Dear Reader
I start this editorial on a solemn note, as SECURITY TODAY lost a valuable member of its Editorial Advisory Board, when Mr. Joginder Singh, a former Director of the Criminal Bureau of Investigation, succumbed to a prolonged illness. He was known for his bold, ‘no nonsense’ style of functioning because of which he was also fondly referred to as ‘Tiger Joginder Singh’. He had joined the Indian Police Service when he was just 20 years old. He was a very bright police officer who was known to have fought corruption all his life. He wrote many articles for SECURITY TODAY, that delivered immense value to our readers. To me he was a respected friend and a mentor, who was always there to advise and support. May God rest his soul in peace!
The second reason for my being sombre is the murder of a female technology worker of Infosys, at their Pune campus, by a security guard belonging to a well-known security company. It was most unfortunate that the guardian turned into a murderer, shaking the faith of the citizens in private security, because of which the manned guarding industry earned a bad name. The security guard had no past record of any criminal activity, so this really cannot be termed as a security lapse on the part of the security company, which had verified his past credentials before deploying him there. The event, however, probably could have been prevented if the physical security processes of Infosys, that were reviewed subsequent to the murder, had been reviewed earlier by an expert third party security auditor.
Infosys later initiated a self-defence training programme and have increased deployment of panic buttons across buildings, as well as rapid response teams to take immediate action upon being notified of an emergency situation. They have mandated more frequent guard patrols and deployment of female security guards. The rosters were scrutinised for situations where individual team members are required to work alone on a shift, among other things.
On a different note, SECURITY TODAY took the lead in organising a unique Roundtable to discuss and debate a recent notification of the Government of India categorising private security guards as “skilled and highly skilled workers”. This notification also sets a significantly higher wage for the security workers, the credit for which goes to the Hon’ble Union Minister for Labour and Employment, Mr. Bandaru Dattatreya, who took personal interest in expediting the matter so that over 5 million guards across India and their families would be benefitted.
We cover this event in our exclusive cover story. The manned guarding companies are seeing this as a major opportunity for the industry, as the higher pay out will enable the industry to now attract better quality talent and impart better training to their security guards. SECURITY TODAY has in the past made pioneering efforts to try and upscale the status of the private security guards. On this occasion, it took the initiative to try and define the ramifications of the notification. This notification will play a major role in the future of the manned guarding industry and SECURITY TODAY will continue to work for its structured development.
Till we meet next month, Cheers and Happy Reading.
Cheers and happy reading.
G B Singh
Email: editor@securitytoday.in
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