Security Industry Association Abolition
Door Bloke | 27.09.2010 08:07 | Free Spaces | Public sector cuts | Social Struggles
Just as the cuts are about to hit the police, more powers will be given to private security guards as the Government abolishes the SIA because it is a quango.
The SIA is a statutory body set up by the Private Security Industry Act 2001 to administer Security Guards. These are not just the guards on clubs and pubs but also guards at supermarkets and virtually every other bit of private property in the country.
With the abolition of the SIA, there will be a field day for cowboy operators. The SIA does not have a great reputation. From September 9 2009 it became an arrestable offence to work any Licenced Job (doors, CCTV and so on) without displaying the SIA licence card or to produce it when requested. Cowboy Operators are prosecuted by the SIA and virtually nobody else.
The failure of SIA Licenced Activity Firms to register correctly for many of their legal obligations such as Company Registration, Data Protection and so on has caused concern among a wide sector of society. This is not simply an issue for campaigners but also for young and vulnerable people who will be targetted by unaccountable members of the public who like to wear uniforms.
The strain on the police might well appeal to anarchists. But who wants a diminishing number of police to be involved in every aspect of your personal life just because a security guard thinks they have nonexistent rights?
Security Guards are members of the public and have only those rights to detain, observe and intervene that other members of the public have. Yet, they are repeatedly involved in assaults and deaths. The SIA might well not be the best solution to addressing the uniform fantasies of the few but it does act as a buffer for a lot of people against the excesses of private policing.
Currently, it is possible to ask for the SIA licence number of any operator and to find the name of the person licenced from the SIA Website. Refusal to provide the SIA licence number is an offence with up to six months in prison or a £5000 fine. Perhaps it is the surge in prosecutions by the SIA that has prompted the abolition?
The SIA Abolition will be announced along with the abolition of hundreds of other organisations including the British Film Council, National Tenants Voice, Audit Commission, Advisory Committee on Carbon Abatement Technologies, Agricultural Wages Board, Expert Panel on Air Quality, Crown Court Rules Committee, HM Inspectorate of Courts, Magistrate Court Rule Committee and the Legal Services Ombudsman.
Some are more important than others but, the SIA will have a rapid, deep and traumatic impact on ordinary people - usually in the poorest areas where supermarkets "feel the need" to cover their properties in CCTV and fill them with Members of the Public in Uniform.
With the abolition of the SIA, there will be a field day for cowboy operators. The SIA does not have a great reputation. From September 9 2009 it became an arrestable offence to work any Licenced Job (doors, CCTV and so on) without displaying the SIA licence card or to produce it when requested. Cowboy Operators are prosecuted by the SIA and virtually nobody else.
The failure of SIA Licenced Activity Firms to register correctly for many of their legal obligations such as Company Registration, Data Protection and so on has caused concern among a wide sector of society. This is not simply an issue for campaigners but also for young and vulnerable people who will be targetted by unaccountable members of the public who like to wear uniforms.
The strain on the police might well appeal to anarchists. But who wants a diminishing number of police to be involved in every aspect of your personal life just because a security guard thinks they have nonexistent rights?
Security Guards are members of the public and have only those rights to detain, observe and intervene that other members of the public have. Yet, they are repeatedly involved in assaults and deaths. The SIA might well not be the best solution to addressing the uniform fantasies of the few but it does act as a buffer for a lot of people against the excesses of private policing.
Currently, it is possible to ask for the SIA licence number of any operator and to find the name of the person licenced from the SIA Website. Refusal to provide the SIA licence number is an offence with up to six months in prison or a £5000 fine. Perhaps it is the surge in prosecutions by the SIA that has prompted the abolition?
The SIA Abolition will be announced along with the abolition of hundreds of other organisations including the British Film Council, National Tenants Voice, Audit Commission, Advisory Committee on Carbon Abatement Technologies, Agricultural Wages Board, Expert Panel on Air Quality, Crown Court Rules Committee, HM Inspectorate of Courts, Magistrate Court Rule Committee and the Legal Services Ombudsman.
Some are more important than others but, the SIA will have a rapid, deep and traumatic impact on ordinary people - usually in the poorest areas where supermarkets "feel the need" to cover their properties in CCTV and fill them with Members of the Public in Uniform.
Door Bloke
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