Don Randall MBE, Chairman of City of London Crime Prevention Association (CoLCPA) reviews 2023 and shares his thoughts on 2024.
As we leave 2023 and enter 2024, we still have a world full of conflict, aggression and barbaric acts of terrorism. Senior law enforcement officers have commented recently about the high likelihood of terrorist activity occurring in the UK. To this end, our association continues to maintain close liaison with relevant agencies and our programme of meetings is geared to anticipating the needs and requirements of our members to deal with all ongoing situations.
I thought it would be interesting to reflect on our activities this year and beyond:
CSSC is now 12 years old and it is 10 years since it became a registered charity. We distribute circa 25 messages per month to our 3,895 industry sector leads (ISLs) and an audience reaching 15 million recipients. Of the ISLs, 1,167 have businesses based in London.
Our 9 regional hubs continue to grow and, additional to our national reach, add substantial regional value. With support from the City of London Police and our platform provider, Everbridge, we have revitalised our registration process. We continue to engage new members at a rate of approximately 40 per month and these include universities, trade associations, HMG departments, museums, media, regulatory bodies and hospitality companies.
It was a pleasure to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the CoLCPA in January at the Saddlers’ Hall and we are grateful for the sponsorship provided by QCIC. It was good to see old friends and colleagues from when we merged the associations and prior.
Our programme of presentations – always supported by the City of London Police operational and counter-terrorism directorates – was well received, with an average audience of 110 attendees.
In September 2022, we started our active engagement in what is now called ‘Prevent Violence against Women and Girls and Domestic Abuse’ (Prevent-VAWG & DA), which was highlighted at our conference in the Livery Hall at the Guildhall in February. This event was supported by the City of London Corporation, QCIC and Unitrust. We were fortunate to have a plethora of keynote speakers, including Angela McLaren, Commissioner of the City of London Police, and Lucy D’Orsi, Chief Constable of British Transport Police. The event was seen as a major success and the launchpad for a raft of initiatives going forward.
We are grateful for the partnership in developing Prevent-VAWG & DA with the Safer Business Network, the Employers’ Initiative for Domestic Abuse (EIDA), City of London Police, British Transport Police, Metropolitan Police, the Corporation of the City of London, the National Security Inspectorate and others.
With funding from the Proceeds of Crime Act and an excessive amount of pro bono activities, this initiative – under the banner of the City of London Crime Prevention Association – has crystallised into a series of progressive activities. We have formed an extensive group of relevant parties, an executive board and operational streams.
We are privileged that the Lady Mayoress, Elisabeth Mainelli, has agreed to become our Patron and former CoLP Commissioner Ian Dyson and Sarah Cork our ambassadors.
The streams of activity will continue to grow and our ambition, with our partners, is to create a best practice working model which is scalable across the UK and beyond. We are using the period November 2023 to November 2024 to achieve this model, which coincides with the current Lord Mayor’s term of office. For those who can recall, this process follows the principle of Project Griffin in 2003.
The current streams of activity are:
- the re-introduction of the Taxi Marshalling Scheme at Liverpool Street Station on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings from 22:00 to 01:00/02:00 hrs
- the creation of Safe Havens across the City of London
- the development of a Safe Haven App
- the re-energisation of the ‘Ask for Angela’ campaign
- a survey to determine the views of women in respect of their safety in the City of London
- the formation of a Building Security Certification Scheme in partnership with the National Security Inspectorate
- a supporting communications and marketing programme
These streams of activity are covered in further detail in the article on page 30.
We continue to work with the London Fire Brigade in the promotion and execution of Project Kestrel, which is an online fire, safety and security training programme. This forms an integral part of the Building Security Assessment Scheme.
As in previous years, we continue to make charitable donations and our summer and festive drinks, sponsored by Investec, are seen as two valuable networking opportunities.
In closing, the Committee and I thank you for your continued support and your ongoing invaluable contribution to keeping our respective communities safe and secure.
May I wish you, your families and loved ones a peaceful festive season.
Don Randall MBE Chairman,
City of London Crime Prevention Association
