Jamie Barnfiend, Senior Sales Director, IDIS Europe
One major development in the UK security sector, just over 20 months from now, is that the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, also referred to as Martyn’s Law, will come into force (3rd April 2027).
The law is poised to transform the way public venues approach security. Among other measures, it will place video surveillance at the forefront of counter-terrorism efforts, and that may have a knock-on effect in terms of best practice in other countries and regions.
The balancing act between upfront costs and long-term gains
For UK end-users required to operate safer and more secure public spaces, the new law poses challenges, especially for smaller organisations. They will need to balance the challenges of compliance, privacy, and maintaining strict data protection practices with the cost of upgrading systems, integrating security measures and emergency protocols, and improving staff training.
During the current 20-month implementation period, it's important that venues and businesses – now defined by the law as ‘duty holders’ - start preparing.
While there may be upfront financial implications for many of them, offsetting this, they will be able to tap into the full benefits of AI-powered video analytics, potentially for the first time. As an industry, we should encourage them to do so.
These customers – the new ‘duty holders’ – will range from public events organisers, bars and nightclubs, hospitals, and stadiums, to shopping centres, educational facilities, and transport hubs.
For them, the latest video analytics tools don’t just offer a cost-effective answer to the compliance obligations; users will discover a host of other benefits from AI video that they might not otherwise have considered (or at least not quite yet). These range from cost savings achieved by streamlining operations to enhancing service delivery and ensuring better customer and user experiences.
The new law won’t just make venues and events safer and more secure; it will also be a catalyst to more end-uses discovering the profit-boosting potential, and rapid ROI and ROX, that AI-powered video analytics are already delivering in a range of settings, particularly hospitality venues such as hotels and casinos, as well as retail malls.
In the coming months, the SIA will publish statutory guidance and advice for duty-holders. Once approved by the Home Secretary, this guidance will underpin the SIA’s ability to take enforcement action. But duty holders shouldn’t wait.
If they haven’t already done so, organisations should assess whether the law will apply to them, and if it does, whether they fall into either the standard tier or enhanced tier category. This will depend on the number of individuals who can reasonably be expected to be present at their venue (200-799 individuals, in the case of standard, or 800-plus individuals, enhanced). It’s important to note that maximum venue capacity does not have to be taken into account, only the likely number of people expected to be present.
Grasping the opportunity to act now and reaping the benefits of AI video
Security consultants and systems integrators should encourage duty holders to begin a timely assessment of risks and a measured introduction of security measures likely to support compliance.
The adoption of AI video analytics is one of those measures. AI video offers some major advantages, especially where video system upgrades are already planned or where they can be phased in affordably between now and April 2027.
Analytics can be targeted at specific points, using edge AI cameras, or they can be implemented system-wide with AI capabilities via enterprise VMS. AI boxes can also be added, allowing groups of cameras to be enhanced with AI capabilities.
To meet the privacy requirements of public settings, the latest privacy masking solutions are designed to enhance the ease of use and accuracy of real-time surveillance. Using this technology, individuals can be protected from unintentional exposure in live video feeds, especially where screens may be visible to unauthorised individuals, and yet the clarity of detail, including scene backgrounds, is not compromised.
Cybersecurity is also expected to be an important consideration for compliance, and video solutions that have tested, multi-layered cybersecurity protection will be needed.
Added together, the AI analytics solutions now available provide a unique answer to the problems of maintaining the consistent, 24/7 vigilance needed to support rapid incident response. At venues that have to manage surge events and those relying on less experienced, part-time security staff and stewards, the powerful extra capabilities of AI video may prove crucial.
Applications for analytics
For example, real-time people counting can be used to monitor entry points, concourses, and public areas, to track live headcounts via easy-to-use, at-a-glance dashboards. Automated alerts can be sent to monitoring teams and security officers (at workstations or using mobile apps) if safe occupancy thresholds are exceeded. This can be key to supporting rapid intervention and dynamic crowd management.
People counting data can also be automated with a full audit trail to demonstrate compliance, proving whether a venue is correctly defined as an enhanced tier, a standard tier, or is even exempt altogether.
Unusual movement patterns can also be detected using video analytics, including sudden bottlenecks, rapid dispersal, or clustering, all signs of a potential incident. Unattended object detection will identify items that have been left, for example, in high-footfall zones where they present a potential risk. Again, automated alerts will support rapid investigation.
Video management software can also be configured to relay video clips to operations managers and senior executives to give them the domain awareness they need to initiate emergency protocols and procedures, and ensure coordinated liaison with local police forces and emergency services/
AI video is also becoming increasingly sophisticated, yet at the same time easier and more intuitive to use and able to flag up behaviours that might indicate potential risk – for example, line crossing into unauthorized areas, intruder detection, suspicious loitering of people and vehicles, falls, etc.
Other new AI tools that support faster searching and object and suspect identification in real-time monitoring, with both at-a-glance cropped images and rapid search filters making it easier to locate crucial scenes based on key attributes such as age, gender, clothing colour, or whether they have accessories such as glasses, hats, masks, or bags. Vehicles can be searched for by colour or type.
One obvious and highly relevant application for these functions is that they make it easier and faster to trace the movements of any person who abandons an object, or is seen carrying a suspect package or backpack, as well as to identify and locate others they come into contact with.
While not all these functions may be needed immediately, the advantage of today’s solutions is that once a good AI video system is installed, new functions can be immediately accessed as needs change.
Similarly, as analytics improve further, once users have established an AI video infrastructure, they will be able to easily upgrade their systems to maintain optimal resilience and preparedness.
The coming months will be a time of significant and welcome development for the UK security sector, and that could have positive benefits for the wider global market concerning best practice operation and implementation of video surveillance.
