Unsecured security

Over the years a number of so-called 'security' companies have sprung up across the country albeit mostly in the urban areas that promise unarmed security to homes and offices. The guards sitting outside ATM installations are mostly found dozing because apart from being ill paid and shall it be said to the extent of being uniformed civilians , are forced to do hours of duty that provide them little rest. And all of this stems from the cheap rates that are offered for security. Companies that hire them thus live in the facade of a false sense of security. Given the social fabric that we are clothed in they can never be a match for the sophisticated armoury of the perpetrators. These personnel are usually helpless in the face of organised crime and are hardly ever taken to task when a crime is committed literally under their noses. Nor can they be.

These companies are essentially set up by retired personnel from the armed forces and very few of them have training or refresher courses in modern day security. The mere presence of an unarmed uniformed guard at best discourages hawkers and beggars from entering buildings. Trace the sensational crime committed in the past years and very few have had encounters between criminals and guards apart from the discovery that they are in cohort with them rather than barriers. For reasons unknown the guards aren't allowed weapons apparently so as not to disturb the peace whereas individuals move around with armed gunmen at their heels. Apart from VIP protocols this extends to those who later turn out to be thugs and villains of their own.

There's nothing positive about gun licenses but the increasing number of them are and have become a necessity due to the presence unbridled of weapons to as far as students and youth. This is a result of the inability of the law enforcers to stem the flow of easy access even though the sources can be easily traced. It also highlights the ease with which gun-running takes place in the country as in the rest of the world. This includes both international and local manufacture of guns.

There has to be a difference between those guards that are meant for security and the ones that act as ushers or guides. Uniforms mean nothing otherwise. Security companies must provide trained and licensed gun-toting guards if they mean real business. The employees thus armed must go through regular training and refresher courses all of which comes as a cost. The days of the innocent Durwan has vanished before our eyes. The world has turned in to a cruel and violent one.