Private security: A low priority?

Does the private security guard posted at your apartment building sleep at night or even during the day? Is he above 65 years? Is he physically unfit with poor eyesight and hearing? Is his background unverified? Does your security agency not have a licence from the State Government? If your answer to these questions is either ‘Yes’ or ‘Don’t Know’, it’s time to wake up.

While most of us don’t need ‘Bheem Boys’ to stand guard outside our residential or commercial complexes, we do deserve personnel who meet a minimum standard. Towards that end, these service providers in the country are governed by the Private Security Agencies (Regulation) Act, 2005. Additionally, in this state, there are the Tamil Nadu Private Security Agencies Rules, 2008. The legal provisions are quite stringent. Operating without a licence is an offence under Sec 4 of the Private Security Agencies (Regulation) Act and is punishable under Sec 20 (1) with imprisonment upto a year and a fine of Rs 25,000 or both.

Applicants for security agency licences must have a clean track record – no conviction of an offence for which the punishment is not less than two years, no ties with unlawful outfits, no dismissal from government service on grounds of misconduct or moral turpitude. In Tamil Nadu, the competent authority is the Inspector General of Police (Welfare). The Tamil Nadu Police website reveals that 870 security agencies have been licensed to operate for 5 years and the licences of 307 agencies are yet to be renewed.

While the Act prescribes criteria like age above 18 and less than 65 and a clean police record for guards, the Tamil Nadu Private Security Agencies Rules are more specific and make me wonder just how many of them make the cut. Physical standards include a minimum height of 160 cms, chest of 80 cms, far sight vision of 6/6, near vision 0.6/0.6, no colour blindness, no knock knees or flat feet. They must be able to run a kilometre in 6 minutes, with good hearing and no infectious disease. Good eye sight and hearing are particularly relevant as these guards, under Sec 17 of the Rules, are required to give information to the police about the commission of offences they may witness.

The guards, under Sec 5 of the Rules,  must have at least 100 hours of classroom training, 60 hours of field training, spread over at least 20 days. Contravention of these provisions is punishable under Sec 20 (2) of the Act, with a fine of upto Rs 25,000 in addition to suspension or cancellation of their licence. What’s more, if the guards are found habitually drunk on duty or not disciplined or commit any crime either on the premises where they are posted or elsewhere, or are negligent, that constitutes grounds for cancellation of the security agency’s licence under Sec 13 of the Act.

The statutory standards aside, there ought to be a distinction between a ‘guard’ and an errand boy. In many apartment complexes, the guard is asked to switch on the sump motor, wash cars, open the gate, water the garden and do grocery shopping. While the minimum wage of an unarmed security guard in Tamil Nadu was fixed at Rs.187 a day and Rs.5,612 a month (still hardly enough for sustenance today) they are supposed to get a day off in the week.

In many cases, these poor guards get no off day ever, they are forced to do double- triple shifts of 12 hours each and sometimes even work round the clock for 48 to even 72 hours because their reliever didn’t turn up. How can we expect them not to sleep on duty? Smaller apartment complexes with say 12 to 16 flats are often reluctant to raise the maintenance subscription and end up with shoestring budgets of s 15,000 to 20,000 a month for 2 security guards. Suggestions to install CCTV cameras often draw a blank. This is when 24x7 security becomes a joke. If we can blow up Rs 4,000 to 5,000 on a single meal in a restaurant, can’t we collectively pay more for a service as essential as security?