events

I interview high-level security professionals on a regular basis. Just the other day, I spoke with the CSO and manager of corporate security for, you know, the City of Calgary. Owen Key was a nice guy. He was well spoken, smart, knew his security stuff. I got a good story out of it. No big deal, really.

Well, on Monday, I'm scheduled for what is certainly the biggest interview of my career so far. I have an interview with Tom Ridge, the first Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (oh, and a former Congressman and Governor of Pennsylvania, too). So no big deal, right?

Uh, except, yes big deal.

I'm currently reading his book, The Test of our Times, and it's been very interesting to learn about the formation of DHS, from an inside perspective. First of all, bringing 180,000 federal employees from 22 agencies together under one roof seems like a daunting task, but to do it during a time where Americans felt so vulnerable? Well, let's just say it's not a job I (or I suspect most of you) would take on.

In his book, he discusses his reservations about accepting this position knowing that no matter what kind of job he did, good or bad, he probably wouldn't come out of it unscathed:

"And if I suspected that my political career would be sacrificed, well, so be it: We are all expendable. Despite my reservations, I would take on this new assignment, and I would give it my best."

I'm only a quarter of the way through this book (don't worry, I'll finish it by Monday), but I'm hoping it'll give me more insight into what he went through as a high-ranking government official. But that's not what I'm most interested in for my conversation with Ridge.

After he left political life, somewhat controversially, he founded a private security consulting firm, Ridge Global. Now as someone on the private-sector side of life, I'm curious if his perspective about how the government goes about protecting its people has changed? Obviously, DHS is an older (although still very young) department than when he was there, but I wonder if he sees better ways for the government to work with the private security sector? How does he think security professionals should be engaged? Are there specific skills security professionals need that he doesn't think they have? What about during disasters? Is the way we prepare and respond to emergencies evolving appropriately? What's the private sector's role in strengthening the nation against terrorism?

Oh, so many questions and so little time to ask them. Don't worry, I'll narrow it down before our conversation.

But, I wanted to give you, my loyal blog readers, an opportunity to have some input. What would you like to know from Ridge? Leave some questions in the comment section here or email me: LStelter(at)securitydirectornews.com. If nothing else, wish me good luck, people.

But, if you'd prefer to ask him yourself, he will be the keynote speaker at an event called Security Leadership: Reducing Costs without Sacrificing Value on Sept. 14 in Washington, D.C. I'm planning to attend this event and, you know, maybe shake his hand or get my picture taken with him or something. He definitely makes my Top 5 security celebrities. Don't tell my friends what a security geek I've become.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Read the full story from my conversation with Tom Ridge here.

Yesterday afternoon, I was starting to wonder if traveling to Copenhagen for Axis Communication's press event the day after running a half-marathon was a smart move. But after hearing the company present its market views and technology bullet points this morning, I'm definitely glad I made the trip. For those of you not familiar with Axis, they tout themselves as the first company to develop IP cameras.
Here are some of the highlights from the event so far.
*Just a few weeks back, Axis hit a new milestone. The company has sold 1 million cameras to date. That's quite a accomplishment considering 10 years ago, the company had only sold maybe 1,000, Anders Laurin, executive vice president of the company, explained. The next goal: Anders said 10 million. And he said it will not take 10 years to hit that goal.

*This year's event had a retail/loss prevention focus to it. Retail is an industry segment Axis is aggressively pursuing and who can blame them? Jumbi Edulbehram, director of strategic channels for Axis, said the retail segment is approximately 25 percent of the market right now.

*At dinner at the Glypotek museum last night, Jumbi said retailers only use 1 percent of the video they capture. Surprising, right? How much are you using?

*David Gorman, a consultant and a former LP executive with Wal-Mart, said it is important for retailers to use the most current IP solutions to effectively target shoplifters and organized retail crime. During his presentation, he had a couple of interesting numbers to share. He said shoplifters report that they are caught only once out of 48 times they steal. Another interesting point: Studies show more than 20 percent of cameras installed at retail locations are not monitored. But in David's opinion, that number is actually much higher. Even Flemming Bang Dammann, corporate director of security for grocery chain Dagrofa, said the company does not monitor their 900-plus cameras — instead they use a reactive approach.

*Dagrofa is in the midst of updating its CCTV systems with network cameras and Milestone's video management platform. Flemming said that although network video surveillance is only one of the many tools it uses to secure its facilities, it is the one the company spends the most of its budget on.