The SIA or Security Industry Association based in Maryland in the USA is at the forefront of the security industry. It was founded in 1969 and represents electronic and physical solution providers. The association represents nearly 1000 firms and companies in the security industry. In 2017 the organization grew its membership to include an academic category open to faculty members and students.
The security industry association advances and protects its member’s company interests by instilling legislations and policies at a government level. It creates open industry standards that enable amalgamation with companies. It provides education and training to advance industry professionalism and foster collaboration with like-minded businesses.
Since 2010, the Security Industry Association has presented the SNG, a two-day conference for executives in the industry. The Securing New Ground event happens annually and draws in many top executives from around the United State of America.
The association consists of an executive committee and a board of directors who are all volunteers. Forty staff members work around the clock to support its executives, the industry and its worker.
In 2011, Don Erickson became CEO of the SIA after R. Walden Chace’s dismissal for collaboration with Reed Exhibitions and excessive spending.
The security industry association activities sometimes fall under one of 4 categories in the association. SIA International Relations, SIA Government Relations, SIA Education, and SIA Standards are all divisions under the organization.
Table of Contents
SIA International Relations:
SIA has operated in the United States since 1969, but in 2010 they opened a branch in Brazil, calling it SIA Brazil. Once a year, Security Industry Association Brazil presents the ISC conference in Sao Paulo, Brazil, it works in partnership with ISC Events.
The SIA isn’t associated with other international security associations with a similar name. For example, the British or Australian Security industry association is not part of the SIA of America.
SIA Government Relations:
Government Relations arrange that SIA members participate in government affairs through subcommittees and working groups. These groups include a government representative group and a planning committee.
Five subcommittees are under the SIA, these are the Critical Infrastructure Protection Subcommittee, the PIV working group, the GSA policy working group, Biometrics and Identity working group, and the Local Policy subcommittee.
Through Government Relations initiatives, it has achieved vital administrative and legislative advantages for the security industry. In 2008 SIA implemented the GSA Cooperative Purchasing Program. This authorized local government and state to purchase from GSA signal and alarm systems, firefighting and rescue equipment, facility management systems, firefighting and rescue equipment, and marine craft equipment. Other specific clothing and relatable services, according to GSA, are also included.
The SIA had a legislation sign by President Barack Obama in 2011 that exempts using external power supplies from life safety and security products.
Every year the SIA government summit is hosted by SIA Government Relations, it connects officials from the white house with the security industry.
It is a vital meet up as there are speeches from the likes of the House Homeland Security Committee, Connecticut Gov. Dannell Malloy, Homeland Security, General Service Administration, and other committees.
The Security Industry Associations’ Government Relations department post a quarterly reporting publication that shows progress on legislation affecting the industry.
They also publish the FYI (Fiscal Year Informer), which examines procurement issues and federal funding in a quarterly insert called Security Systems News.
SIA Education:
The Security Industry Association Education department presents training at different conferences and trade shows.
ISC East, ISC West, and ASIS are among some of the seminars that they attend. SIA hosts professional industry training and development through its education department.
These training courses include demonstrations and lectures by prominent leaders in the industry.
SIA Education delivered over 60 sessions at ISC West in 2017. Some of the topics include:
- Using Deep Learning and AI to develop intelligent physical security products.
- How situational awareness has changed due to video and drone technology.
- Video Systems and Data Security.
At Javits Convention Center in New York, SIA Education delivered over 25 sessions during November 15-16, 2017.
ISC East offered first-time hands-on training, which allowed patrons to engage in activities of a practical nature. Some of the most important sessions at ISC East include:
- How to protect Times Square from vehicle attacks.
- Setting up United States Stadium Security: Preparing for the worse.
- Entering a converged world.
- The use of credentials in the OT, IT, and physical security environment.
SIA also offers SPM and CSPM training programs to enhance the knowledge of its members. The Security Project Management training program addresses present learning and security learning requirements based around core security technology.
SIA Education offers a two-day Project Management training course for the security industry. It prepares them for the CSPM certification exam, which occurs 4 to 5 times a year in the USA. It offers project management courses together with CANASA (Canadian Security Association).
The course goes beyond expectations and offers new and experienced project managers guidance of their role to stakeholders and shows them the risk that could slow down a project’s success.
SIA Standards
The standards that SIA wants to set, and advocates for are technical standards, and smooth data transmutation between security devices.
It gets accreditation from ANSI, the American National Standard Institute, for being a standards-developing association.
The False Alarm Reduction Standard was developed and maintained by the SIA Standards development department. This standard specifies that security alarm control needs to be placed at the control panel.
The area focused on is the disarming and arming process, which is often the cause of many false alarms.
Security installers and manufacturers in the industry are the ones who sometimes make use of it.
In 2019 SIA made some revisions to add further clarity to its standards.
2012 saw SIA Standards release OSDP, also known as the Open Supervised Device Protocol. It allowed control panels, security management systems, and card readers to all work together in unison.
Final Thoughts
If there is No SIA, there would be no standard set for security companies, and that would put more risk on the consumer.
The continual development of the SIA strives for great fairness and equality amongst all that are in the security industry.
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