Governments & Disasters...

No, I’m not talking about leadership races or BREXIT negotiations, I’m talking about global issues that the UK is a leading light in trying to deal with and mitigate. These global issues fall into 2 categories, Security, and Disaster Response and unsurprisingly the UK is a leading light in both.

It is great to see the world looking to the UK for best security practice, for best counter terror practice, for the lessons we have unfortunately learned the hard way through years of Irish terror and now Islamist and right-wing extremist terror and through linked serious and organised crime. It is great to see the Home Office in particular supporting different expos and events throughout the year making sure their message not just hits the widest possible audience, but can be examined, discussed, critiqued and owned by the widest possible audience.

The UK is one of the few countries from across the globe to meet its UN commitment of 0.7% of GNI to be spent on overseas aid. We are seen as a tier one leading light in dealing with the humanitarian cost of conflict, of natural and man-made disasters, of natural disasters enabled through mass poaching, pollution and human caused global warming. 

My team found it easy to assess that the consequences caused by disasters across the globe will lead to the death and injury of more people than all of the terror, security or crime incidents put together. The UKs innovative approach in targeting aid, in developing technologies that help, in providing expertise at the tip of the spear dealing with the immediacy of a disaster, whilst building resilience into longer term local solutions, is why London is the right place for an International Disaster Response Expo with its new Summit alongside a proven conference. 

DFID are seen across the globe, by other governments, by NGOs and by industry and technology partners as a shining example of government engagement in the international aid arena. I am proud to deliver an event that helps improve our collective knowledge and understanding, that introduces new technologies, innovations and best practices and brings the amazing people who work in this area together. I am proud to be able to make a bit of a difference. 

I am privileged to have the level of support at the International Security Expo from the Home Office, various police forces including the MET CT Police and am excited this year to be expanding our offering to include Serious and Organised Crime as well as Forensics. More Home Office led activities helping to keep us a little safer, a little more secure, I am hoping the NCA will play a significant role in delivering their message regarding the fight against Serious and Organised Crime.

I was shocked to read the detail in the Annual Strategic assessment of Serious and Organised Crime, presented recently by the Chief Executive of the NCA Lynne Owens when she said:

Serious and organised crime affects more UK citizens, more frequently than any other national security threat 

Serious and organised crime kills more of our citizens every year than terrorism, war and natural disasters combined 

Serious and organised crime costs the UK at least ￡37 billion each year – equivalent to nearly ￡2,000 per family. This is likely to be a significant underestimate. 

There are more than 4,542 organised crime groups active in the UK 

There are believed to be at least 181,000 people involved in serious and organised crime in the UK – more than twice the strength of the regular British Army

Highlighting, discussing and sharing insight to help defeat this scourge of society is adding something back, and is why I have launched an International Serious and Organised Crime Summit and conference as well as an International Forensics conference at the International Security Expo. They complement and complete our other wide-ranging conference programmes. 

So, if like me, you want to give something to help make our world a little better, please come and share your knowledge and experience, learn from many leading lights from across both the disaster and security worlds and join my team and I at the co-located International Disaster Response Expo and International Security Expo at Olympia in London on 3 and 4th December 2019. We are bringing government and industry together to help improve the mitigation of disasters and improve our security. It is completely free, and you will be joined by at least 13,500 others.

Can you afford to miss it? 

www.disasterresponseexpo.com

www.internationalsecurityexpo.com