By Dr, Nelson A. Silva, CSP, PhD, CCSM

Security guards have been recently featured in the news, though sadly, not in a positive way. Mostly, they have been portrayed as victims or culprits in tragic incidents that took place in the last quarter of 2011. The shooting in SM Pampanga and the tragic rape-slay of U.P. Los Banos student Given Grace Cebanico have not exactly shown our security guards in the best light.

Comments from our colleagues in the security profession suggest that many of our security personnel are neither competent nor trained to address crime. Sadly, I agree with this. Nonetheless, the Private Security Agency Law or Republic Act 5487 has a provision that mandates security guards to be well-trained:

Refresher Training Programs. This shall refer to periodic and non-periodic training programs and courses designated with the objective of reinvigorating and/ or developing basic skills and knowledge gained previously or gained while in the exercise of his/her profession as a matter of experience, to enhance current in-service and future individual and/ or collective exercise of profession. This includes mandated periodic in-service training to be initiated by employer-security agencies which is further a prerequisite for the renewal of individual professional security licenses. (Rule XI, Section 5b of R.A. 5487)

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To read more on this article, get a copy of the Vol.2 No.1 issue of SecurityMatters Magazine available at National Bookstore and Filbar’s branches nationwide.