It was no small news week. Nationally and internationally, the biggest story probably was the conviction of Jose Padilla, the American man who was originally accused of planning a dirty bomb attack in the United States. Years later, when he finally went to court, the charge was that he had conspired to plan and undergo attacks overseas. The chief piece of evidence was a document apparently serving as a registration form of sorts for a terror training camp in Egypt. The case illustrated that the U.S. can prosecute so-called homegrown terrorism cases, and can do so within laws that both protect Americans and ensure our political rights. That is indeed a good thing, especially since a report from the NYPD indicates that homegrown terrorists -- as opposed to foreign terrorist organizations -- may well be the serious terrorism threat of tomorrow.
While on the topic of terrorism, I should briefly mention a piece of news from this week that the NBFAA and the AIREF are co-hosting a dinner on Sept. 10 in New York City (it coincides with the NBFAA fall conference and ISC East for those of you who are attending either of those events) that honors 9/11 heroes by presenting scholarship funds to their children. The location will be from a venue "overlooking Ground Zero." Don't forget also that you can attend the Tri-Association Awards Dinner on Sept. 11th. Just consider this proof positive that you don't have to dine alone if you're in New York next month. Head to Alarm.org for the NBFAA-AIREF dinner and to Siaonline.org to get information on the Tri-Association Awards Dinner.
GE Security Gets New CEO
Parker moves on as SimplexGrinnell's Dean Seavers lands the top position
In what was no small news this week, GE Security named a new CEO as previous CEO Louis A. Parker moved on to work on strategic initiatives. While many in the industry didn't know the name of Parker before he stepped aboard at GE in 2005, his replacement is none other than Dean Seavers, who has years of experience at ADT and most recently as leader of SimplexGrinnell, a Tyco subsidiary. If there was any question about GE's commitment to the security market, this seems to qualm it. We're looking forward to seeing Seavers strategy for this venerable industrial marketplace leader as it is unveiled in the coming months.
In Other News
Delaware alarm rules; Tasering father with infant; IP video partnerships
We've been known to stay busy here at SIW tracking municipal alarm ordinances and reporting on them because we know that every sale is a local sale, and your monitoring and/or sales staff have to be armed with local knowledge. It looks like we won't have as much to report from Delaware going forward; they have adopted a state-wide alarm ordinance that cuts the need for cities to adopt their own policies.
Also, if you've wondered how prepared your own security officers are when it comes to making use-of-force decisions, consider the case at a hospital where an off-duty cop, hired to provide security, used his Taser on a man holding his newborn. The child is said to have been dropped on its head. The case is complex, admittedly, with the father frustrated at the hospital and bickering with nurses, and the hospital apparently concerned that they could be dealing with an infant abduction, but the incident nonetheless forces security administrators to raise questions about using force.
Two partnerships in the world of IP video and network communications made news this week. OnSSI (network video management) announced an integration partnership with Firetide (wireless mesh networks), and Axis Communications (network cameras, encoders and other equipment) linked up with CommScope (facility networks provider). The signal here: Camera and camera management has to be optimized for the network and vice versa. Our read: Partnerships like these increase the speed at which network video moves into common adoption.
And some blurbs to keep you in the know:
NIST and the FBI are planning a joint biometrics workshop. ... The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are saying the former head of security for the Vancouver Winter Olympics was not fired, but stepped down in mutual agreement. The questions had started when a report noted that the security budget may have been severely inadequate. ... Watergate-like break-ins aren't always the way that protected corporate strategies walk out your company's doors. Sometimes the FTC just publishes the info on its website, like it did with organic foods retailer Whole Foods.
Finally, a look at our most read stories of the week:
