The crime reporting line Crimestoppers and the Security Industry Authority (SIA) have cemented their commitment to protecting the public by renewing their partnership again this year.
The charity and the regulator, who began joint work in 2006, have conducted operations alongside the police in areas including Northern Ireland, Bristol and Birmingham to check security operatives are correctly SIA licensed. These Crimestoppers-supported operations were also used to raise awareness of SIA licensing requirements, whilst appealing to the public for information on those breaking the law.
The two report receiving quality intelligence to tackle serious and organised crime, detection of unlicensed activity, breaches of SIA licensing conditions, and arrest of individuals for other offences. And hence the two have renewed their partnership for a further year.
Since the start of 2014, Crimestoppers has received an average of 54 anonymously submitted pieces of information a month about those committing licensing offences, not only in relation to door supervisors, but also in relation to guarding and all other parts of the regulated security sector. This information is passed to the SIA to assist with their investigations and can lead to further action. Some 382,377 licenses are held by 339,940 people; of those over half are held by door staff. In 2013, the SIA were successful in 17 prosecutions and issued 337 written warnings and 59 improvement notices. In the last six years the SIA has revoked 33,945 licences and refused a further 22,722.
Rodger Holden, Director of Development for Crimestoppers, said: “This has been an incredibly positive partnership between two organisations whose primary goal is to keep communities safe and clamp down on law breakers. As an organisation, we work closely with a number of partners to tackle various crimes, and our work with the SIA is paramount to tackle those in breach of the law.โ
And Dave Humphries, Director of Partnerships and Interventions at the SIA said: โThe SIA is committed to tackling all forms of crime associated with the private security industry, including serious and organised crime. With the help of partners such as Crimestoppers we will work collaboratively to drive these rogue elements from the industry to keep the public safe.โ
If you have any information on these types of crimes please contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or fill out an Anonymous Online Form.
