Security guarding companies are increasingly taking on traditional policing roles, research shows.
This trend, however, is not just to be found in the UK. In the USA rumors abound that soon companies like the infamous Blackwater Security will be given policing roles, including street patrols.
“Research into the work of the BSIA’s Police and Public Services Section has revealed that the public sector has embraced the use of private security services with 90 per cent of respondents supplying services to educational establishments and local authorities and 70 per cent providing services to health authorities,” said BSIA Police and Public Services Section chairman, Mick Lee.
However, he said the results show more work can be done with the police.
“Despite many examples of best practice where police forces have successfully entered into partnership with the private sector, only 20 per cent of respondents are actively supplying services to the police.
“A significant aim of the BSIA Police and Public Services section is to further link with police forces in order to promote the many valuable services that security guarding companies can provide.”
Fifty per cent of respondents said they supply services to retail partnerships, while 40 per cent work with town centre management schemes.
Street patrols and public sector CCTV schemes proved the most popular areas for BSIA members, but guarding companies work on a range of projects including warden schemes, drug testing services and evidential property management.
The BSIA's Police and Public Services section aims to provide support services to the police and other public sector organisations, which are not traditional security guarding roles and form part of the wider policing family.
The slogan of the “wider policing family” now seems to encompass everything and everyone from a store security person, door guards at nightclubs and such, to community wardens and park and countryside rangers/wardens.
Security industry willing to engage wholeheartedly in the future of policing
The British Security Industry Association is highlighting the vital role that the private security industry can play in supporting the modern police service and its willingness to engage wholeheartedly in the future of policing.
While is is being emphasised that the frontline operations would still be carried out by sworn police officers and that the work done by wardening schemes, and such, release sworn warranted police officers to do just that duty, namely that of dealing with serious crime, the problem is that, in my view, this kind of policing by the private and public sector, aside from the police forces, not only puts ordinary security officers, wardens and rangers into harm's way by being, maybe, asked to tackle issues for which they are not equipped or not well enough equipped, also means that police officers may be required to be able to come to the assistance of their cousins in the private and public sector “policing” teams because they have gotten into a spot of bother due to lack of equipment, authority, power and/or training.
While security guarding and patrols by private and public sector, such as security officers, wardens and rangers, has its place as a deterrent and as eyes and ears, the enforcement should be left to those that have a warrant to carry out such duties and who know how to deal with situations in an appropriate manner and who also carry the necessary kit to deal with such issues.
© Michael Smith (Veshengro), March 2008
The global terror threat in 2008 and beyond
The global “war against terror and terrorism” has seen mixed results in the last twelve months.
Numerous plots have been stopped, leaders arrested and networks disrupted, so we are being told. Whether this is so or not only those that tell us this will know.
Al-Qaeda's violent world view, however, still has many followers and plenty of recruits seem to be available, it would appear, for new attacks.
So, what should we expect in the coming years?
More of the same, I would say, for we are certainly not, in the same way as the USA never managed to do that, winning the hearts and minds of the people concerned; not even those in Iraq. While many Iraqis may, indeed, be happy that they got rid of Sadam Hussein they certainly are not happy with the western military presence in their country. And who can blame them; would we like occupiers in our streets?
Some analysts like to pretend that currently in this seventh year following the attacks of 9/11, al-Qaeda's fortunes are mixed and that Iraq was its biggest setback where relatively small number of hardcore jihadist insurgents had hoped to create an Islamist mini-state in the centre and west of the country.
Partly due, they say, to US General Petraeus's surge in troop numbers, partly due to the controversial US funding of local citizen militias, and partly due to Iraq's Sunni tribes deciding they were fed up with al-Qaeda's extreme violence coupled with its austere brand of Islam, al-Qaeda in Iraq is, for now, on the defensive. But is this truly so? We are seeing, once again, the violence escalating in the last month or so and the ordinary Iraqi calling for security. A security that the western troops, including the US troop surges, has not managed to bring. Most Iraqis today will say that the situation, as far as security is concerned, is as bad as it ever was.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq, and in fact elsewhere, remains capable, as we have seen, of inflicting high-profile attacks and is unlikely to abandon its cause in a hurry.
But while Iraq has certainly been the front line in the physical conflict between the West and its allies on the one hand, and global jihadism on the other, it is only one of many arenas in which al-Qaeda's affiliates are active.
New targets abound
If, as some have been predicting, though the signs recently are against this, the violence in Iraq continues to subside, then retreating non-Iraqi fighters are likely to seek new targets in neighbouring countries, especially Jordan and the Arab Gulf states.
Many analysts are rather surprised that liberal Dubai, with its high concentration of Western tourists, shoppers and expatriates, has so far escaped attack.
In Pakistan, al-Qaeda's core leadership has spent the last year consolidating its presence in the thinly governed tribal territories next to the Afghan border, cementing its ties to the Taleban and setting up new training camps to teach bomb-making, kidnap and assassination. Despite the fact that they may have lost one or two of their leadership in attacks recently, if indeed this is not just a ruse by the Pakistani authorities who often seem rather reluctant to act against the those islamist terror cells and battle groups, Al-Qaeda in Pakistan is hardly going to give up the fight either. We do know how the Madrassas in that country, and especially in those tribal areas, are a training ground for jihadist fighters from all over the globe.
Both al-Qaeda and the wider Islamist movement there have benefited from Pakistan's unstable political climate, and any new attempts to exert military control over the tribal areas will most likely be met with fierce resistance.
In Somalia, the defeat of the Islamist militias a year ago has not brought stability, and there are signs al-Qaeda may be tempted to boost its presence in the Horn of Africa.
Here there have been a number of alleged plots disrupted in 2007 - in Germany, Denmark and Belgium – and the stress must be with the word “alleged”, as I already said in the beginning.
Those accused may be behind bars, if they ever were real, but European governments and their citizens are firmly in al-Qaeda's sights for their perceived role in Afghanistan and the wider Middle East.
I know, and so do many of the readers, I am sure, that I am a cynic and also someone who does not trust any government, whether ours or those of other countries, as to whether this “war on terror” is actually real or not just something that has been made up in order to be able to exert more and more control over there citizens of the various countries, namely us.
Media war
On the media front, both al-Qaeda and the Taleban have been prolific in broadcasting their messages over the internet, and are likely to continue this part of their campaign against the West and its allies.
Two of the FBI's most wanted fugitives - Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri - have delivered over a dozen audio and video messages in the past 12 months.
The latter, who is effectively al-Qaeda's chief strategist, has taken to appearing against a cosy-looking backdrop of a library of Islamic texts, implying that wherever he is currently in hiding, he is secure and comfortable.
Al-Qaeda's media arm, known as al-Sahab, has increased its annual output of audio and video messages from just 6 in 2002 to a record 94 in 2007, according to the US-based research institute, the IntelCenter.
In the coming months, this media campaign will likely intensify as al-Qaeda tries to reverse its setbacks in Iraq, and the Taleban maintain their campaign to regain territory in Afghanistan.
When it comes to the media war then we must also remember that it is being fought on both sides. Therefore, we must take everything with a pinch of salt and lots of discernment. Either sides would like to pull the wool over our eyes. The “enemy” to convince us that he is stronger than the measures that we can put in place and our own governments that the “enemy” is that strong and stronger so that they can put in place more control methods which, in the end, are there to monitor us, the ordinary citizens of the individual nations rather than the “enemy”.
That said we must be ever vigilant just in case that there are real terrorists out there too.
The greatest threat to our infrastructure, however, is not the possibility of terrorist attacks, whether ordinary or chemical, biological or even nuclear, as in the form of a dirty bomb. The greatest threat is from the environmental changes today.
We have abandoned, it would seem, now the term “global warming”, simple, methinks, because it might also have a different effect in some places, in favor of the word “climate change”. Still, however, the authorities try to tell us that it is all man-made and that, if be but stop using the motorcar, aeroplanes, and stop cows and other livestock belching too much, we can reverse this. But what if, as it would appear to me, this “climate change”, and this term is the best one for it, is a repetition of the changes in climate that the Earth, our blue planet, seems to be going through every thousand or so years. Then there is not much we can do to stop it. We then will have to learn to live with it, and the sooner we started to put measures in place to do just that the better.
© Michael Smith (Veshengro), March 2008
Numerous plots have been stopped, leaders arrested and networks disrupted, so we are being told. Whether this is so or not only those that tell us this will know.
Al-Qaeda's violent world view, however, still has many followers and plenty of recruits seem to be available, it would appear, for new attacks.
So, what should we expect in the coming years?
More of the same, I would say, for we are certainly not, in the same way as the USA never managed to do that, winning the hearts and minds of the people concerned; not even those in Iraq. While many Iraqis may, indeed, be happy that they got rid of Sadam Hussein they certainly are not happy with the western military presence in their country. And who can blame them; would we like occupiers in our streets?
Some analysts like to pretend that currently in this seventh year following the attacks of 9/11, al-Qaeda's fortunes are mixed and that Iraq was its biggest setback where relatively small number of hardcore jihadist insurgents had hoped to create an Islamist mini-state in the centre and west of the country.
Partly due, they say, to US General Petraeus's surge in troop numbers, partly due to the controversial US funding of local citizen militias, and partly due to Iraq's Sunni tribes deciding they were fed up with al-Qaeda's extreme violence coupled with its austere brand of Islam, al-Qaeda in Iraq is, for now, on the defensive. But is this truly so? We are seeing, once again, the violence escalating in the last month or so and the ordinary Iraqi calling for security. A security that the western troops, including the US troop surges, has not managed to bring. Most Iraqis today will say that the situation, as far as security is concerned, is as bad as it ever was.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq, and in fact elsewhere, remains capable, as we have seen, of inflicting high-profile attacks and is unlikely to abandon its cause in a hurry.
But while Iraq has certainly been the front line in the physical conflict between the West and its allies on the one hand, and global jihadism on the other, it is only one of many arenas in which al-Qaeda's affiliates are active.
New targets abound
If, as some have been predicting, though the signs recently are against this, the violence in Iraq continues to subside, then retreating non-Iraqi fighters are likely to seek new targets in neighbouring countries, especially Jordan and the Arab Gulf states.
Many analysts are rather surprised that liberal Dubai, with its high concentration of Western tourists, shoppers and expatriates, has so far escaped attack.
In Pakistan, al-Qaeda's core leadership has spent the last year consolidating its presence in the thinly governed tribal territories next to the Afghan border, cementing its ties to the Taleban and setting up new training camps to teach bomb-making, kidnap and assassination. Despite the fact that they may have lost one or two of their leadership in attacks recently, if indeed this is not just a ruse by the Pakistani authorities who often seem rather reluctant to act against the those islamist terror cells and battle groups, Al-Qaeda in Pakistan is hardly going to give up the fight either. We do know how the Madrassas in that country, and especially in those tribal areas, are a training ground for jihadist fighters from all over the globe.
Both al-Qaeda and the wider Islamist movement there have benefited from Pakistan's unstable political climate, and any new attempts to exert military control over the tribal areas will most likely be met with fierce resistance.
In Somalia, the defeat of the Islamist militias a year ago has not brought stability, and there are signs al-Qaeda may be tempted to boost its presence in the Horn of Africa.
Here there have been a number of alleged plots disrupted in 2007 - in Germany, Denmark and Belgium – and the stress must be with the word “alleged”, as I already said in the beginning.
Those accused may be behind bars, if they ever were real, but European governments and their citizens are firmly in al-Qaeda's sights for their perceived role in Afghanistan and the wider Middle East.
I know, and so do many of the readers, I am sure, that I am a cynic and also someone who does not trust any government, whether ours or those of other countries, as to whether this “war on terror” is actually real or not just something that has been made up in order to be able to exert more and more control over there citizens of the various countries, namely us.
Media war
On the media front, both al-Qaeda and the Taleban have been prolific in broadcasting their messages over the internet, and are likely to continue this part of their campaign against the West and its allies.
Two of the FBI's most wanted fugitives - Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri - have delivered over a dozen audio and video messages in the past 12 months.
The latter, who is effectively al-Qaeda's chief strategist, has taken to appearing against a cosy-looking backdrop of a library of Islamic texts, implying that wherever he is currently in hiding, he is secure and comfortable.
Al-Qaeda's media arm, known as al-Sahab, has increased its annual output of audio and video messages from just 6 in 2002 to a record 94 in 2007, according to the US-based research institute, the IntelCenter.
In the coming months, this media campaign will likely intensify as al-Qaeda tries to reverse its setbacks in Iraq, and the Taleban maintain their campaign to regain territory in Afghanistan.
When it comes to the media war then we must also remember that it is being fought on both sides. Therefore, we must take everything with a pinch of salt and lots of discernment. Either sides would like to pull the wool over our eyes. The “enemy” to convince us that he is stronger than the measures that we can put in place and our own governments that the “enemy” is that strong and stronger so that they can put in place more control methods which, in the end, are there to monitor us, the ordinary citizens of the individual nations rather than the “enemy”.
That said we must be ever vigilant just in case that there are real terrorists out there too.
The greatest threat to our infrastructure, however, is not the possibility of terrorist attacks, whether ordinary or chemical, biological or even nuclear, as in the form of a dirty bomb. The greatest threat is from the environmental changes today.
We have abandoned, it would seem, now the term “global warming”, simple, methinks, because it might also have a different effect in some places, in favor of the word “climate change”. Still, however, the authorities try to tell us that it is all man-made and that, if be but stop using the motorcar, aeroplanes, and stop cows and other livestock belching too much, we can reverse this. But what if, as it would appear to me, this “climate change”, and this term is the best one for it, is a repetition of the changes in climate that the Earth, our blue planet, seems to be going through every thousand or so years. Then there is not much we can do to stop it. We then will have to learn to live with it, and the sooner we started to put measures in place to do just that the better.
© Michael Smith (Veshengro), March 2008
REVERSE 911
What is REVERSE 911?REVERSE 911® is a communications solution that uses a patented combination of database and GIS mapping technologies to deliver outbound notifications.
Users can quickly target a precise geographic area and saturate it with thousands of calls per hour. The system's interactive technology provides immediate interaction with recipients and aids in rapid response to specific needs.
Users can also create a list of individuals with common characteristics (such as a Neighborhood Crime Watch group or emergency responder teams, such as REACT, CREST or other kind of first responder services) and contact them with helpful information as needed.
About REVERSE 911®
Time and again, REVERSE 911® is playing a key role in ensuring effective communication, not only for general information, but also in times of crisis.
Thousands of citizens across North America are safer because their community leaders are using the patented REVERSE 911® Interactive Community Notification System.
REVERSE 911® is used effectively in thousands of communities, counties, commercial businesses, schools and non-profit organizations to dramatically improve the lines of communication to the general population and targeted groups. The system has played a key role in solving and preventing crimes, and it has a wide variety of potential uses in many organizations, such as:
- Law Enforcement Agencies
- Emergency Management Agencies
- State and Local Governments
- Utility Companies
- Chemical Manufacturing Companies
- Transportation Companies
- Health Care Facilities
- Public Safety Agencies
- Universities
For more information see website.
Top ten tips on surviving the floods
10th March 2008 - It’s this time of year when the winds and rain hurl their best at us. So here’s a top ten practical guide on how to avoid becoming a victim of the floods. It’s not only timely for this week’s atrocious weather, but we’re also coming up to Business Continuity Awareness Week (first week of April) and during that week experts and professionals share what’s new and emerging at Business Continuity Expo, 2-3rd April at ExCeL London. One of the key topics that will be discussed at Business Continuity Expo and Conference is the issue of flooding. Last November the Business Continuity Institute (www.thebci.org) held a workshop to review UK flooding and here are the top 10 tips that came out of the conference – heeding the advice offered in these practical steps could help minimize the impact of the floods experienced this week and any subsequent ones!
Top ten practical tips
1./ Make sure you have all relevant contact details for members of staff. The main lesson that came out of the flooding conference, that most staff lists were out of date and defunct in many cases.
2./ Make sure you are aware of any medical requirements which people may have.
3./ Ascertain the impact of both a potential loss of water and a loss of electricity on your business activities and respond accordingly. Should I stockpile water? Should I purchase an electricity back-up generator?
4./ Accept the fact that your company will not be high up the priority list of the emergency services and consider any measures which should be taken in light of this.
5./ Stockpile key items on site (in a safe location not on the ground floor). These might include water, food, bedding, torches, medical equipment, soap etc.
6./ If I have set up an emergency hotline facility in advance make sure that all staff are aware of this and carry the number on them (either put into their mobile telephone or carried on a separate card).
7./ Provide all staff with a brief summary of the main points of the BCM plan that will affect them e.g., who is in control, what are the key contact numbers, details of rallying points etc.
8./ Consider setting up a series of mobile telephones on different networks which are stored permanently in the office. If one network goes down you may be able to communicate on another network.
9./ Make sure that you are aware of and, where necessary, signed up to all relevant information channels.
10./ If key documents or IT servers are stored in the basement consider moving them to a higher floor to avoid damage from flooding.
In conclusion it is worth noting that the most over-riding message that came out of the workshop was that virtually all the companies impacted by the floods all agreed that communicating with staff off-site during the crisis was the biggest problem they faced. The floods exposed the inadequacies of communication channels used during an emergency. Most companies affected by the floods relied on mobile phone networks to contact off-site staff and this over-reliance often led to network failure.
Difficulties were also experienced when staff members sought to contact family members and were unable to do so. In such circumstances, some were unsure whether to let staff return home to confirm that their families were safe given the risks the floods posed.
On a cross-company level, communications with head office were also disrupted, making it difficult to either update senior figures on the current status of a particular location and also to receive direction/guidance on what to do. It was also acknowledged that this lack of communication sometimes resulted in different divisions within the company communicating different messages to staff leading to much confusion.
If you would like to find out more about how to avoid becoming a victim of the floods and other incidents that impact the everyday operations of your organisation, register for free entry to Business Continuity Expo 2008 at www.businesscontinuityexpo.co.uk.
Top ten practical tips
1./ Make sure you have all relevant contact details for members of staff. The main lesson that came out of the flooding conference, that most staff lists were out of date and defunct in many cases.
2./ Make sure you are aware of any medical requirements which people may have.
3./ Ascertain the impact of both a potential loss of water and a loss of electricity on your business activities and respond accordingly. Should I stockpile water? Should I purchase an electricity back-up generator?
4./ Accept the fact that your company will not be high up the priority list of the emergency services and consider any measures which should be taken in light of this.
5./ Stockpile key items on site (in a safe location not on the ground floor). These might include water, food, bedding, torches, medical equipment, soap etc.
6./ If I have set up an emergency hotline facility in advance make sure that all staff are aware of this and carry the number on them (either put into their mobile telephone or carried on a separate card).
7./ Provide all staff with a brief summary of the main points of the BCM plan that will affect them e.g., who is in control, what are the key contact numbers, details of rallying points etc.
8./ Consider setting up a series of mobile telephones on different networks which are stored permanently in the office. If one network goes down you may be able to communicate on another network.
9./ Make sure that you are aware of and, where necessary, signed up to all relevant information channels.
10./ If key documents or IT servers are stored in the basement consider moving them to a higher floor to avoid damage from flooding.
In conclusion it is worth noting that the most over-riding message that came out of the workshop was that virtually all the companies impacted by the floods all agreed that communicating with staff off-site during the crisis was the biggest problem they faced. The floods exposed the inadequacies of communication channels used during an emergency. Most companies affected by the floods relied on mobile phone networks to contact off-site staff and this over-reliance often led to network failure.
Difficulties were also experienced when staff members sought to contact family members and were unable to do so. In such circumstances, some were unsure whether to let staff return home to confirm that their families were safe given the risks the floods posed.
On a cross-company level, communications with head office were also disrupted, making it difficult to either update senior figures on the current status of a particular location and also to receive direction/guidance on what to do. It was also acknowledged that this lack of communication sometimes resulted in different divisions within the company communicating different messages to staff leading to much confusion.
If you would like to find out more about how to avoid becoming a victim of the floods and other incidents that impact the everyday operations of your organisation, register for free entry to Business Continuity Expo 2008 at www.businesscontinuityexpo.co.uk.
Martor Smartcut 110100 – Product Review
This is a cutter of the 110000 range. Designed to cut packaging and wraps, with non-replaceable blade and sealed handle for extra safety, i.e. no risk of loss of internal parts, which is particularly important in the food processing industry.
This cutter can be safely pocketed and features the time-tested and established MARTOR SAFETY Technology in the form of automatic blade retraction. No need to think about retracting the blade. Let go off the slider when making the cut and when cutter is lifted the blade automatically retracts back into the handle.
This is probably the safest, as are all of Martor products, safety box cutter that I have ever encountered. Made in Solingen, Germany, blade and all, Martor safety knives and cutters are quality tools.
Pros:
The blade retract automatically, as for all of these kind of cutters from Martor.
Light but of high-impact plastic
Good design
Equally suited for right- and left-handers
Cons:
With the exception of the fact that the blades cannot be changed making this therefore a throw-away tool (but then there is a purpose in this too), there are no cons that I can find.
© Michael Smith (Veshengro), March 2008
Security of Airports and Parliament
On two occasion in the recent weeks security at both places has been breached in a way that should just not have been possible.
First environmental protesters get “airside” at London's Heathrow Airport and scale a large passenger plane and are not noticed until they stand at the tail fin unfurling a large banner and then, only a couple of days after they manage to get into the palace of Westminster, the home of both Houses of Parliament, manage to climb onto the roof and unfurl banners. Again they do not get noticed until the banners are out.
Where, may we ask, was security? If protesters can that easily get airside at one of Britain's biggest and busiest airport totally unnoticed and actually reach a plane on the tarmac – in a parking area – then terrorists can do so too.
The same for the Houses of Parliament; a group of protesters manage to get into the building and onto the roof unmolested: this is just absolutely crazy. It would be crazy already under normal circumstances but under a supposed terrorism threat level of “severe” this just should not be possible.
While the security agencies nigh on try to make movement of the ordinary civilians and citizens more and more difficult without having to pass through security screening devices and having to show IDs people such as those determined environmental protesters get into all of those places where none of us could every get without being stopped. How much easier for someone determined on mayhem; I mean greater mayhem than throwing a couple of bags of flour at the prime minister or scaling a plane or getting onto the roof of the Palace of Westminster.
Somewhere along the line, on two occasions, someone slipped up. Somehow I find it very hard to believe that this can happen twice in two different locations, both of which, nevertheless, should be nigh on impenetrable. Call me a cynic but something, to me, is not right here.
If this is no more than human error then something very seriously need to be improved and for one training must be improved for starters, the guards at least doubled and all blind spots must be eradicated so that CCTV and human surveillance will pick up anything and everything that happens there. The watchers must be rotated often enough so as to ensure that they are not tired and therefore miss someone rushing across some open space or even simply walking along where no one should be walking or whatever.
The way things stand at the moment neither LHR nor Palace of Westminster seem to be protected enough in way of human patrols and also automated detection devices, cameras, and such like.
What is most amazing now, though, is that nothing more is being said in other media and by the government as to these incidents; as if they never happened. What are we to make of that?
© Michael Smith (Veshengro), March 2008
First environmental protesters get “airside” at London's Heathrow Airport and scale a large passenger plane and are not noticed until they stand at the tail fin unfurling a large banner and then, only a couple of days after they manage to get into the palace of Westminster, the home of both Houses of Parliament, manage to climb onto the roof and unfurl banners. Again they do not get noticed until the banners are out.
Where, may we ask, was security? If protesters can that easily get airside at one of Britain's biggest and busiest airport totally unnoticed and actually reach a plane on the tarmac – in a parking area – then terrorists can do so too.
The same for the Houses of Parliament; a group of protesters manage to get into the building and onto the roof unmolested: this is just absolutely crazy. It would be crazy already under normal circumstances but under a supposed terrorism threat level of “severe” this just should not be possible.
While the security agencies nigh on try to make movement of the ordinary civilians and citizens more and more difficult without having to pass through security screening devices and having to show IDs people such as those determined environmental protesters get into all of those places where none of us could every get without being stopped. How much easier for someone determined on mayhem; I mean greater mayhem than throwing a couple of bags of flour at the prime minister or scaling a plane or getting onto the roof of the Palace of Westminster.
Somewhere along the line, on two occasions, someone slipped up. Somehow I find it very hard to believe that this can happen twice in two different locations, both of which, nevertheless, should be nigh on impenetrable. Call me a cynic but something, to me, is not right here.
If this is no more than human error then something very seriously need to be improved and for one training must be improved for starters, the guards at least doubled and all blind spots must be eradicated so that CCTV and human surveillance will pick up anything and everything that happens there. The watchers must be rotated often enough so as to ensure that they are not tired and therefore miss someone rushing across some open space or even simply walking along where no one should be walking or whatever.
The way things stand at the moment neither LHR nor Palace of Westminster seem to be protected enough in way of human patrols and also automated detection devices, cameras, and such like.
What is most amazing now, though, is that nothing more is being said in other media and by the government as to these incidents; as if they never happened. What are we to make of that?
© Michael Smith (Veshengro), March 2008
Your Laptop and Your Health - Product Review on LapGardTM
We hear a great deal at times about the possible dangers from the heat and now also the WiFi radiation from using a laptop, well, on the lap. While there is nothing proven as yet to whether or not and it all may be false alarms and scare stories even, with the exception of the heat and burn issue, who is willing to take the chance.I do know that one or the other reader is going to, yet again, tell me that I do not write review but ads when I do reviews, may I stress again that there is more than one way in which to write a review and I have been writing reviews for rather a long time by now.
So, back to the situation in hand.
I personally stopped using my old Toshiba Satellite laptop on my lap not because of heath fears, to start with, and I am too old by now to worry about fertility anyways, but simply because even through jeans it was very hot prior to, eventually, the fan kicking in. If I want my legs burnt from a laptop I might put one on my lap but only then. Otherwise I rather won't do that. Therefore, if and when I needed to use mine on my lap and had no other choice I had devised my own “lap desk” from light metal. This is and was not an ideal solution but it kept the heat off.
As one computer geek in a store told me once: those things are not really meant to sit directly on your lap. Aside from the heat that they radiate and that might burn you the lack of air circulation while they rest on your lap also can cause damage to the PC itself. Cheers, pal!
Now Amps International Ltd. has come up with what, to me, appears to be the perfect solution: namely the LapGardTM.
LapGardTM is a laptop protection heat absorber, which will protect the user from potentially dangerous heat penetration. It has a multi-core construction which prevents electro-magnetic aves and radiation, potential causes of low male fertility, amongst other health hazards, coming into contact with the user's body.
LapGardTM is simple to use and is constructed from a unique combination of materials. It comes in an attractive leather-look finish and has an adjustable spacer bar with Velcro tabs that holds the laptop to sit comfortably and securely while at the same time allowing for proper ventilation of the laptop at all times.
LapGardTM is lightweight and very convenient to carry, as it easily fits into a laptop case.
LapGard comes in four sizes to suit 12” - 15.5” laptops and is priced from £19.99 and available from www.laptopsafety.co.uk.
I was given a review sample on the Health & Safety 08 Exhibition, which was held from February 26-27, 2008 at Sandown Park Racecourse, Esher, Surrey, which fits the old Toshiba of mine lovely and I can but endorse everything that is said by the company as to this little device. What I would just like to add is that, in my view, it should come as standard equipment with every laptop case.
© Michael Smith (Veshengro), March 2008
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