Businesses in Oxfordshire are to benefit from a programme led by Thames Valley Police to protect business staff and local communities from terrorist activity.

Project Griffin is an internationally acclaimed development tool for security and other personnel within businesses and organisations. It has been customised by Thames Valley Police, whose Headquarters Operations Department is now co-ordinating the roll-out of the project across the force.

An awareness day will be held at Eynsham Hall, North Leigh, on Thursday, November 5. It is open to any business for their staff to learn vital skills to reduce the risk of terrorism.

Created by the City of London Police in 2004, Project Griffin was developed to help counter the threat from terrorism and major civil disasters by training staff such as security personnel, facilities managers, and post room staff. It was an immediate success and has since been adopted in many areas across the UK, as well as internationally in Australia, Canada, South Africa and the United States.

Counter Terrorism Co-ordinator for Thames Valley Police, Insp Steve Bridges, said: “This is an excellent opportunity for any local business to enhance the skills of their staff to help us keep the public safe. We are very keen for as many as possible to sign up; the details of how to apply can be found on the Thames Valley Police website under Project Griffin.

“Your staff will be given practical advice on how to deal with suspicious packages and suspicious behaviour, and what to do should an incident take place.

“This is not in response to any particular threat, and Oxfordshire remains as safe as any county in the UK. However, international terrorism and domestic extremism continue to be a real threat across the UK and it is imperative that we work together with businesses and partner agencies to reduce the risk of becoming a terrorist target.

“Those who have attended the day will become our ‘eyes and ears’ in the places they patrol and could genuinely help prevent an incident taking place by knowing what to look out for and how to deal with it.”

Project Griffin’s training materials are up-to-date, relevant and delivered by experts in counter terrorism. It is accredited by Skills for Security and accepted by the Security Industry Authority (SIA) as continuous development training.

Insp Bridges added: “We will stay in touch with the delegates who attend the day with a regular newsletter which will help them to keep what they have learned at the forefront of their minds. They will be given handbooks packed with useful information and they will be issued with reflective Project Griffin tabards which they can wear on their normal patrols to indicate that they have been trained.

“We may also call upon them in the rare event of a major incident to assist with controlling the outer cordon in order to keep members of the public safe. This would not necessarily be a terrorist incident, but could be in the event of an accidental incident too.

“This will not be a one-off event; awareness days will be taking place across the Thames Valley, and another day will be organised in Oxfordshire in the future, but I would urge businesses to take advantage of this opportunity on November 5.”