US company launches robot security guard

The night watchman of the future is 5 feet tall, weighs 300 pounds and looks a lot like R2-D2 - without the whimsy. And will work for US$6.25 an hour.

A company in California has developed a mobile robot, known as the K5 Autonomous Data Machine, as a safety and security tool for corporations, as well as for schools and neighborhoods.

"We founded Knightscope after what happened at Sandy Hook," said William Santana Li, a co-founder of that technology company, now based in Sunnyvale, Calif. "You are never going to have an armed officer in every school."

VBH launches new greenteQ hardware catalogue

Hardware supplier VBH has launched the latest issue of the popular greenteQ Window & Door Hardware & Ancillaries catalogue.
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9th ETSI Security Workshop

15 - 16 JANUARY 2014, Sophia Antipolis, France.

The annual ETSI Security Workshop has built a reputation of being a premier event on Security. It brings together the latest from those developing International Standards and security experts to discuss recent developments, share knowledge, identify gaps and co-ordinate on future actions and work areas.
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The mayor of Jersey City is planning to open a pair of mysterious safes built into a wall of his City Hall office.

Mayor Steve Fulup says he has no idea what they may have been used for, or whether anything might be inside. But he is planning to have a locksmith open them in December. City officials think they have been around for generations and not opened for many years.

Mayors who have served over the past 30 years say that they don't have any answers about them. But one bit of lore is that they may have been used to store kickbacks from city workers to Mayor Frank Hague, who ran the city from 1917 to 1947.

Source: newstimes.com

Locksmiths Exhibition 2014 - 7 new exhibitors confirm attendance

Next year's Locksmith's Exhibition will feature no less than six first time exhibitors, proving that the show has become an integral part of the locksmith industry's calendar.

The show runs on Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th March 2014 at the East Midlands Conference Centre, Nottingham.
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We have Mail: Warning - counterfeit key cutting machines

We have to report to you all that a keycutting machine, the X6, made in China appears to be coming to the UK market. It is not clear who will be selling it. It appears on a website which claims to be associated with a well known trade supplier but we also hear that a firm in Devon will bring it to the market.

The X6 has been made with pirated software and firmware copied from the Miracle A5 and A4 machines, made by our colleagues Red Technology in South Korea and for whom we are the sole UK representative and agents.
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Locksmiths Exhibition 2014 - sponsors announced

The Locksmiths Exhibition has confirmed two main sponsors for next year's show. They are SKS and Advanced Access. Both companies have been regular exhibitors at the show in previous years.

Show organiser Mick Friend says: "We are delighted to have SKS and Advanced Access as joint sponsors for next year's show. They head a growing list of some 70 companies who'll be showing in Nottingham on the weekend of the 8th and 9th of March."
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Hickleys appoints new Managing Director

Hickleys, the long-established local motor trade and healthcare company, has announced the appointment of Robin Huish as Managing Director, taking over from Duncan Meikle who moves to the position of Chairman.

Commenting on the appointment, Duncan Meikle said, "Robin's career with Hickleys is a remarkable success story. He joined the Company 40 years ago as an apprentice auto-electrician but it was not long before his managerial talent was recognised."
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Security firms ripped off elderly, regulator suggests

Vulnerable elderly people may have been ripped off by home security system suppliers acting as a price-fixing cartel, regulators say.Four security firms were found to have broken competition law.The Office of Fair Trading said their behaviour "likely" meant "higher prices were paid by many elderly and potentially vulnerable people."

The most difficult luxury vehicles to break into

Last year, the National Insurance Crime Bureau reported that overall car theft rose by 1.3 percent in 2012, the first increase in eight years. As car theft and vandalism climb, car manufacturers are getting increasingly savvy with improving security systems, especially for higher-end vehicles. To get a real picture of how difficult or easy it is to break into luxury vehicles, us-Locksmith.com, a Miami Locksmith company, conducted a survey of more than a dozen locksmiths that make a living "breaking into" cars when customers are locked out.
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UAP TradeLocks donate £2000 to Children in Need

Children in Need took place throughout November and UAP TradeLocks got into the spirit by donating £2,000 to the cause.

TradeLocks, leading supplier of specialised Locksmith tools, pledged to donate a percentage of every invoiced raised during Children in Need week. The company then made the decision to double the donation to help disadvantaged children and young people throughout the UK.
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Emsworth Yacht Harbour gains all weather security with MOBOTIX

MOBOTIX AG, a leading manufacturer of digital high-resolution, network-based video security systems has released details of a successful project at Emsworth Yacht Harbour (EYH) situated at the northern end of beautiful Chichester Harbour.
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Private investigators prosecuted for ‘blagging’

The ICO reports that two men who ran a company that tricked people into revealing personal details about their customers were prosecuted by the ICO on 20 November. The pair will now be sentenced, along with five colleagues who previously pleaded guilty to the same offence, at a separate hearing on 24 January 2014.

The company, ICU Investigations Ltd, worked on behalf of clients to trace individuals, primarily for the purpose of debt recovery. The court heard the company had routinely tricked organisations including utility companies, GP surgeries and TV Licensing into revealing personal data, often by claiming to be the individuals they were trying to trace. Clients included Allianz Insurance PLC, Brighton & Hove Council, Leeds Building Society and Dee Valley Water.
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SSAIB assesses first company to new British Standard for Investigative Services

SSAIB, the UK's leading fire, security and telecare certification body for organisations, recently completed an assessment of Probe Investigations (UK) Ltd in a pilot scheme that tested the company against the newly published British Standard 102000 for Investigative Services.
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Security cameras to be installed across Venezuela

30,000 security cameras will be installed across Venezuela under a US$1.2 billion scheme inaugurated by President Maduro on, amid ongoing efforts to tackle street crime. Aimed at reducing crime though the installation of security cameras in public places, SIMA will be rolled out nationwide, "town by town" according to Maduro.

For now, however, the system has only been implemented in Miranda state, where it's currently headquartered. Within two years the system will be functioning in 16 Venezuelan cities, interior and justice minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres said during the opening of the Miranda facility.

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Thieves 'using fake locksmith stickers to mark houses'

Thieves fronting as locksmiths are using fake stickers to flag up London properties that could be easy to burgle. The conmen are pretending to distribute marketing material as they check the robustness of security on doors and windows.

Those homes that are believed to be easy targets are then marked with a tiny transparent sticker that advertises a "24-hour locksmith", the Evening Standard reports.