SIR – The security industry in this country has long-needed someone (or some organisation) to grab it by the scruff of the neck and pull it away from the stereotype of its managerial ‘practitioners’ being overweight, retired police officers who spend their days drinking tea and mulling over the clues to The Sun’s Coffee Time Crossword puzzle.

I think it’s fair to say that the modern security industry is crying out for new practices and pro-activity right across the board. There is no point in people continually sniping over the perceived rights and wrongs of licensing. One step at a time it must be. Rome wasn’t built in a day.

We would all do well to remember the fact that front line security operatives have only required a licence since March this year. With the new Skills for Security training courses in the pipeline, we must all join forces and find ways of taking the industry forward in its entirety.

New training programmes must be devised along with more licences specific to given market sectors. For example, at present the NHS Security Officer does not need any special training for a specific NHS licence. Ludicrous is a word that springs to mind here. Anyone who has worked within or alongside the NHS Security Management Service will realise that the healthcare environment realises a far wider spectrum of problems than almost any other sector. Fraud, corruption, theft, violence and aggression, assaults, vandalism... All impinge on the NHS on a daily basis.

Yes, it’s true that security companies will try and outdo each other. At the end of the day, that’s business. Always has been, always will be. What we mustn’t lose sight of is the fact that the officers are the ones who ultimately make the difference. Better training and communication are both essential in creating a new breed of young,

enthusiastic and dedicated officers who genuinely want to help the industry progress. We need to put new content into an old industry. Having so-called ‘seniors’ of the industry constantly arguing over the rights and wrongs of licensing isn’t helping any of us in the slightest.

The SIA has started the ball rolling. We must now join forces, the large and small security companies, and devise ways in which we can jointly push the industry on to new levels of expertise and competence. Of course the Regulator must be receptive to that, but I would be surprised if it wasn’t!

Edward Jones Security Supervisor (Securitas) Torbay Hospital

Source

SMT