Promotional gifts distributed today may not always be what they seem to be.

Not so long ago, a ball point pen arrived in the morning mail. It looked like

an advertisement and, of course, it was. A covering letter, however, pointed

out that pens of that kind may be transmitters. They may be designed to

enable strangers outside the building to listen to private conversations.

Imagine what that could do in a hostile take-over bid situation! The pen will

not always come by post. It would probably be left on a desk or table by a

visitor, cleaner or other 'mole' within the company.
The firm which sent that pen was offering its services. It sought to advise

on security arrangements and help to develop secure environments for

confidential discussions. It was drawing attention to just one aspect of an

industry which has probably the greatest growth rate not only in Britain, but

in most of the world.
Until recently, security was regarded as a 'grudge' purchase. It was bought

at the cheapest possible cost and when cuts had to be made during recession,

it was the first department for 'economy'. Now, the escalation of crimes,

fraud and vandalism of all kinds has increased demand for protection against

loss from intrusion and swindle. The latest figures available reveal that the

security industry enjoys a turnover in excess of [pounds sterling]3,500

million in Britain alone. The numbers employed seem to be exceeded only by

the leisure industries.
Look at the Yellow Pages. See how many firms there are in the different

aspects of the business: Burglar Alarms and Systems; Car Alarms; Closed

Circuit Television; Identification Cards; Inter-Communication Systems;

Locksmiths; Safe and Vault Equipment and Traffic Control. In the Greater

Manchester Directory alone, there are seventeen pages. The activities of

these companies are not to be confused with the work of Police Forces though

there is close understanding and co-operation between them. Perhaps they

replicate each other and work together on occasion, but their roles are

different. It has been said the police are there to catch culprits after

crimes have been committed while private security operators make life more

difficult for the rogues and prevent the losses they can cause. That is by no

means an accurate statement, but it has a grain of truth. While the private

security industry which produce alarms such as burglar alarm,intruder alarm

will always support the police, it is universally accepted that it must never

assume any kind of law enforcement role.
The installation of an intruder alarm at one's home may disturb a burglar,

but when it sounds, it receives no attention unless a neighbour sees evidence

of intrusion and calls the police. More expensive alarms connected to police

control rooms may be cancelled after, say, two false alarms. Somewhat

naturally, police forces have been increasingly concerned with the cost of

false alarms. They now make sure they are treated with disdain after evidence

of inefficiency. A false alarm can be caused because of neglect by, perhaps,

members of a club who do not set things up properly for the night. To help

with this, there are now private security firms who install systems which

alert their office and not the police. When the alarm sounds, they go out to

the premises and call the police if they think it is necessary.
There is at least one security firm which has a most sophisticated 'wireless'

guard system. This was seen in action at a trade exhibition recently. They '

visit' premises on a regular basis by long distance controlled television.

They were paying one of these visits from their stand at the time they were

seen. It was quite fortuitous that during that demonstration, one actually

saw 'action' at a depot 200 miles away. As the camera panned the premises,

two suspicious characters were seen prowling round. The police were informed

and, while the picture was still on the screen, they arrived and made an

arrest in full view of visitors to the exhibition stand.
Arguments have been heard to the effect that the owners of this building

would have been at least as well served by the presence of security guards

patrolling the grounds in person. What is known as 'man-guarding' is still

the best known security service even if it has had a poor image in the past.

It has improved enormously, but there are different opinions about the best

way of dealing with particular

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David ZHENG is the CEO of http://www.anenc.com . A company specialized in selling all kinds of alarms such as burglar alarm,intruder alarm etc.