Tele of the Two Security Industries

Tale of the two security industries

On the 9th of October 09, I spoke at the SIA Small Business Forum in London. At the start of my presentation, I projected the image of a door supervisor, Mohamed Kaleem Rafek. Mohammed was brutally murdered in Manchester in March of this year. I asked my audience if anyone had heard about this high profile murder investigation, to my utmost shock and dismay not a single soul in the audience had heard about Mohammed’s untimely demise.

Bearing in mind that my audience was made up of security managers, senior executives of the SIA and many of the trade organisations that purport to represent our security industry. It dawned upon me that ‘not all security professionals are created equal’. The underclass is made up of the hardworking men and women like myself who have to work nightshifts in the rain and sub zero temperature whilst the ‘elite’ members, so far removed from the everyday frontline issues, milk us like dairy cows whilst still demonstrating the utmost contempt for our wellbeing.

In the November 09 issue of the Professional Security Magazine, many commentators were incensed at my willingness to hold the SIA accountable. A number of subscribers even made  strides to emphasise how improved the security industry has become since the introduction of the 2001 Security Industry Act. May I first express my sincere gratitude to all those who read my articles and took the time to comment. Whether those views were supportive of my position or not, I do respect your point of view as a fellow professional  

To those who disagree I offer the following. There is no doubt that the regulation process has indeed made an enormous difference to the security industry. The public perception of the security industry has been changed for the better.  This in itself must be seen as a positive step. But I am still searching for answers to the questions posed in my articles: Who has benefited from the regulation? What is the meaning of the word ‘professionalism’ or phrase ‘Best practices?’ What will a professionalised security industry look like in ten or twenty year’s time?

One of the core justifications levelled for the introduction of the SIA was the unchecked expansion of the private security industry. Security was seen as a lucrative industry, not only from the man guarding but also from the other criminal activities that were being committed at the time.  An increasing number of these so called companies were fronts for organised crime and were responsible in the mid eighties for the explosion within pubs & clubs of recreational drugs. Alongside the drugs came the violence, convicted criminals were not only controlling the doors of venues, they owned the security companies and employed their friends and infamous colleagues to enforce their unchecked authority on the doors. With security becoming an essential service that provides protection to so many industries the government could not stand by and allow these rogue elements to take control of an industry that is considered the 2nd police force. However, whether those allegations were justified or prompted by greed from those who want to milk the security industry dry, can only be assessed by the performance of the SIA. For anyone to suggest that scrutinising the SIA is wrong demonstrates the level of disconnect between hardworking security officers like myself and those who have no understanding of our plights but purport to represent us.

In the words of John W, Gardner “A society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy: neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water”.

The aim of the regulation was to establish excellence within the security industry as a whole not to create a two tier security industry with an upper echelon of executives who outsource all their responsibilities to a bunch of mercenaries with no interest in the security industry and a lower echelon of hardworking men and women like myself who have to brave the elements day and night for minimum wage.

1. During the forum it was suggested that maybe the financial position of a company has to be used as a criteria for gaining the approved contractor stators. If the same criteria were applied to the SIA, would it pass the test? The SIA has more customers than all security companies combined- more than half a million- it receives government funding yet it has never managed to balance its budget. Is there a better example of financial misappropriation elsewhere?    

I am not saying all of this to have a go at the SIA, all I want to point out here is that, in the spirit of fairness which is what this country is built upon, the SIA has to put its own house in order before it starts telling others how to run their household. It needs to get its’ own finances in order and ‘rein-in’ partners such as the auditing bodies, its call centre and license processing company. The same standard that is expected of security officers and companies must apply to those who regulate the industry. A brilliant idea would be for the SIA to send SLAs along with each license to see how it stacks up.

As for those who claim to represent us, the BSIA, The Security Institute and all the rest, I have a message for you from a security officer who I always notice during my night patrols. He is stood at the same corner of an apartment block almost every night I drive by... In sub-zero degree temperature, in the rain or snow, he is stood there. One will imagine with all this talk about professionalism his manager would have had the decency to at least provide him with a security lodge. Security officers like this and hundreds of thousands of us on the frontline are looking up to you to ensure we are not left at the mercy of the elements while doing our jobs. The professionalization talks have not worked for us and with the way things are going there is no chance that things will ever improve. For good measures, I’ll throw in a prayer for him that with luck, in twenty years time, maybe just maybe the minimum wages would have risen to £9.99 per hour and with this global warming stuff he will no longer need to worry about the cold.