High-level private security sector stakeholders from the West African sub-region have emphasised that legislation/regulation has remained the biggest challenge to the private security industry in Africa, a situation that is thwarting partnerships with state securities to tackle terrorism and crime on the continent.
According to security experts, with the frequent terrorism, militant attacks, and increase in crime rates on the continent, in addition to the fact that not even a single country in the sub-region is anywhere near the United Nations’ (UN) benchmark ratio of one police officer to 500 people, there is need for state security to collaborate with the private ones to make up for the personnel deficit.
In the case of Ghana, statistical data presented by the Certified Protection Professional (CPP)’s Assistant Regional Vice President (ARVP), Eng. Dr. Alex Acquaye, showed that the police to citizens ratio stands at one officer to 12,000 people. Meanwhile, the total number of private security personnel in the country is over 100 percent more than police and military personnel combined.
Against this backdrop, the experts have called on governments across the sub-region to amend their various security acts to ensure a well-trained and equipped private sector that will enhance private-public partnerships to reduce the deficit, and ensure the safety of the citizenry.
Former National Security Minister, Francis Poku, speaking at the ASIS International Regional Leadership Seminar, provided the Ghana perspective, indicating that there seems to be a fear factor that granting private security organisations the right to use weapons and forms of weapons/technology will lead to abuse or use for armed robbery but he refuted that notion.
He emphasised that the lack of dialogue is a major contributing factor to the fear of giving room to private security to operate.
“National security has private stakeholders, and we need to take the role of private security very seriously. Of course, all governments are concerned that the private security industry must be well-regulated but this can only be done when there is a continuous dialogue with the private operatives to identify the gaps and deliberate on the best solutions,” he said.
Touching on problems such as conditions of service for private security operatives, salaries, quality uniforms and training, and security gadgets as some of the major challenges of the private sector, he indicated that with the right legislation, these issues can be properly ironed out.
Minister of National Security, Albert Kan-Dapaah, in a statement read on his behalf by Deputy National Security Coordinator, Edward Kweku Asomani, acknowledged the need for an inclusive approach from all stakeholders to develop a framework that will work effectively and efficiently to the enablement of peace and security in the country.
“Evidently, the police to citizens ratio presents a huge deficit that cannot be filled by government alone. This presents a golden opportunity for the private sector to fill, but how the private sector takes advantage of the opportunity to augment governments effort is what should be carefully discussed.
He, however, indicated that a lot of private security companies in the country were hastily created just to fill the gap between police to citizen ratio without any proper adherence to standards. As a result, the right investment was not made in terms of recruitment, training, remuneration, and continuous capacity-building; hence, becoming a liability to customers who patronise their operations with some becoming avenues for training criminals.
Touching on the way forward, he urged private security companies to pay critical attention to investment in the recruitment process of personnel, training, and remuneration as effective regulation measures are being developed for the sector.
On his part, CPP, Professional Certified Investigator (PCI), Physical Security Professional (PSP)-ASIS Region 11A, Senior Regional Vice President (SRVP), Musa Balogun, reiterated that private security presents huge complementary support that governments in the sub-region can leverage to tackle the many security issues on the continent.
The experts at the ASIS International Leadership Seminar emphasised that the way criminal gangs operate in recent times demands that private security that handles banks, hotels, events security, casino, and other public places are allowed to wield weapons to be able to face armed robbers when they attack.
