SECURITY BROUGHT TO HEEL

Article from The Times.

Overview

This article details how we welcomed the Private Security Industry Act. Peter Quinlivan, MD of Crime Management Services.

Security brought to heel

Can I see your pass, please? I´m afraid I cannot let you into this feature unless you show me a pass. You could be a criminal for all I know. Ooh, look a bit younger there, don´t you? Hmmm. OK. In you go then. Sorry about that, just a brief formality. But getting into the security industry is some times easier than it should be: do you know whether or not the person with the keys to your office has a criminal record?

“You can come out of prison and join a security service wearing a second-hand police uniform and holding a dog on the end of a lead,” says John Bates, spokesman for Group 4 Securitas. “I have seen reports which suggest that people who are unfit to work in the industry are doing so.”

Despite the high quality of service offered by the more scrupulous companies, the industry has long suffered from the motley reputation created by the cowboys within it. Security is a piecemeal affair governed by differing standards of entry.

But with the recent passing of the Private Security Industry Act 2001, this looks set to change. The Act setup a new body, the Security Industry Authority (SIA), to license those employed in specified sectors of the industry. It will run a voluntary Approved Contractors Scheme and establish a national register of licensed companies.

The Act is expected to come into effect after 2002, when the hidden armies of dodgy bouncers, cowboy clampers, shady security guards and seedy private investigators might, finally, be barred. “I think that the Act is tremendous news,” says Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate, who served 35 years on the Durham constabulary and is now president of the Joint Security Industry Council, representing all aspects of the trade. “It will get rid of the cowboys, it will give the industry a higher reputation, it will hopefully increase and Improve conditions for the officers that are employed in the security industry and it will enable them to be used as partners in the public sector.”

The Government estimates that between 100,000 and 130,000 individuals will be licensed each year by the authority. About 300,000 bouncers, wheel-clampers, security guards and private investigators will be vetted under the new proposals. “It was needed desperately 14 years ago, ” says Peter Quinlivan, of Crime Management Ltd, a Liverpool based security firm, “and since then the industry has trebled in size. There art so many criminals in the trade, no one was trusted any more. Now, with the vetting procedure, people will be getting value for money and peace of mind.” Crimes committed by those in the private security industry are not collected separately by the police, but in 1995¹ it was estimated that 2,600 offences each year were committed by private security staff. With the exponential growth of the industry since then, that figure may now be significantly higher.

Not everybody, however, is happy. In-house security officers, such as those employed by Supermarkets are not covered by the Act “This allows for a loophole in the legislation,” says Mr Bates of Group 4. “For the unscrupulous this means that they can employ people who are not vetted by the industry - not pay them properly, not train them properly. If you are going to regulate the industry, you should regulate the industry. It's just crazy” The British Security Industry Association, the largest of the industries accrediting bodies, agrees.

Nobody knows who will be involved and consulted in assembling the new authority. For the immediate future, individual companies will continue to mingle hopefully in the dark, in nervous anticipation of the SIA finally flinging open its doors in 18 months time. Naturally everybody wants to be on the guest list. The state of the suspense has already resulted in fears last ditch security free-for-all, with ominous reports from the RAC of extortionate parking fines from clamp-happy cowboys, and industry recruitment posters competing with page three girls for the attention of Brixton jail inmates. For those seeking the best in security, the wait should be worth it. Until then, the best course of action is to ensure that the people at the door are from a British Standards approved company. After all, the new legislation is expected to come into effect in 2003, - by which time, if the security officers´ names aren´t down they are not coming in.

¹Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) report to the Home Office Affairs Committee in 1995.