SECURITY INDUSTRY WORRIES

Article from The Times

Overview

This article describes how we were the first North West company to voluntarily license our security guards. Peter Quinlivan, MD of Crime Management Services.

Security Industry Worries.

SECURITY Guards surrounding us, from the businesses in our city centres to the schools on our doorsteps. But every single one of them works in an industry tarred with illegal activity and criminal records so how do we know to whom we can entrust our lives and livelihoods.

It an issue so crucial it has become the subject of a new Private Security Industry Bill, which has just been passed. The bill is aimed at putting the ´secure´ back into security, and has setup a licensing system aimed at removing ´cowboys, crooks and conmen´ from the private security industry.

Under new legislation, the industry has its own governing body - the Private Security Industry Authority. Security guards will need to be trained in first aid and fire safety, and criminal records of employees and managers in jobs ranging from guards and bouncers to wheel-clampers will be vetted before they can don a uniform.

The industry currently employs over 240,000 people, compared to around 100,000 in the police service.

Around 40 per cent of the expected 80,000 licence applications a year will probably be refused on the grounds of unsuitability.

Liverpool based Crime Management Services (CMS) is the first North West company to voluntarily license security guards. For director Peter Quinlivan the change in legislation has not come a day too soon.

He explains: “All of our guards are vetted by the local police and council. They are on an official register and earn their ID badges to prove their ability to do the job.

If there´s one thing I´ve learned in this business in 15 years it´s that if you´ve got a criminal record you can get a job as a security guard.

Sadly it has become a running joke. The problem is that we are all tarred with the same brush, so the Bill will hopefully be the start of a change in that attitude.”

Peter says that the scheme has cost him £30,000 to setup. All 80 of his employees now take training courses and are vetted before being leased out.

He adds: “The Bill is way overdue. My hope is it will weed out bogus firms who pay the £120 to call themselves ´Limited´ then take on guards with dubious backgrounds and get up to all kinds of criminal activities. It is currently rife. Companies like these drain us of business and harm our reputation.”

“People should be able to leave their livelihoods each night safe in the knowledge it will still be there in the morning.”

A recent survey shows that as many 2,600 crimes last year were committed by security guards, including murder, rape and robbery. Examples include an armed raider who came out of jail and into a job as a security guard then disappeared with his first delivery ­ a £30,000 payroll.