Security firms have duty to probe guards' backgrounds - Amres
As a result of the shooting incident in Buxton during last year involving a senior supervisor of a security firm, Commissioner of Police, Laurie Lewis, has asked the Guyana Association of Private Security Organisations (GAPSO) to advise him of any senior personnel entrusted with a firearm on a 24-hour basis and to first seek his approval. This was disclosed in GAPSO's annual report, presented by its President, Maurice Amres, at the organisation's annual luncheon yesterday. The report also stated that GAPSO must acknowledge its responsibility to investigate and assess as much as possible, the background and attitude generally of those selected to bear arms even in a supervisory category. On July 7, last year 37-year-old Raul Herod of 121 Side Line Dam, Buxton, who was employed as a supervisor at the Securicor security firm, slaughtered seven members of his family including his grandmother and two of his children, before setting fire to the family house and committing suicide. "The shooting incident at Buxton involving a senior supervisor of one of our member companies serves to highlight that there is no guarantee in this assessment and it goes without saying that any organisation or disciplinary service that issues weapons to individuals, takes the risk of the weapon being used indiscriminately," the report said. It was also stated that the organisation, upon investigating reports of a few new security services which are not really known to the industry, found that these services operate in a haphazard manner. The report cited two which it claimed had no proper office or administrative facilities and were not registered as business entities with the registry. The report emphasised that the security industry needed legislation which would assist GAPSO to be better organised and monitored. According to the report, during the year 1999 the organisation dedicated itself to developing closer ties with all enforcement agencies with emphasis on the Guyana Police Force and the preparation of a slightly amended version of the private Security Services Bill 1989. It was stated that the completed amended bill was submitted in July 1999 to the Commissioner of Police, the Minister of Home Affairs, the Attorney General and all 16 of GAPSO's members. The report said that the situation where criminal deportees use clever methods to gain employment particularly in the security industry remains a problem. In its ongoing support to the police, the organisation has imported a quantity of traffic aids which will be presented shortly to the force for the Traffic Division. The organisation has also initiated drug tests, which it recommends for drivers and those bearing arms. And member firms continue to monitor each other by requesting senior guards to act if they see something wrong or potentially dangerous at another member's site, to intervene if possible and definitely draw this to the attention of a senior administrator of the relevant service.
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