostile intent that you are aware of them being in the area and have recognised them and are content to engage them. This has been shown to be an effective way to deter those intent on hostile activity who do not want to be noticed or engaged.

3. Run Hide Tell – In the rare event of a Firearms or Weapons Attack

RUN AWAY – Don’t put yourself in harms way. There are a lot of Police officers deployed to this event who are trained and paid to run towards the threat. The best thing that you can do is get you and everyone else around you, out of the way and give the Police space and let them deal with the incident. Be aware though that people will look towards you and follow your lead. You may be identified by your uniform or some form of identification that shows the public that you are in charge. They will follow you. When you arrive at your area, have a look round the area and plan what you would do if you needed to evacuate quickly, which way would you go. It doesn’t have to be an attack it could be something like a water main burst or a fire. Planning ahead will help.

HIDE – If you can’t run away, hide. Try to find somewhere that puts a substantial physical barrier between you and the threat. Turn your phone to silent and hide. If you can barricade yourself in somewhere even better.

TELL – Call 999 when it’s safe to. Tell them what you have seen, can see and can hear and where you are.

If you have any questions at all please do not hesitate to make contact.   

Stephen Atkinson