The UK stands at a defining moment in public protection. The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, widely known as Martyn’s Law, and the proposed Public Authority (Accountability) Bill, often referred to as Hillsborough Law, together represent more than legislative reform. They signal a cultural shift in how safety, preparedness and accountability must operate across public spaces.
For the security industry, this is not a paperwork exercise. It’s significant enough to require a complete rethink.
The Government’s CONTEST strategy provides the framework through which these duties should be delivered. Its four pillars, Prevent, Pursue, Protect and Prepare, are practical disciplines. Prevent requires awareness at ground level, behavioural detection, recognition of hostile reconnaissance and clear escalation routes. Protect is visible in robust access control, proportionate search regimes, hostile vehicle mitigation, effective CCTV monitoring and resilient communications. Prepare demands rehearsal, not assumptions. Pursue and Prevent rely on intelligence sharing and disciplined information flows so that the grey space between agencies and contractors does not become a vulnerability.
The challenge, however, is not knowing what to do. It is doing it under pressure.
Security teams generally understand procedure. The gap appears in the moment when adrenaline rises, information is incomplete, and decisions must be made quickly. Ambiguity slows action. Radio traffic competes for attention. Command structures can falter if not properly embedded. These are not failures of intent but human responses to stress. That is the problem Trojan Security has been addressing over the past year.
In response to the expectations of Martyn’s Law and the operational demands of CONTEST, we have developed an immersive virtual reality training programme focused on counter-terror readiness in large venue environments. The initial scenarios centre on explosive threats and marauding attacker incidents, not to narrow the lens of risk, but because these represent the most acute and likely scenarios we are likely to face.
The programme was built from live scenario capture rather than computer generated approximation. Using trained actors and Trojan personnel, we recorded a full-scale incident exercise in three-dimensional format. Not just when matters heighten, but all of the indicators that could precede an incident, such as hostile reconnaissance and suspicious behaviour.
From that foundation, we developed repeatable VR modules that place operatives at key decision points, identifying early indicators, communicating clearly, escalating appropriately and maintaining command discipline under pressure.
What virtual reality makes possible is repetition at scale. Traditional live exercises are powerful but expensive and difficult to standardise. VR allows consistent rehearsal across teams and locations, turning training from an annual event into a continuous cycle of practise, review and improvement. It also allows an operative to be dynamic in an unfamiliar setting, making them more tactile to adapt to any challenge, not just where they work on a daily basis.
Legislation creates the floor, not the ceiling. Martyn’s Law compels preparedness. Hillsborough Law compels honesty. CONTEST provides the strategic architecture. Training bridges the gap between policy and performance.
When resilience is rehearsed regularly, it becomes embedded in daily operations. Public safety is not assumed. It is engineered, tested and continuously refined, and collectively we are committed to improving the industry’s response to raising these standards that could potentially preserve more life, as it’s our duty to do so.
This will be made available to all. Those wishing to learn more, please contact vr@trojansecurityuk.co.uk
Ivan Mariacher
Creative and Managing Director, Trojan Security
