Firefighters need a legal responsibility to rescue flood victims
The Fire Brigades Union's Matt Wrack says Firefighters cannot stand by and watch a flood disaster unfold without springing into action - but in order to ensure they can, their responsibility must be recognised by law, as recommended in the Pitt report
The floods of summer 2007 came as a shock. Parts of Yorkshire saw higher levels of flooding for the time of year than ever before; parts of the River Severn also saw flood records broken; and the loss of the Mythe waterworks in Gloucestershire led to the most widespread loss of essential services since World War Two. Those desperately trying to put their lives back together after the events were clear that the fire service performed the biggest peacetime rescue effort in Britain magnificently: 77% of those taking part in a survey published in The Times rated the performance of the service at … More…
London 2012: Contactless Technology Takes Centre Stage
Consult Hyperion's Dave Birch says London's 2012 Olympics gives us the chance to showcase the best of British technology - areas such as payments, ticketing, and venue management are already attracting a great deal of interest from around the world
Luckily for us, the U.K. is already home to some of the world's most advanced technology in this area and, in the case of ticketing, some world-leading services. With mobile ticketing, for example, customers can order, pay for, obtain and validate tickets from any location and at any time using mobile phones or other mobile handsets. With this hi-tech approach, mobile tickets can help to reduce the production and distribution costs connected with traditional paper-based ticketing channels, and can also increase customer convenience by providing new, secure and more simple ways to purchase tic… More…
The Challenges facing Automated Border Control Systems at Airports
NEC's Richard Farnworth outlines some of the massive challenges for automated border control systems such as biometric identity documents and sharing information between different agencies, countries and interested parties to ensure the full protection of the systems are afforded
Automated Border Control systems (ABC) have been touted as the way forward in airports and other border crossing points for many years, but there are still many benefits and drawbacks to the user and the state that have yet to be weighed up. In order to implement a successful ABC system all the physical elements of infrastructure need to be in place, which includes electronic identity documents, an 'airlock' style gate system and biometric readers and document or passport readers along with business, procedural and legislative processes to back-up the whole implementation. Furthermore, … More…
Threatprints - digital DNA criminals leave behind
Just as conventional DNA analysis revolutionised criminal investigations in the late Eighties and Nineties, innovative new digital analysis techniques will transform the way the law enforcement community tackles crime in the digital era, according to Detica's Harvey Lewis
In today's interconnected world, digital technology has become as much a part of everyday criminal life as it has for the majority of law-abiding citizens. Crimes like fraud, drug smuggling, digital piracy, gang violence, terrorism and online child exploitation, to name but a few, are all turning 'high-tech'. On the one hand, the police and law enforcement community have an unprecedented opportunity to investigate and even prevent many crimes by collecting and analysing large quantities of data. After all, the criminals cannot fail to leave behind a number of vital digital clues – for e… More…
