One of the terms I hate to see in any message, article, or publication is "in a post 9/11 world...", but I am going to start there anyway. The reality is that much has change in emphasis and awareness since our Country was attacked on that September morning. One specific area is our realm of security. With the increasing awareness of violent incidents ranging from mall shootings to large scale terrorist attacks, the leadership of many organizations are looking to their security staff for strategies that go beyond prevention.
This is a paradigm shift from the conventional belief that the role of security guards is to prevent by presence then observe and report if an incident occurs. It is now not acceptable, in many organizations, for security to become voyeurs when an incident unfolds.
As a rather recent example, an incident occurred in the parking lot of a very large retailer where a verbal disagreement between two individuals ended up in one running the other over with a car. The family of the victim immediately asked where the retailer's security was while this incident unfolded. That same question was echoed by all of the media outlets reporting the story.
Unfortunately, if the security guards from the organization were following the instructions provided in state mandated training, they were doing exactly what was expected of them, as described in California's BSIS Powers of Arrest manual "If you can’t prevent an incident, the proper action is to observe and report."
It is a very muddy bog that we tread into when the organizations expectation moves past, or contrary to, those set by the licensing authority. The concept of replacing observing and reporting an incident with taking action to resolve an incident is in opposition of policies but in line with the public expectation. So how do you do it?
As the desire and even need for private "police" agencies (which are really just security patrol companies) grows, the legislature needs to update the policies and laws governing the security industry to be in line with the new role of security. Some states have already realized this and started to take steps to correct it, but most are way behind the times. It is time that action is taken.
Of course, this is my personal view on this... what do you all think?
This is a paradigm shift from the conventional belief that the role of security guards is to prevent by presence then observe and report if an incident occurs. It is now not acceptable, in many organizations, for security to become voyeurs when an incident unfolds.
As a rather recent example, an incident occurred in the parking lot of a very large retailer where a verbal disagreement between two individuals ended up in one running the other over with a car. The family of the victim immediately asked where the retailer's security was while this incident unfolded. That same question was echoed by all of the media outlets reporting the story.
Unfortunately, if the security guards from the organization were following the instructions provided in state mandated training, they were doing exactly what was expected of them, as described in California's BSIS Powers of Arrest manual "If you can’t prevent an incident, the proper action is to observe and report."
It is a very muddy bog that we tread into when the organizations expectation moves past, or contrary to, those set by the licensing authority. The concept of replacing observing and reporting an incident with taking action to resolve an incident is in opposition of policies but in line with the public expectation. So how do you do it?
As the desire and even need for private "police" agencies (which are really just security patrol companies) grows, the legislature needs to update the policies and laws governing the security industry to be in line with the new role of security. Some states have already realized this and started to take steps to correct it, but most are way behind the times. It is time that action is taken.
Of course, this is my personal view on this... what do you all think?
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