New Home Secretary praises ASEL’s work at European Political Community Meeting

Event goes off without a hitch… at least from a security standpoint…

Just a week or so into her new job, Yvette Cooper made me a very happy man on 18^th July!

I think I can speak for most business leaders when I say that when the UK’s Home Secretary makes a glowing reference to a service provided by you, on national TV and at a very high profile event, well… that is going down as a pretty good day! And it was…

Taking place on 18^th July the European Political Community (“EPC”) Meeting took place at Blenheim Palace.

Our new Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, greeted various luminaries personally at the front door. Delegates included many presidents and prime ministers of Europe. For whilst Brexit means that the UK is no longer in the Economic Union, it is nonetheless very much still a part of Europe, just like Turkey, Switzerland and Norway.

Such an auspicious gathering naturally demands the tightest security. And this was especially true on a day attended by none other than President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who made a speech to the assembled audience of European leaders.

So, the security had to be spot on. And just as important, it had to be put in situ at relatively short notice, so the would be bad actors (not to be confused with the cast of Glee!) had as little notice as possible of the arrangements and minimal opportunity to plot some terrible attack.

Although these days, it’s not just terror threats that you have to guard against. As former President Trump found out, when a would be assassin missed by the narrowest of margins, a single operator with a mission can cause significant issues. Even protestors can cross the line from rightful to illegal protest in the blink of an eye. So, you really must be prepared for any and every eventuality.

Of course, the security for the entire EPC Meeting was not solely our responsibility. However, the temporary security element of it was.

Blenheim Palace was the home of the 12th Duke and Duchess of Marlborough and the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill. It is a masterpiece of 18th century baroque architecture, boasting over 300 years of history.

Blenheim and its grounds are a World Heritage Site, with legal protection by an international convention administered by UNESCO for having cultural and historical significance.

Such sites are judged to contain “cultural and natural heritage… considered to be of outstanding value to humanity.” So, with a 300 year old architectural masterpiece as centrepiece, surrounded by 2,000 acres of beautiful, landscaped parkland and formal gardens, our high tech state of the art security had to not only do the job, but be sensitive to the environment in which we were doing it too!

All of the temporary security solutions for the event were provided by ASEL. That meant the installation and commissioning of some 100 CCTV towers in a very short time frame.

Temporary Security Solutions (“TSS”) are a growing part of our work around detection and intrusion, as are alarms and CCTV. We also offer systems that are solar powered too, allowing them to go where power supplies can be difficult to provide.

Currently we are building something like 120 TSS solutions every month and leasing them to various security providers, retailers and other end users.

We also manufacture Wireless Alarm Site Protection Systems (“WASP”) that can quickly be deployed into shops in high risk areas at short notice where circumstances necessitate it.

And we supplement all of the above with other important products such as remote drones and offer services such as keyholding and asset tracking for an increasingly diverse range of applications, including latterly building sites.

And of course, we have one of the biggest examples of the use of TSS in prospect in Paris over the coming weeks, with the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. Let’s hope all goes as smoothly there as it did at Blenheim!