Clayton Consultants, a Triple Canopy company and global crisis management consultancy, tells the Blog that Ricardo Parlade, vice president of business development, will speak at ASIS on Sept. 22 at 4:30 p.m. Clayton Consultants specializes in the resolution of kidnap for ransom and extortion cases worldwide. Parlade will present case studies of kidnappings from Mexico, Nigeria and the Gulf of Aden. He will also review various types of kidnapping practices, and discuss prevention techniques and survival tactics. "The risk of being kidnapped is dramatically increasing in hotspots around the world and kidnapping trends continue to vary from region to region," said Triple Canopy CEO Iggy Balderas. "This is an opportunity for security directors attending the ASIS seminar to learn more about our pre-incident training services and what we can do to assist their organizations and families in the event of a kidnap."

University of Southern Mississippi National Center For Spectator Sports Safety and Security Adds Partner

During the ASIS 2009 Annual Seminar. the National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security (NCS4) at the University of Southern Mississippi, a leading-edge academic organization dedicated to studying techniques to mitigate the security risks inherent with large spectator sport venues, named a founding partner, Avigilon. It will collaborate with the Center by providing training, research opportunities, technology, and scholarly investments in the program. Established in 2006, NCS4 is the only sports security training organization of its kind in the United States and is a recognized leader in addressing potential threats and risks to the safety and security of sporting events. Through research, education, and innovative solutions, the Center continues to enhance the level of preparedness at sporting venues worldwide. With financial support from the U.S. and Mississippi Departments of Homeland Security, NCS4 works with advisory board members such as the NFL, NCAA, MLB, and the USA Olympic Committee to further increase sports security awareness.

Study Reveals American Homeowners Are Living with Compromised Home Security

Nearly half of all American homeowners fall short when it comes to maintaining the security of their home, according to the findings of an American Security Study (July 2009), conducted by Kwikset. Released in conjunction with ASIS 2009, the study revealed that an alarming 47 percent of homeowners did not change or re-key the locks to their home when they first moved in, and nearly one-third have never changed their locks or had them re-keyed at any point since moving in. This is despite the fact that more than half of homeowners surveyed routinely loan house keys to non-residents, and previous homeowners often continue to carry old house keys.

The inaugural Kwikset American Security Study also revealed that although residential security often is cited by Americans as a top priority, data suggests that people are not managing access control to their homes accordingly. Of the half of all homeowners that loan-out house keys, nearly 10 percent reportedly have loaned out their key more than 10 times. What's more, with 60 percent of homeowners having multiple home entries with different keys for each, there already is an increased margin of error for maintaining access control.