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Police warned thieves about putting the price of metal ahead of their safety when trying to steal metal from electrical or telephone cables. Officers in Kent have made eight arrests in a fortnight as police confirmed metal theft was becoming a serious issue in the county. Supt Adrian Futers reminded criminals that many cables were live. He said: “Due to the increasing price of metal in the world markets, we are aware that this is becoming a serious issue in Kent.” Beginning with the control of a single door, a Tensor Access Control system can expand upwards to create a large access control network covering a single building or multiple sites. Alternatively, Tensor’s system can remain small granting access to predefined secure areas of your premises. The security system includes real-time monitoring of doors left open, diagrammatically illustrated on an overlay plan of your actual site. In addition, it comes complete with advanced fail-safe features enabling your system to operate even during power failure or in an emergency situation.  

The Ministry of Justice confirmed that taxis are being used to ferry defendants to court by a security company. The prisoners have been going to trial via this unusual mode of transport because the system used by the firm Serco to arrange pick-up and drop-off points failed. Serco, which is paid £42 million per year by the Government to do the job, thus had to rely upon cab drivers around its patch of south and east England. Tensor can supply Visitor Control and Monitoring or Prison Pass software and systems to both private companies and jails. The easy to install computer based pass system registers each visitor, both on and off site. The document scanning facility allows your organisation to make scanned digital copies of special identification documents, accreditations, licenses or insurance documentation provided by the visitor or contractor. Once recorded onto the system, these documents can be retrieved, viewed or recreated and printed on demand. This ensures the proper due diligence procedures have been followed.  

A firm is investigating going over to a regime of longer shift patterns as one way to slash costs. The south-western printing concern Wyndeham has entered talks with the Unite union over the economy drive at its Cornwall base. Wyndeham stated that the depot had “a very positive future” based on implementing changes. Steve Sibbald, Unite national officer, said: “Unite will be urging all employees not to accept any cuts in terms and conditions.” Tensor offers a range of combined payroll and clocking monitoring systems that meet all major hours calculation methods. The WinTAnet time and attendance system can deal with overtime, night shifts and more. Using WinTAnet’s software, work patterns are a combination of daily rules that are either a repeating pattern of shifts or a list of alternative rules. Here, WinTAnet will predict the most appropriate shift depending on when an employee starts work. Each type of pattern can be set up to override the normal pattern and use a specific shift on public holidays.  

A famous landmark has had four plaques stolen from the premises. The bronze information plaques were all taken from mountings within York Minster precinct. York Minster Police said it had increased patrols in the area since the thefts. The incident has left the Minster’s Trust thousands of pounds out of pocket. Police said the CCTV system which usually monitored the Minster precinct was undergoing maintenance when the thieves struck. Tensor can install and maintain surveillance cameras or other security equipment for your premises. A Tensor digital CCTV system works extremely well as a standalone system, and can also be fully integrated with Tensor’s other access control or visitor monitoring equipment. A digital video recorder is able to achieve digital storage multiplexing across up to 16 channels in one standalone box, so all CCTV footage from your site can be recorded on a single unit. Maintenance contracts are available for support of your digital CCTV systems and software, and Tensor supports all of our surveillance products in-house.  

Following a ballot over a pay offer by members of the Communications Workers Union (CWU), more than 100 TV Licensing staff went on a 24-hour walkout. CWU assistant secretary Andy Furey said members are facing a pay cut in real terms. He added: “We're asking for a simple improvement in their pay offer which at 2.6% is almost half the rate of inflation.” The company concerned, Capita, said workers had received a “good and fair offer” considering the economic climate. As well as all aspects of clocking recording and payroll export, Tensor’s WinTAnet computerised Time and Attendance network handles absence planning and entitlement management. Graphical calendar charts in the WinTAnet software provides a colourful way of viewing an individual's or a department's absence records. Each employee can be allocated different entitlements for absence such as annual leave or allowed sickness. The Tensor system quickly identifies missing employees that are expected to be at work and then informs you via automatic email reporting.  

Members of the public have been questioned by officers after a ‘fake police’ raid was mounted on a high street bank. Men dressed in fake police uniforms entered the premises in Glasgow last week and threatened a security guard with what appeared to be a gun. They then drove off towards the M8 motorway with an unspecified amount of cash. A week later officers have been questioning motorists and pedestrians in the area about the gang. Companies taking advantage of a Tensor access or visitor control system can use cutting edge technology like biometrics as a way to provide irrefutable proof of identity. Biometrics is the technique of studying the physical characteristics of a person such as your fingerprint, hand geometry, eye structure or voice pattern. For the effective ‘two-factor’ security authorisation of an individual, fingerprint recognition is used in conjunction with our contactless smart cards. Our recommended product for use with your Tensor system is our smart card access control scanner with built in fingerprint reader, as pictured.  

Glasgow Caledonian University replied to criticisms of its management pay, saying that 70% of the university's highest paid staff were academics. Glasgow Caledonian Combined Union Committee (CUC) had highlighted salary figures from the university's annual accounts and said that since 2006, 373 teaching and support jobs had been lost mostly through an extended voluntary redundancy scheme. The CUC added that over the same period higher paid staff, who earn more than £70,000 per year, had increased from 13 to 41. Tensor’s unbeatable time and attendance networks, for example WinTA Enterprise, offer comprehensive user-definable working patterns, rosters and shifts, including annualised hours and flexi patterns. Contactless smart cards are used to operate your time and attendance, access control and visitor monitoring systems. Each card reader transmits a 125 KHz frequency field (the electromagnetic field), which is picked up by an aerial in the smart card. The smart card microchip, is a passive device which holds a unique factory encoded ID number that cannot be duplicated, making it very secure indeed.  

An investigation by the BBC has found organised crime gangs are behind more than half of all shoplifting in the UK. The biggest shoplifting team is believed to be run by one of Scotland's most notorious crime family, making millions in the past year on this activity alone. The BBC probe found that half of all shoplifting is now committed by professional steal-to-order gangs. The crime of shoplifting has soared up over the past year by nearly 20%, costing retailers almost £5bn. The T3512 is a one door smart card access control system that has everything you need for controlling access through a single door and is suitable for all types of businesses. It comprises a T3511 controller, the latest .NET PC based Access Control multi-lingual software, magnetic door release, push button, break glass and 10 Smart Cards. It features early warning LED's, audible alerts, tamper detection. It also adheres to international security standards applicable to Access Control systems; EN50133 Parts 1, 7 and 2; GW18, PC79 and DD243I2002.  

Operation Serenity sees British Transport Police officers patrolling stations across Greater Manchester and on problematic routes and services to deter trouble makers. They are particularly concentrating on retail theft and anti-social behaviour at Bolton’s main train station which will have CCTV cameras added for the first time as part of a major revamp. Inspector Michelle Wedderburn said of the operation: “The week of action is designed to tackle anti-social behaviour at the early stages, before problematic behaviour is able to escalate.” A full range of digital CCTV equipment, including body, bullet, covert and dome cameras – plus monitors and software – are available from Tensor’s associates CCTV Surveillance Ltd to protect your premises. Body cameras are supplied in more conventional CCTV bodies. We sell body cameras from all major manufacturers and can configure a system exactly to your requirements. Evidence quality digital CCTV body cameras require a lens to be attached to them and these generally have to be bought separately, but this allows you to choose the best lens for your needs.  

A Liberal Democrat amendment was agreed upon by Bolton Council in a tempestuous budget meeting where hundreds of public service jobs were cut. Cllr Roger Hayes, Lib Dem leader, put forward the amendment which included reducing the number of the Executive from 10 to seven, reducing members’ allowances by five to 10 per cent depending on responsibility, and going back to a slimmed down committee system. Other methods employed to slash £41 million from the budget included stopping the council’s Scene newspaper. Tensor's WinTA networked time and attendance systems and personnel software saves your organisation time and money. Employees clock in on the fastest throughput time available using their contactless smart cards at the clocking stations, at which they can book jobs and absences. The software can create multiple shift patterns available per day via the AutoSelect Groups function. The WinTA system will select the most appropriate shift depending on when an employee starts work. If you move an employee's shift, WinTA will automatically assign the correct shift to the employee.  

A council has come under fire for preventing people from using its town hall toilets at the same time as it persuaded more businesses to open up their own facilities. A sign warning people away from ‘spending a penny’ at the town hall was quickly taken down after the authority realised an employee had mistakenly banned people from entering. At the same time Ealing Council announced its Community Toilet Scheme has been extended to business premises in West Ealing. Councils and private companies can continue to employ toilet facilities for members of the public via the installation of coin operated Tensor Toilet Turnstiles. Glass Turnstiles will give you all the benefits of controlling access to your toilet facilities, yet fit seamlessly and elegantly into any high-status environment where appearance is equal to functionality. Allowing optimum pedestrian throughput in an elegant, sophisticated style, the glass turnstiles are an essential element for any lobby environment. They can cope with high traffic volumes and with severe operating conditions.

Forces in other parts of the world are following the lead of a business crime strategy which has won international praise. Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Chamber of Commerce will provide administrative support for a police-involved scheme which advises businesses on fighting crime. Scott Knowles, the Chamber's deputy chief executive, believes the public-private partnership is unique to Notts. He said: "It is absolutely crucial that firms do all they can to protect their premises, equipment, product holdings, staff and customers.” Tensor can aid firms realise that aim with our comprehensive choice of smart card access control, door and registration point control, visitor control and security devices. Access Control profiles are easily created or customised to suit your particular site, and can be varied minute-by-minute. An anti pass back facility limits the same card being used by more than one person, thus tightening control on who gains access to your premises. A near-real time graphical display shows doors being opened or closed, those with alarm status set and those with forced entry.