The final part of this mini-series looks at running the police as well as how to hold the police to account for their actions and/or misconduct.
The next set of themed posts – due in December – will look at the court system, legal profession and judiciary.
Given this post is looking at regulation of law enforcement etc. it’s worth touching on where the private sector fits in here.
As things stand, anyone who runs or works for a private security firm (so a security guard hired in-house to guard a company’s premises would be exempt) and undertakes a licenced activity is required to hold a licence issued by the Security Industry Authority (SIA). The SIA is a non-departmental body of the UK Home Office and was established in 2003. SIA “licenced activity” covers (at the very least):
- Bouncers/door supervisors.
- Security guards.
- Cash-in-transit.
- Bodyguards/close protection.
- CCTV operators.
- Keyholders.
At present, there are two types of SIA licence. The first is the frontline SIA licence which allows the licence holder to work in active security roles. The second non-frontline licence covers supervisors who won’t be undertaking the activities themselves (i.e. managers of security firms).
The SIA maintains registers of licence holders and approved contractors/companies, sets standards of conduct and training and come up with policies to improve the private security industry.
The level of required training varies by role. At a bare minimum, SIA licence holders are expected to have been trained in awareness of the law, conflict management, physical handling and any role-specific tasks as required (a separate first-aid certificate is usually mandatory). Most training courses – run by private trainers – usually take less than a week to complete and cost a few hundred pounds.
The only major difference concerning independence is the requirement for a Welsh equivalent of the SIA as a regulator – whether that’s as a stand alone independent regulator, or a non-governmental department/government sponsored body. If qualifications are mutually recognised, then there ought to be no issues with cross-border working.
As for other possible options:
- New security-related qualifications – The range of security-related vocational qualifications is slightly confusing and there’s an opportunity to streamline them, perhaps developed in tandem with any future Police College (Part VII). First aid could be fully embedded within courses as well as courtesy-level Welsh and basic cybersecurity skills.
- Extending the licence requirement to include in-house security workers – It hasn’t been deemed necessary to require in-house security staff to hold an SIA licence, but we could opt to do so just to ensure consistency in training and regulation. The downside is that some routine retail roles like keyholding/store managers may be caught up in this when they currently aren’t.
- Extend the licence requirement to private investigators and locksmiths – There’s currently no formal licensing requirement for locksmiths (though many undertake DBS checks/vetting). Locksmiths in the Republic of Ireland are required to be licenced. At the moment private investigators aren’t required to be licenced either. Although regulation of private investigators has been discussed by the UK Government – and the SIA does offer an unofficial licence – it’s a professional courtesy rather than a legal requirement.
