Conference addresses role of private security sector

Abu Dhabi: Lieutenant General Shaikh Saif Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Interior, reaffirmed the importance of cooperation and partnership between the public and private sectors to achieve security and stability in society.

He was giving a keynote address at the opening of the first International Conference on the Role of the Private Security Sector in Protecting Society in the capital.

Shaikh Saif said the conference provides an opportunity for international experts to exchange ideas.

He called on companies to offer jobs for national cadres to encourage them and meet the 5 per cent emiratisation requirement.

"The ministry gives an extreme importance to the conference and its expected recommendations," Shaikh Saif said.

The number of companies offering security services in Abu Dhabi has dropped from 182 to 11 since regulations were enforced in 2002 to control the sector.

Companies that offered security services prior to the regulations ranged from maintenance companies to pest control firms.

Achievements

"Regulations have destroyed harmful market forces in the sector that provided sub-standard services. These companies were not closed down but they simply fell off the wagon because they could not meet the set conditions," said Professor Peter Darcy, the CEO of National Security Institute (NSI) of the Ministry of Interior.

Having closely worked with the ministry on the formulation and implementation of the regulations, Darcy said that though the industry is fairly new, remarkable achievements have been made in a short time.

The number of security guards has gone up from 2,500 in 2002 to close to 10,000 in 2008, he noted.

"Regulations made it mandatory for companies to get their staff licensed. In order to do this they have to send trainers to the NSI for training and they in turn would train the company's staff and prepare them," he said.

He added companies began hiring better educated people because if they failed the licensing exam, it would be a financial loss for them.

"Shortly, as we move on to the next level, all security guards would have to undergo direct training from NSI," Darcy said.

"International training standards should go hand in hand with regulations to raise the bar," he said.

"A lot of people think private security is about guards in uniforms who walk around malls and banks or sit behind CCTV's. But there is a lot more to the industry than this basic perception."

- With inputs from WAM