Director of Security and Corporate Occasion Control Showec testified in the public inquiry into the 2017 terrorist attack at Manchester Arena.
Mark Logan is expected to testify about the video link on Day 39 of the investigation.
Showsec had a contract with sand operators, SMG.
Liz Forster, from Greater Manchester police, is also expected to return to resume her testimony on Thursday.
Today marks the last scheduled day of Chapter Seven of the investigation, which proved the security operation established on May 22, 2017 and the arena itself.
The investigation will now be postponed for a week.
The independent investigation, established through Interior Minister Priti Patel, is expected to continue in October last year until spring 2021.
At the end of an Ariana Grande concert, suicide bomber Salman Abedi, 22, detonated a backpack bomb in an Arena lobby, known as town rooms, at the end of an Ariana Grande concert, killing 22 other people and injuring many more.
His younger brother, Hashem Abedi, now 23, convicted on 22 counts of murder, a count of attempted murder and a count of conspiracy to cause an explosion after a trial in March.
He was imprisoned for at least 55 years in August.
The investigation examines the cases that led to the deaths of the other 22 people in the explosion.
A number of other issues will also be explored.
Include:
The Manchester Evening News will provide updates here:
Ms. Forster said no, the CTSAs were told to stop at the sites six times a year.
There are more visits and communications about the arena, he said.
The witness said that there is a new CTSA assigned to the arena and that this user is running with the CTSA btp for the arena.
The survey is now complete for the day and will take a week off.
Chapter seven of the investigation should begin on November 30.
Ms. Forster that the role of a CTSA is to emphasize the importance of patrols and surveillance, and this applies whenever a site is crowded.
“It’s all the time, ” he said.
“After the attack on the Arena, they focused more on the exit,” he said in his statement as a witness.
The crowded spaces were reviewed and “the exit stages were taken into account and incorporated into existing emergency safety planning. “
Ms. Forster says the sand was designed and built to protect crowds on site.
Ms. Forster agreed that the voluntary nature of the CTSA program is a “major problem. “
“We have nothing,” he says.
It recognizes that it has also been “committed to advertising interests and advertising realities”.
Pete Weatherby QC, on behalf of the families of some victims, cautioned that a solution could be for CTSAs to simply tell some options that they are too big for them to handle and that they are getting contractual experience.
Ms. Forster was asked if there has been a “greater focus” with the Arena on the vulnerabilities of crowds coming in and out of the CTSA.
She said it coming down at the time.
An exercise showing the status of a mock terrorist attack in the City Hall took place less than a year before the bombing.
Ms. Forster agreed that CTSA had the discretion to advise on protection mitigation and that it was a voluntary system.
The sites had to stick to the recommendation given.
SMG, according to research, now has a director of security everywhere.
Ms. Forster was asked whether she thought that giant multinational corporations with multiple sites have gained internal experience in the fight against terrorism or appointed external contractors.
She said, “I think it would be a practice to do so. “
The president asked if the sand had been informed that it would be a smart concept to receive advice outdoors.
Ms. Forster said they might have been asked for an outdoor recommendation on express issues, but “not in general. “
Liz Forster, senior counter-terrorism security adviser (CTSA) of the Greater Manchester police, recovers her from yesterday’s siege. ‘
It is up to the site to implement this recommendation; there is no legal responsibility to stick to it or put into effect recommendations, the investigation said.
The chair of the investigation said there were national standards before May 2017 “that clearly indicated that the exit was a risk. “
Mr. Logan says he has no specific front-or-exit parts.
Sir John asked if Showsec had asked for expert advice.
“We thought we were proactive in relating to forums as standard,” Logan said.
He also said he “had some time knowing where they would have gone” for that.
He said that “moving forward,” Showec pledged to “reflect our operational positions in relation to more entities. “
Mr Cooper asked the witness, “What kind of things have you learned from this tragedy in terms of security?
According to him, “greater learning” has been the position of the fight against terrorism in the mentality.
It refers to collaboration with experts and describes terrorism as a “widespread risk. “
“Some think those classes were there to be learned before,” Cooper asks.
“I think classes can be learned from mistakes made all over the world,” Logan said.
The Bataclan, he said, operated under a “different threat element” that “was not parallel to where the Arena was at that time. “
Cooper asked if Showsec had been “more alert. “
Logan said Showsec was proactive after Bataclan’s attack in Paris.
“Of course I have the feeling, ” he said.
“We felt we were doing everything we could to provide recommendations to the public. “
John Cooper QC, for one of the grieving families, is now asking Mr. Logan questions.
A document written in the Netherlands is presented to the survey through a Showec-affiliated company.
It is described as a Showec document, however, Logan says it does not constitute Showsec’s perspectives and has not been published.
It was said by “someone who wrote his thoughts” in a PowerPoint presentation.
It’s a word “The attack didn’t take place in Arena – it’s not an entertainment story. “
Cooper suggests that this is “a disgrace” to Showsec and to Mr. Logan that he wishes had never been written.
A document is presented dated July 25, 2017, two months after the attack, written through Logan entitled “Overview of Manc’s Terrorist Attack. “
He that there is nothing to improve procedure and technique for the safety of the crowd.
Logan said it was designed to help managers perceive what had happened.
“After the Manchester attack, control went to his clients’ homes and was rehired to provide the appropriate advice,” he said.
Cooper suggests that over time, Logan “became aware of the future in the arena. “
Mr. Logan stated that Showsec had become accounted for the disruptions prior to the investigation and police reports for the investigation.
Mr Cooper asked if an internal investigation had been conducted through Showsec.
Mr Logan said there was a refocus on what the field operation for Manchester Arena in collaboration with SMG.
When asked if there is a restriction on the number of AIS workers involved in the arena search, Logan said it is “not part of any conversation” in which he cares.
Arena was checking the bags when they shouldn’t have, according to the investigation.
They have been trained and authorized SIA, but they were not.
Mr. Atkinson asked, “Have the prices in the arena been lowered by allowing this to continue?”
Mr. Logan said, “I don’t think it’s Array. . I never understood that this consideration. “
Showsec knew in 2013 that anyone conducting baggage checks should be trained in the AIS, said the president of the investigation, Sir John Saunders, but this continued in 2017.
The president said a foreigner might think this was done intentionally to reduce costs.
Mr. Logan rejects this suggestion.
Logan admits that, in retrospect, a “greater exchange” of evidence between SMG and Showsec would have been “useful. “
It said Showec considered that its evaluation format “should be updated”.
The new document assessed the threat of terrorism, but Logan said no specialized development assistance had been received outside the doors of national counter-terrorism guidelines.
In 2016, a year after the Paris attacks, Logan copied in an email detailing an anti-terrorist review assembly organized through Showsec.
He says it shows that corporate doesn’t fit complacently and wastes awareness.
Operational plans have been reviewed, emails involve and all threat tests want to be updated. Briefings and a number of other topics were discussed in the correspondence.
Stage trainings are also organized.
In 2016, Logan said SMG puts no pressure on or set any targets to reduce size.
“It seemed some kind of internal update to make sure the other people provided through Showsec were needed to deliver what SMG wanted. “
Mr. Logan now receives questions through Duncan Atkinson QC, who represents some of the grieving families.
Ask what Exactly Showsec offers in terms of and it shows a Showsec delivery control contract.
As a component of the service contract between SMG and Showsec, Logan Showsec’s designated representative, he says he “collapsed fairly quickly. “
Mr. Logan acknowledges that others have had more normal contact with SMG than he has.
Showsec, agrees, is a “leading company in crowd safety and control. “
However, it says that the “event” is missing from the description.
Mr. Logan says it is “fair” to use “event security. “
“I think as appointments mature, Showsec may be offering consulting services,” he said.
It was followed that Showsec played a role in advising, in the discussion with the venue, on the technique for crowd control and the safety of occasions.
The final decisions, he said, would “be” with SMG, Arena’s operators.
Mr. Logan is a series of Showsec slides from a presentation.
It denies that the company offers counter-terrorism advice.
“I think we were looking to raise awareness and give anything that could be discussed in the room,” he said.
Nicolas de Poer QC, the investigating lawyer, asked him, “Do you think that before May 2017, a moderate interpretation of Showec’s conduct included advising experience in the fight against terrorism. “
Mr. Logan said, “No.
“We were only using public data and recommendations to raise awareness and awareness among our staff in the hope that they would interact with consumers to create an environment. “
Mr. Logan stated that there were “gaps” in some of Showec’s documents, which were known and accepted.
A slide in a presentation is displayed.
It’s the word “you’re not as strong after a crisis as your pre-crisis plans and documentation can prove. “
Martyn’s law, he says, will give a “stronger result. “
The investigation found that it was “a controversy” if Showsec had “presented himself” as experts in the fight against terrorism.
Mr. Logan says he doesn’t think the company did it.
He says the company’s mindset about crowd management.
Logan said he first reported the attack on the arena at 10:50 p. m.
Manchester’s workplace opened at 11:20 p. m.
Logan said he spoke to James Allen, the general manager of the arena, at 11:45 p. m. and accumulated sand at 3 a. m.
He then sent a message to Mark Harding, CEO of Showsec.
It contained the word “no line of sight on the supposed instigator. “
Logan said the content of the email was based on a briefing with a “sample” from after the explosion.
“I’m looking to transmit it, no one knew where it came from.
“No one had any idea they saw the user who detonated the device.
“They were almost knocked out in silence. It’s palpable – its position.
The witness said he believed that a review of the safety aspects of the “tail” had been conducted in the sand.
Slides titled “The Role of Event Security in a CT Environment” are displayed.
Mr. Logan said that he believed that the presentation had been made on one occasion by the National Sand Associations and that SMG was present.
Showsec, he said, talked about crowd control and sometimes security.
Mr. Logan agrees with one in the presentation notes – “either internally or as a contract company – the purpose deserves to be to create a technique as coordinated as you can imagine and achieve the strategic objectives of the place. “
He who, in retrospect, coordination between SMG and Showsec “could have been better. “
It suggests that there may simply be “a plan for any of the companies. “
A message from Mr. Logan to the Executive Director is shown in April 2016.
It agrees that the acceptance as a certain email was “it’s been a year since Paris, we won’t have to be complacent. “
Logan disagrees with a suggestion that “complacency was established in Showsec’s operations in May 2017. “
“I don’t think that’s the case, ” he said.
An email dated November 16, 2015 after the Paris attacks is reviewed.
The email refers to the recommendation made through security in the fight against terrorism.
Mr. Logan says he disagrees with Showec providing anti-terrorism advice.
“We take them from the National Counter-Terrorism Security Office and the councils, use them and distill them in our documents,” he said.
“The truth is, we were looking to get the most productive public data and reflect it in our operations. “
Mr. Logan testifies video link.
The survey reveals that it has a key title in crowd management.
A courier chain is reviewed in 2013.
It is convenient that showec’s boss said in 2013 that bag controls required a license from the Security Industry Authority.
Logan asked why this was not the case on the floor in 2017.
He says there has been “a failure of the supply control formula and its cascading transmission to the operation. “
Good morning.
Today is the day of public inquiry.
Mark Logan, director of Showsec, testifies.
The security and occasional control company has a contract with sand operators, SMG.
Mr. Logan made two statements in the investigation.
He says he ran for Showsec in 1991 as a butler at Leicester City Football Club. Logan became Director in 2007 and is the “superior” of the Department of Health and Safety.