Analysing new legislation for public places

On 22 May 2017, an Islamist extremist suicide bomber detonated a shrapnel-laden homemade bomb as people were leaving the Manchester Arena following a concert by US singer Ariana Grande. Twenty-three people died, including the attacker, and 139 were wounded, more than half of them children. One of those killed was Martyn Hett, Figen Murray’s son. Since that fateful day, Figen has campaigned tirelessly to get legislation passed by the government to have a series of safety protocols put in place for venues nationwide  – Martyn’s Law.

Martyn’s Law requires entertainment venues to improve security against the threat of an attack by putting in place a counter-terrorism plan. Her petition to make Martyn’s Law mandatory has received over 23,000 signatures and is now on its way to becoming a reality. The Public Inquiry is currently underway.

Event security and the protection of public places will very much be in the media’s focus, not just because of the huge increase in events in 2021, but also because of the coming legislation. The threat of another terrorist attack is worryingly likely in the next 12 months and, given the sheer number of events there will be, the opportunity to hit a very public ‘soft target’ could prove irresistible to malicious actors. How is industry prepared for this? What technological advances have there been since Manchester that could prevent a recurrence? How has the Covid-19 pandemic affected the publics’ view/ confidence of attending events? How is this being addressed by event organisers?

These are the key questions that will be addressed on 8 October at the CTB365 ‘Event Management Security’ online interactive event. The first discussion of the event will be provided by Figen Murray, with assistance from Nick Aldworth, former National CT Coordinator at CT Policing.