The silent guardians: Who’s looking after private security guards?

Urgent need to address industry issues and regulate standards.

KARACHI:

After having served the Army for 32 years, I decided to be my own master and set up my own security company.

My time in the Army put me in a good position to utilise my skills and experiences. Today, I have as much experience of running private security as there can be.

So let us define private security. For most people, the image is that of armoured cars outside banks or uniformed guards patrolling shopping centres. It encompasses much more.

There are also, for instance, alarm installers, private investigators and manufacturers of security equipment.

There are different perceptions of what constitutes private security. There are grey areas at the margins, which may or may not be regarded by different individuals and organisations as within the scope of its definition.

Today, intellectual property rights enforcement, security consultancy and executive protection have become essentials of the larger concept. Protection of information, crisis management and business continuity are increasingly being referred to by established corporations to meet security challenges of today.

The attempt here is to clear everyone’s perspective of private security.

Not long ago, I overheard that a chief minister was shocked to learn that there were more private security guards than police in his province.

In the US, the ratio of private guards to police is 6 to 1, in UK/Europe it is 4 to 1, while in India it is 10 to 1. In Pakistan, it is now almost 2 to 1.

Private security is not meant as a replacement. It is an aid and support of Law Enforcement Agencies.

The handicap is that private guards don’t have the power to arrest anyone. However, they are patrolling public areas and security firms would soon be managing prison, nuclear plants and airports among others. All this is true and illustrates the fundamental change that has taken place in the structure of policing.

Private security guards recruited fall into 2 categories. The guard has either been employed at a LEA or has never been associated with one.

Depending on his experience, background and, more importantly, who the client is, a lucky, well-employed ex-military guard may take home up to Rs20,000 per month.

Based on the performance, licences of a security company are renewed every year at the provincial level at a high cost. Enrollment checks, if properly done, are another major expense.

Monitoring them among other expenses means that one fourth of a guard’s salary is spent every month by the company on him. Hence, what the company pays a guard and how much it charges a client is obviously different.

Currently, the most difficult part of running a firm is getting security clearance for the guards.

However, every authority has its hands full amid the high volume. At the end of the day, it becomes the responsibility of the company to ensure that guards recruited are NADRA-cleared, finger-printed and affirmed by at least two local guarantors whose particulars are checked out.

They do not and cannot vouch for his conduct after his employment as a security guard.

The operational aspect

Coming to the operational part. Close to 95% are deployed for 12 hours while some are on an eight-hour shift.

In almost all cases, there is no one to replace him if he takes a break for food even. Often during robberies, two to three guards on duty are overpowered by a greater number of intruders ‘shock action’.

Some banks do not want their guards to ‘fire’, fearing injury to clients. If it were up to some of them, they would remove the firing pin from every weapon.

Banks are happy with their insurance companies and so are their insurance companies. At many places, due to budgetary reasons, fewer guards are deployed than the requirement, leading to over time in most cases.

However, private security is here to stay. Almost 150,000 guards in Pakistan are employed with almost 300 registered and regulated security companies. Unfortunately, almost the same number of guards are employed with ‘unregistered’ companies countrywide. And that is only the tip of the problem. Expectations must be realistic.

Ex-LEA guards are between the ages of 40 and 60, employed for 12 hours daily at very meagre wages. This must change.

A maximum of eight hours on duty and anything more must be discouraged. Guards at banks must be given better weapons – the current 12 bore rifle will hit everyone inside the branch except the robber.

The government has disallowed private security guards automatic weapons. Guards must practice shooting regularly. Banks must understand that potential robbers must be stopped outside.

The LEAs will never be enough. Why do they post their men on guarding houses and or escorting duties?

In the business of private security, the largest and obvious stakeholder is the company whose performance is gauged by the conduct of its guards. It is growingly a very serious business. Clients are allowing armed men inside their houses and near their assets. There is a lot of responsibility on these companies.

The All Pakistan Security Agencies Association (APSAA) is the body meant to regulate all matters concerning them.

The others who are responsible are the Home Department, Police, Pakistan Banking Association, and respective commissioners and their deputies.

Sadly, decisions regarding these companies are taken without taking them onboard. This is the biggest reason why the industry falters sometimes.

There is a need to understand, improve and regulate the private security sector by imposing stricter but realistic and workable controls.

The writer is a retired brigadier in the Pakistan Army

Published in The Express Tribune, May 19^th, 2014.

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