Critical events can affect the general public in a variety of different ways. In the last month, for example, a community in the UK’s peak district faced homes and businesses being flooded from a burst dam. In Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, in July, the highest ever temperatures were recorded during an extreme heatwave putting vulnerable citizens at risk. These situations required public agencies to help evacuate people to safety and use mainstream media or house-to-house contact to keep residents informed.
Experience from a series of recent events across Europe – including the floods in France and the forest fires in Greece – has served to highlight why it’s so vital that members of the public receive potentially life-saving information from official channels in a timely way.
When a natural or man-made disaster occurs, keeping the public safe is the priority for government and emergency services. With less than 3 years before the deadline to implement a public warning system for countries across the EU- what can be learnt from countries that have already taken this step?
When disaster strikes, making sure that citizens get the right information at the right time can help save lives. In Europe, new legislation means EU member states have until June 2022 to establish a modern public warning system that uses text messages to tell people about the nature of a threat, its location, and the best next steps to take.
An effective public warning system must be rapid, reliable and require no prior action by the people it’s trying to protect. How can governments provide one? At a time of growing uncertainty and risk, it’s an increasingly important question.
With the refugee crisis that hit Europe in recent years and the prominence border issues are taking in the Brexit debates, border security is at the front of many peoples thinking. Philip Ingram MBE (PI) managed to sit down and chat with Berndt Koerner (BK), who is the deputy executive director of the European Border and Coastguard Agency, Frontex, and explore some of these issues from his perspective.
Gatwick airport hit the headlines again at the end of August when the Guardian reported, “an airliner carrying up to 186 passengers was forced to take avoiding action after a drone was spotted, a near-miss report has revealed.” They have been asked if their new counter drone capability worked or not and if not why? However, to date no answer has been forthcoming.
International Security Expo is free-to-attend and unites the entire security community allowing shared learning and collaboration from Government, CNI, Law Enforcement, Military, Major Events, Transport & Borders, Cyber Security, Facilities, Public and Private sectors.
ISE features a major-scale exhibition including a series of CPD certified conferences, workshops and interactive features exploring considerations of security from initial design through to technologies to secure and in the event of an attack the capabilities to respond.
