Interactive Exercise Tool For Businesses (ACT in a BOX)

The National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO) require the build and development of an interactive, virtual counter terrorism exercising tool for businesses across the UK, known as the 'ACT in a BOX' project. NaCTSO is a police-hosted unit within the National Counter Terrorism Police Headquarters (CTPHQ) and a National Government agency. We are responsible for providing awareness, advice and guidance on counter terrorism protective security, with a particular focus on public venues and spaces (e.g. parks, restaurants and bars, events, high streets) throughout the UK. With the Government's proposed Martyn's Law, which will place a responsibility on some locations to implement proportionate measures to mitigate the threat from terrorism, NaCTSO are seeking to expand our ACT Suite of products, most of which require in person delivery by a CTSA. The ACT in a BOX project is also routed in a desire to support businesses to implement and apply the guidance provided by NaCTSO. Evidence from the Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats (CREST) has suggested that such simulated preparedness exercises can benefit communication, confidence and knowledge amongst staff (Lewis & Marsden, 2020). To date, two of NaCTSO's in-person deliveries contain exercising elements, which have been very positively received by businesses and employees alike. The development and launch of a new, self-delivered online product will provide the opportunity to engage further businesses and build upon the success of our existing digital offerings - the ACT Awareness e-Learning course and ProtectUK platform