JOIN USWell trained, well armed and uniformed to impress, the guard appeared so. Inside the ATM kiosk, the woman drew the money, secure in the belief that all was well. But unknown to her, the guard was plotting another dangerous game…
Last week, a 30-year-old woman engineer harboured the same smug belief, reposing faith in two Cubbon Park guards. Raped by the duo, she paid a deadly price, raising an urgent, probing question: Can we trust these private security guards anymore?
That question couldn’t be tougher in a city with an estimated 1,200 security agencies, many of which are not even licensed to operate. Poorly qualified and untrained, their staff has a bigger problem: Under a cloud, the illegal agencies rarely check their backgrounds!
This dangerous lacuna was clearly exposed in the recent Cubbon Park episode. Despite being licensed, the security agency could not produce the background verification documents of the two guards. The police did arrest the agency owner, but the rot was there for all to see!
ISD contention
The Internal Security Division (ISD) of the State Police is the nodal agency tasked with issuing the licences. Its head, Additional Director General of Police, T Suneel Kumar says 23 cases have been registered against unlicensed agencies.
But sources say the number of unauthorised setups could be much higher. Implication: They wantonly violate the Karnataka Private Security Agencies Rules, 2008, framed on the basis of the Private Security Agencies (Regulation) Act, 2005.
Being the nodal agency, ISD is mandated to verify the credentials of the person seeking to start a security agency. “Once this is cleared, the agency has to verify the antecedents of each and every individual it employs. They can also get the verification done through the police after paying the requisite fees to the police commissioner’s office,” Kumar explains.
But, as Karnataka Security Services Association (KSSA) president, C N Patil points out, police verification is a delayed process.
It gets even more cumbersome if a potential security person has his roots in the North East or other distant states. Short-staffed, the police often find it tough to coordinate with their counterparts in those states.
Both the police and security experts insist that the employers, apartment associations in particular, should first check whether the security agency has a licence.
If so, they should also check whether the guards have gone through a stringent background verification exercise. However, not every employer goes through this simple process.
Nagaraj, manager of an apartment association in the City reasons, “The security agencies have the necessary licence from the government. Conducting background check and collecting the required documents is their job. We just hire the guards through them on contract.”
Intense competition in the private security business is cited as a critical factor in the drop in quality and reliability of agencies and guards. Explains Patil, “Most principal employers of these personnel go for the lowest bidder. In the process, the agencies cut costs and avoid paying even the minimum wages. Sixty per cent of them find it tough to pay these basic wages.”
Lucrative alternatives
To compensate for the low salaries, guards look out for alternative options including crime. “People from distant states are not used to the lifestyles they see here. They cannot afford to spend anything beyond their very basic needs. They then get tempted,” notes Patil. The next step is predictable: Exploit the lack of foolproof background verification by many agencies.
Seeking quicker inter-state verification, KSSA has now sought the help of the Central Association of Private Security Industry (CAPSI) and the International Institute of Security and Safety Management (IISSM). It has also proposed a single window system in all states to verify antecedents and local addresses of personnel seeking employment outside. This data could then be easily shared between states, simplifying the process.
In the light of the Cubbon Park episode, KSSA has called a meeting of all its member agencies next month to prioritise background checking of their personnel.