GAPSO wants a more “regularised” private security sector

– as Minister Scott defends night shift comments
By Vahnu Manikchand

The Guyana Association of Private Security Organisations (GAPSO) has launched the inaugural National Security Officers Appreciation Day, where its President, Christopher Thompson, called for a more regularised private security sector.
The Appreciation Day was held at the Herdmanston Lodge in Georgetown on Wednesday, and underscored the importance of recognising the work, sacrifices and contributions of security personnel. Speaking at the launch, Thompson pushed for the labels of “guards” and “watchmen” to be gotten rid of.
He noted that being referred to as ‘security officers’ will go a long way in boosting the morale and upward mobility of those working in the private security sector. On that note, he went on to underscore the need for the private security sector to be regularised.

“It is GAPSO’s hope that regulated and standardised training with the input of the Public Security Sector will lead to better performance output from these officers; improved performance output to match the country’s development; and eventually, arriving at a stage where private security officers will have to be registered and licensed in different or varying grades before they are permitted to be employed in the private security industry. Of course, licences can be renewed, upgraded and downgraded based on medical checks, training courses, age and several other factors. This is a road we wish our officers to travel to improve themselves and the industry as a whole, and amply justify that they are truly security officers; not guards or watchmen,” the GAPSO President stated.
Thompson posited that there are many untold stories, both good and bad, within the private security sector and the Association is committed to reducing the “bad” within the industry.
He went on to say that this Appreciation Day event will see over 10,000 security officers being recognised.
“Given their significant numbers, the work they do and the fact that they are an inevitability that will not dwindle away and die but from all indication, will increase and be a permanent feature in our industrialised landscape, then we should find some way of showing them their worth and importance to the society and most importantly to the companies which employ them,” Thompson stated.
Echoing similar sentiments, veteran Trade Unionist Lincoln Lewis, in his remarks, underscored the need for stakeholders to collaborate and consult on issues affecting the private security sector.
“This Association cannot only be active at the time of saying ‘thank you’ but needs to be active at the time of conceptualising and developing programmes to the benefit of its members and their contributions,” Lewis stated.
In this vain, the trade unionist pointed to statistics which shows that the majority of security officers are female. On this note, he referred to comments recently made by Minister within the Social Protection Ministry, Keith Scott, suggesting plans to prevent female security officers who are single mothers from working the night shift.
“Women have fought for equal rights, women have not fought for sympathy. They have fought for their intellectual capabilities to be respected and be respected in a manner where they are involved in the conceptualising of programmes, the development of programmes that impact their well-beings and we ought to all respect that,” Lewis posited.
Minister Scott, and the coalition Government by extension, had come under heavy criticism over the statement. However, Government had subsequently distanced itself from the issue, with Minister of State Joseph Harmon saying there is no such policy before Cabinet.
Moreover, Minister Scott told reporters on the sidelines of Tuesday’s Appreciation Day ceremony that his statement was dissected and blown out of proportion.
“It was a question of interpretation that they were reacting to; for example, when we spoke about the conditions of security guards, are you saying that that condition doesn’t exist – no you’re not saying that. But what was happening was some newspapers and some companies perhaps sought to highlight or to use soundbytes, where it extracted what suited them and they blow out of proportion the exact thing that was said,” explained the Minister.
He went on to add that, “What is wrong with someone asking that females be giving attention, being better paid. It’s not only that, we talked about hours, we talked about other conditions of service that not only affects women. We also spoke about the elder that they must be examined by a medical personnel at least every six months and if they’re physically fit, they can work. We never said that women must not work, the Constitution gives them the right to work,” Scott outlined.
Nevertheless, Minister Scott in his speech urged security firms to continue recognising outstanding work by their employees, who were also called upon to execute their duties in an exemplar manner that would be recognised.