and another quits the SIA ..................

[ElCid]

from info4security:

Drane announces retirement from the Regulator

26 Aug 09

Andy Drane – the Security Industry Authority’s (SIA) popular director of compliance and enforcement – is to retire from service at the Regulator on 30 September. Brian Sims looks back on his time in office.

By Brian Sims

On my arrival at the drinks reception for this summer’s SIA Stakeholder Conference in Manchester, one of the first people I spoke to was Andy Drane. As engaging as ever, Drane told me after just a few minutes’ of introductory chatter that he’d be retiring from his post at the Regulator once he’d handed over the reins – and a wealth of knowledge – to incoming chief executive Bill Butler.

Now, it’s official. Drane will be retiring from the SIA on 30 September, and for my money he’ll do so having left a fine legacy underpinned by a solid business ethic.

Without doubt, Drane has been an influential figure at the SIA, and a leading member of the Authority’s staff since its inception in the second quarter of 2003 (Drane having joined the ranks in January of that year). The measure of the man can be seen in the fact that not once but twice he willingly took on the acting chief executive’s role following the departures of, first, John Saunders and then Mike Wilson.

Every organisation needs an individual or two that’s prepared to stand up and be counted. Andy Drane is just such a person, and he placed himself on the parapet first between January and August 2007 and then again in April this year when interim supremo Bernard Herdan departed after a few months in post to become chief executive at the National Fraud Strategic Authority.

Extended policing family

I first interviewed Drane for the print edition of Security Management Today back in the summer of 2005. At the time, his role as deputy chief executive incurred responsibility for the operational implementation of SIA licensing, as well as ensuring compliance with the Private Security Industry Act.

As a former assistant chief constable and servant of both Essex Police and the Avon and Somerset Constabulary over the traditional 30-year timescale, Drane was only too willing to discuss the notion of an extended policing family. “To my mind there’s no clear vision at the moment. That is what we desperately need if we’re going to progress matters” is what he said at the time.

Is the vision any clearer today? I’m not so sure. Drane talked of a “gulf of trust” between the police and the private sector, although it must be said that anecdotal evidence suggests that gap is now narrowing somewhat. At least that’s the view from the conference circuit, wherein the police service appears to be making positive noises on working with private sector guarding providers.

Of late, however, the whole debate about the extended policing family seems to have slipped under the radar. It remains the case that no-one has actually asked the guarding companies if they want to take on any lower level policing work. If they did wish to do so, there’s even less mention of where the money would come from to subsume the loss incurred by turning down traditional private sector contracts.

Champion of the Mission Statement

As you might expect, Drane was always one for reiterating the SIA’s Mission Statement and imparting the key messages behind legislation.

When we discussed the ‘State of the Nation’ back in 2005, he opined: “The SIA has investigated a significant amount of time and money in ensuring that all those in the entertainment industry, the security sector and door supervisors are fully aware of what is required of them. The roll-out dates for licensing the latter were publicly announced as far back as July 2003. The required training has been available since November 2003.”

In other words, there was no excuse for people to sit on their hands and, for whatever reason, choose to ignore what was happening with regulation. Alas, as we all know, several companies have done so. Many of them have paid a high price for doing so.

Speaking of non-compliance, it was Drane who commented on the November 2008 verdict passed by His Honour Judge Rivlin in the Southwark Crown Court case involving Securiplan (wherein the company was fined £95,000 for 19 offences of deploying unlicensed security operatives between March and September 2006).

“The Judge has made clear that this was serious offending,” explained Drane at the time, “and prosecution was justified. This guilty plea and the sentences imposed by the Court bring to an end a long process of investigation and proceedings during which the Regulator has been subject to fierce and relentless challenges.”

In conclusion, Drane commented: “As a result of these findings, the regulatory regime has been strengthened, and this enhances the protection of the public. I’m pleased that, during this case, our power to prosecute generally has been confirmed, and that it was found we have acted with complete probity.”

Successful strategy for compliance and enforcement

Commendably, Drane led each phase of implementing regulation throughout the UK, and boldly established a successful strategy and record for compliance and enforcement.

That enforcement is being driven through with gusto just now as teams of SIA investigators join forces with local licensing officers and police in targeted areas to drive out anyone – or any company – that’s non-compliant with the law.

Above all, Drane has provided continuity to the Regulator at times of pretty major upheaval. He has been a constant, if you like, in an ever-changing world. Indeed, even though his retirement from the Regulator is now official, he’ll still continue to support its endeavours over the next few weeks and months by helping to develop training and skills within the SIA itself.

In an official press statement issued by the Regulator late yesterday afternoon, Bill Butler – the SIA’s new chief executive – opined: “Andy has been a key player in the creation of the SIA as a credible and effective Regulator. We all wish him well in his retirement, and I am pleased that we will continue to have access to his skills for the next few months.”

What about the man himself? What are his thoughts on six years of battling to ramp up standards in an industry often criticised for being mired in Draconian working practices and, if you believe the words of many commentators, one apparently unwilling to accept any kind of change that appears as though it might upset the status quo?

“After 37 years in public protection roles, and all of the exciting challenges, job satisfaction, responsibility and occasional frustration that goes with that, I’m changing the way I work,” explained Drane.

“I’m immensely proud of what we at the SIA have achieved over the past six years,” he continued. “We’ve faced and met a number of huge challenges. I’m also delighted to have met and worked with people in the industry who are committed to providing high quality private security services. Most of all, I want to thank the superb people in the SIA who have supported me throughout, and who will continue to take the organisation from strength to strength.”

In conclusion, Drane said: “I look forward to my somewhat different but continuing contact with those at the SIA, and in the private security industry in general.”

Does this mean that Drane will continue to work in the security sector upon leaving 90 High Holborn? We’ll have to wait and see.

An ambassador of the highest order

Andy Drane has always been a fine ambassador for the SIA. Harking back to the Stakeholder Conference in May, this is what I said in my report on SMT Online...

“There’s no doubt that Andy leaving will be a huge loss to the Regulator. I think he’s done a tremendous job, holding the fort during times of potential instability, and not just accepting the compliance and enforcement brief but attacking it with genuine gusto. I recall with great clarity interviewing Andy for SMT some years ago now, and remember thinking that here was a guy who meant business. He did, and this sector is all the better for his subsequent efforts.”

Put simply, Drane did his job efficiently and effectively. He was frank in discussion, never shied away from a tough conversation and was never afraid to defend his corner (and that of the Regulator) in open forum.

What’s more, that defence was always based in fact rather than supposition.