The British Association of Private Security Companies: A Year in Review

The British Association of Private Security Companies (BAPSC) have published their first "Yearbook", with an introduction by Sir Malcolm Rifkind KMCG, QC; Non-Executive Chairman, ArmorGroup International plc.

"I am very pleased to be given the opportunity to write the preface to the BAPSC’s first Yearbook. Its publication confirms the private security industry’s growing maturity and serves to remind all of us of the widespread benefits the industry can offer to organisations operating in difficult environments around the world and to essential reconstruction in post-conflict situations.

This was certainly a year of success for the UK-based industry, and it should also have been a year of significant change: following an excellent first BAPSC Annual Conference in October 2006, we hoped and believed that the BAPSC’s pressure on the UK Government for meaningful regulation was finally going to result in action. Following the second Annual Conference it now seems that we are moving closer to a sensible regulatory framework as this important initiative has finally received the focus that it deserves from the relevant Government departments. The BAPSC will continue to encourage the Government to take this issue seriously but it still behoves the members of the BAPSC to deliver, unilaterally, on their stated commitment to improving standards and transparency. I trust that BAPSC members will not use any final Government delays as an excuse to avoid improvement: if members are to protect their reputations and their businesses they must be able to prove to the outside world that unimpeachable standards are an integral part of their operations.

As the BAPSC associate membership continues to broaden, now incorporating medical and insurance specialists amongst other disciplines, and as the more established companies diversify their operational footprints the Association has had to address a wide range of new issues. Following the deeply sad and frustrating news from Iraq in September it has become even more important for the BAPSC to engage with interested parties, from NGOs to academia, to ensure they are aware that this is a reputable industry without which little reconstruction or commercial activity would be viable in the world’s more unstable states.

I congratulate Andy Bearpark and his team for the work they have done, and continue to do, in spreading that message.

The UK private security industry continues to grow primarily thanks to the continued professionalism and dedication of its employees who face daily challenges in often hostile conditions with bravery and fortitude. I would like to pay tribute to them and to those who work so hard to ensure that they receive the support they require while on operations and on their return home.

2007 may have been a frustrating year in some respects but it was heartening in others. I hope the articles included within this yearbook give you a better understanding of the spread of the services the BAPSC membership offers and give you an insight into the direction in which we believe the industry is moving."