Industry News
A glimpse behind
the (crime) scenes
Designing Out Crime Officers (DOCOs) from three police
forces have been given a glimpse behind the scenes
during a visit to ASSA ABLOY’s largest manufacturing
site in the UK at Willenhall, West Midlands.
» THE DOCOS FROM POLICE FORCES
in Cheshire, West Mercia and West
Midlands were given a guided tour around
the factory to see and learn how a wide
range of locks, cylinders and keys are
made.
They also watched a demonstration of
how a door is put through its paces as part
of the PAS 24 standard using tools ranging
from a screwdriver to a hefty ram – similar
to those used by police officers carrying
out raids on domestic properties.
The visit was organised by Secured by
Design (SBD), a police organisation which
works alongside police forces around the
UK, to ‘build in’ security measures and
techniques into new and refurbished
buildings in a wide range of sectors
including residential, education, health,
transportation, commercial and sport and
leisure.
‘It’s great to see at first-
hand how everything
comes together to make
the final products’
More than one million homes have been
built to SBD’s crime prevention standards
over the last 20 years with reductions in
crime of up to 87% in new homes.
DOCOs, who are mostly based in police
stations, work with designers, architects,
developers and local planning authorities
to incorporate crime prevention measures
from the initial concept and planning
stages through to final construction.
ASSA ABLOY specialises in door
opening solutions. It operates in more
than 70 countries with over 48,000
employees. Customers come from the
institutional, commercial and residential
marketplaces.
6
The site visit focused on two of ASSA
ABLOY’s key brands Yale and Mul-T-
Lock.
The visit included a demonstration
in the factory’s dedicated residential
showroom of Yale’s range of mobile phone
app controlled smart, interconnected
security products, including door locks,
alarms and CCTV cameras.
There was also a presentation from
Suresh Peri, Commercial & Technical
Manager, of Mul-T-Lock, who explained
their innovative eCLIQ technology, which
allows both the granting and removing
of access permissions remotely – an
advanced system, which won Product of
the Year at the National Locksmith Awards
in December 2019.
Visiting the ASSA ABLOY Portobello
site at School Street, Willenhall, West
Midlands were Alison Gabbott, Mark
Cotton and Colin Marples from Cheshire;
Peter Aston and Jacqueline Godfrey-Hunt
from West Mercia; and Adrian Bartlett
from West Midlands. Also attending was
Richard Waterhouse from Bromsgrove
and Redditch Council.
Hazel Goss, SBD Development Officer,
(pictured centre front above) who
arranged the visit, said: “We all had an
amazing day at ASSA ABLOY, learning
about what they do, seeing their new
products and enjoying a factory tour. Their
factory and operations are on such a huge
and impressive scale. It’s great to see at
first-hand how everything comes together
to make the final products.
“On behalf of the Designing Out
Crime Officers, I want to say a big thank
you to the company for their time
and hospitality. I am looking forward
to arranging another visit for those
Designing Out Crime Officers who
unfortunately were unable to come on this
occasion.”
ASSA ABLOY’s Martin Ward,
Mechanical Senior Product Manager-
Yale UK, said: “Yale are committed
to developing products that keep our
customers, and their properties, safe.
That’s why we’re proud to work closely
with the experts from Secured by Design
to design out crime. We welcomed the
opportunity to show them the measures
we have in place and the exciting plans we
have for the future.
‘More than one million
homes have been
built to SBD’s crime
prevention standards
over the last 20 years’
“We’d like to thank Secured by Design
for taking the time to visit our site at
Portobello and for their continued efforts
to keep our homes safe with stringent
security measures. We strive to continue
to design and manufacture products that
meet these high standards and carry the
Secured by Design accreditation.”
www.securedbydesign.com
MAR/APR 2020
locksmithjournal.co.uk
Issue Takeover
Magazine Sponsor