TWO STRATHCLYDE Police security and counter-terrorism programmes for businesses that have run in Glasgow for the past 18 months are to be rolled out in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and around Scotland.

Project Griffin and a business security co-ordinators' course, aimed respectively at security personnel and business managers, have provided around 800 workers from about 250 organisations with advice on dealing with bomb threats, suspicious packages and chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear incidents.

Demand soared on the back of the terrorist attack at Glasgow airport in the summer and is expected to move up another gear in the countdown to the city's Commonwealth Games in 2014.

Grampian Police have already started adapting the programmes to suit Aberdeen's oil-centred business environment, and police from both forces will team up to outline the success of their initiatives to representatives from across Scotland's police forces at a meeting scheduled for this month. Lothian and Borders Police confirmed to the Sunday Herald that they are poised to adopt Project Griffin in the new year.

Assistant chief constable John Neilson, head of community safety for Strathclyde Police, said: "The division has grasped the whole counter-terrorism agenda in Glasgow. We need to look at how the Griffin project can be developed around the whole of Scotland."

Project Griffin was initially developed in 2004 by City of London Police in conjunction with investment bank JP Morgan's head of security, Don Randall, to help London's financial sector better protect itself again terrorist threats.

In early 2006, inspector David BaMaung, head of community safety in Glasgow's city centre area, suggested that Project Griffin be brought to Glasgow as it seemed "equally appropriate" there as in London. As Scotland's largest city, an economic and retail hub, a terrorist attack in Glasgow could severely damage Scotland's prosperity.

The first training day in Glasgow was in July 2006 and attended by more than 50 security personnel from a diverse range of businesses, including nightclubs, bars, shopping centres, financial institutions and the Scottish Exhibition & Conference Centre.

A second training day followed in October with 63 participants. Now, courses run on almost a monthly basis, priced between £30 and £40 per person.

Strathclyde Police also launched the business security co-ordinators' course, having identified the need to provide similar advice to middle and senior managers. It costs £299 per participant.

Neilson said: "We are in a different position now than we were before the incident at Glasgow airport. A lot of people weren't interested in Griffin then. Now, we've done two seminars with people who didn't want to do it before."

An extra bonus for Griffin-trained personnel is that they can participate in the Friday afternoon "bridge", or conference call, which allows businesses to be updated about any potential security threats by Special Branch. Although the call gives participants a higher level of information than is passed out to the general public, BaMaung said the information has not so far been abused.

Following the attack on Glasgow airport, BaMaung arranged an emergency bridge call for the Monday, which gave about 30 businesses an accurate update about the situation.

BaMaung said the Griffin training provided businesses with "an element of confidence and an awareness of who to contact" in the event of a problem. "The work we are doing helps to target harden' the city through partnership work with the business community," he added.