SIR – If there is one key area in which the private sector needs to sharpen up its act it’s in the selling of security guarding services.
Would you buy a brand new car from someone who knew nothing about cars, or book a holiday with a travel agency displaying little or no knowledge of tourism?
I regularly sit on Invitation-To-Tender Boards with the aim of selecting security companies, and am constantly astonished at the inability of presentation teams to display even a basic knowledge of protective security. To be perfectly frank this doesn’t really surprise me at all, since most of those ‘specialists’ acting as the commercial mouthpiece for the guarding contractors are trained accountants and business managers.
Security guarding as a service industry is at a crossroads. At present, it’s worrying to note that its ‘disciples’ are failing to recognise the fact that security knowledge is vitally important to the marketplace (ie the end user).
On that note, the security ‘Centres of Knowledge’ touched upon by former Lincolnshire Police chief constable Richard Childs in last month’s Opinion piece (‘SIA: ‘regulate’ or ‘run’ the industry?’, SMT, June 2005, pp15-16) are indeed important. I am rather inclined to agree with Richard that the SIA would be the wrong depository for vital information on the basis of the strong ex-police presence among its current personnel.
Nick van der Bijl BEM, Security Manager, North Bristol NHS Trust, Southmeads Hospital
Source
SMT
