What is Martyn’s Law (Protect Duty) and what does it aim to achieve?
The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill, also known as Martyn’s Law, recently moved a step closer to becoming law. The Bill, which proposes strengthening the security of public events and venues, will now be sent for Royal Assent after MPs supported amendments put forward by the House of Lords.
Martyn’s Law is the legal obligation of venue owners and event organisers to strengthen the protection of the public when gathered at UK venues in mass numbers, such as concerts or other public events.
What challenges does the policing sector face as it looks to provide greater security in public spaces?
The policing sector is no easy feat and keeping the public safe is at the heart of their priorities. As they look to provide greater safety in public spaces, they are addressing how they can better detect attack plans that may include the use of blades or explosives, and how they can increase the response time to these, quickly and effectively.
How technology can support legislation-driven security improvements?
Open source intelligence (OSINT), AI, biometrics, video analytics, blade, and explosives detection, can all help with the right con ops and resources.
How is Thales assisting the police in this area?
The Thales Security Digital Platform (SDP) can help the authorities apply containment measures, with proven and experimental usage scenarios including:
- Use of video analytics for automatic detection of suspect packages and crowd behaviour
- Detecting offenders with biometric identification technologies integrated into the platform
- Automatic reporting on actions taken by law enforcement bodies in the control room and in the field
- Public applications totally integrated with the platform so as to allow the public to report to and communicate with central forces
- Monitoring of suspect cases through video surveillance with advanced analytics
- Interface with mobile phone monitoring systems
By unifying all security subsystems, the platform provides shared, enhanced situational knowledge; enabling key players receive live updates on critical resources and security alerts. An example of which is the ability to better enhance cybersecurity by countering cyber threats through the ability to quickly integrate new sensors and subsystems. SDP’s open architecture allows Thales to accommodate new applications and the latest innovative algorithms, with fast and modular deployment.
What advice would you give any police force looking at navigating current policy shifts, emerging threats, and law enforcement needs?
Public safety and protecting critical national infrastructure (CNI) is at the core of everything we do at Thales. We also understand that times are changing, new threats are emerging and policies are shifting and adjusting. We can learn from the past to help ready ourselves for the future. Through the use of case studies we can all better prepare ourselves for the changes and adversity we may face in the future and increasingly protect public safety from any future harm.
Anything else you think is important?
The UK prides itself on the freedom of a democratic nation, but more can be done to ensure that we maintain the safety and security of our people and CNI. As AI, biometrics and applied analytics become woven into our everyday practices, it will enable our police forces to better intercept incoming threats.
Thales sees AI as an important tool in supporting fast and effective decision making. However, any errors in policing can have serious consequences, so it’s important that AI is used to support the decision making of police officers, rather than replacing them in the process. The use of AI should be transparent, understandable and ethical, and at Thales, we are proud to be working with police forces to enable this.
