Una Riley talks to Molly Meacher, the new chairman of the Security Industry Authority (SIA).
For more than 15 years representatives of the security industry such as the BSIA have been advocating regulation on behalf of its members. The intention was to bring into line those traders who worked outside the self-regulated perameters met by those organisations who invested time and money in projecting a more professional image by way of working practice and adhering to both national and international standards. We felt that with the advent of externally audited, quality frameworks in all areas of business we would go a long way to distinguish the proper security industry from the cowboys. What we sought was regulation of the rogues without domination of the existing profession.
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Background dates
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In December 2000 Jack Straw (the then Home Secretary) announced measures to tackle crime and disorder by driving disreputable individuals and companies out of the private security industry. By May 2001 The Private Security Bill received Royal Assent. The Private Security Act 2001 was born. Some of us within the systems sector had been involved in the ‘information gathering’ process and had believed that help was on its way. The original intention was to regulate the entire private security industry by requiring those working in the Industry to apply for a licence. Working without a licence would result in a criminal offence. This would enable the professional security providers to deliver their service without the constant impact of rogue traders inflicting bad publicity upon the parts of the industry that were self regulated to the highest standard in both the systems and guarding sectors. Since we had been part of the lobbying mechanism the systems sector anticipated that we would be included. However, due to the fact that we had already self-regulated so successfully, it meant that we would have to wait.
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Women’s forum
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On March 15, 2002 Molly Meacher and John Saunders were appointed to the key posts of Chairman and Chief Executive of the new SIA (Security Industry Authority). Their initial remit was to focus on regulating door supervisers (night-club bouncers), private investigators and wheel-clampers. So where to from here’ I caught up with Molly Meacher having met her briefly at the IFSEC industry dinner and requested an interview. Before dealing with more SIA focused questions I asked Molly if she would be interested in joining The Security Industry Women’s Forum. ‘I think that it would be a great pleasure for me to become involved and meet other women in the industry. My feeling is that there probably aren’t enough women in the industry but we need to get together so that other women want to become involved."
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New role
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I then asked her how she felt about her new role. " I suppose I feel a heavy responsibility to the Home Secretary to deliver the statutory commitments that we have. Particularly to raise the standards in the security industry and to reduce crime. It is going to be very difficult a) to achieve that and b) to demonstrate that we have achieved it! That is going to be a very big challenge. Also I feel a terrific commitment to the people working within the security industry. I have met a lot of able and dedicated people who feel undermined by the reputation of the security industry. While it is an exciting challenge it is also a responsibility to try and improve the environment for everybody working within the industry including the people right at the bottom, the operatives, to provide opportunities for them to improve their career. Also to provide a career path for people who might have come into the industry having had a difficult school career. Those who might think that they don’t have career prospects and to provide them with a step on the ladder and a series of training opportunities over a period of years. Then ultimately if they want the opportunity to get into the police service itself. I feel that this is the moment when we have those opportunities, partly because of the Police Reform Bill coming in at the same time as the Security Industry Authority becomes operational.’
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Police reform
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"You were involved with the Reform Bill weren’t you’" I asked. ‘I was involved in another piece of the Police Reform Bill in the sense that I was very much involved in the design of the Independent Complaints Commission. Of course the bit of the Bill that relates to the security industry is in some ways more radical and dramatic and opens up opportunities for the industry that I don’t think people are actually aware of. Police forces are going to look to contract out to private companies roles such as detention officer and escorting prisoners from custody suites to hospital.’ Has that now been agreed’ It has been mooted for years … ‘Well it is now being proposed for Government amendment in the Bill. Obviously it has got to go through both Houses of Parliament but I will be talking to parliamentarians to try and make sure that they understand the importance of these amendments going through. So those opportunities will arise as well as the opportunities already in the Bill for private company staff to deal with anti-social behaviour in the street, dealing with litter, under-age drinking, under-age smoking and so on. These are all basic police functions that now the security industry will be able to perform if we can bring the industry up to scratch. That is where the training and the competence requirement of the SIA are really going to award everybody in the industry. Everyone will benefit from having a criterion that everybody will have to beat on an absolutely fair basis right across the industry. Then the opportunities will be there for all.’ OK, but who is going to audit that criteria’ For instance, on the systems side it would be NACOSS. Will it still be those type of organisations’ ‘This is one of the many decisions we have to make here at the SIA. We have to satisfy ourselves that whoever audits companies and whoever audits the licensing is absolutely independent from the stakeholder and will meet the criteria and satisfy the SIA that the criteria is being met. Now we will have to judge the existing organisations out in the field and decide whether we can establish clear criteria for them to enable them to perform for the SIA or whether we have to undertake these functions in-house. These decisions have not yet been made,’ Molly explained.
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Decisions await
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That could be quite controversial, given the fact that we have existing regulating bodies in place. How are you going to handle that’ I asked. ‘We have not made any decisions yet. It will be important for any organisation undertaking an inspectorate role as we see it to be independent. We will have to satisfy ourselves about those issues before we make decisions about endorsing one inspectorate or another,’ Molly commented. I pointed out that despite all the regulations; legislation and bureaucratic burdens businesses have had to comply with we are the only industry that has actually been seeking regulation. Therefore, the SIA appear to be pushing against an open door’ ‘Yes, I must say I have been impressed by the enthusiasm throughout the industry for the formation of the SIA. I don’t think that I have ever come across anybody who has raised any irritation at all. All the feedback has been positive – for instance, ‘thank goodness, it is finally happening, we have been pushing for it for years’. So we feel that we want to respond to that. We want to work with the industry, we don’t want to impose things on the industry and this is why we are setting up stakeholder groups on all the main decisions that we have to make.’
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You talk about the ‘police Family’ that you envisage the security industry being part of. What of that’ ‘Yes, that is the concept that the SIA are promoting. That the security industry is already part of the ‘police family’ but over the next five years with both the implementations of the SIA and the Police Reform Bill hopefully there will be a much, much closer relationship between the police and the security industry. So that this ‘family’ instead of being an extended family will be a much more nuclear family, with a much closer working relationship. One thinks in terms of private security staff carrying police radios, wearing an approved uniform operating under a scheme accredited by the chief constable. There will be a blurring of the lines between the police and the private security. It is going to be ever stronger,’ Molly replied. I asked her personal feelings about the new position. ‘On a personal note in terms of chairing organisations like this I feel hugely privileged. It is an immensely important industry that has been under-rated for years and I have to say that when the idea first cropped up of me applying for this job my immediate reaction was ‘I don’t think so’. It was only with more knowledge about the security industry that it seemed to me to be a very exciting opportunity. I think that somehow reflects the public perception of the security industry. We have got to change that so when people think of joining the security industry they immediately regard it as a desirable exciting industry to join.’ After speaking so openly Molly admitted that her reaction was quite interesting even to herself!
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Back to beginnning
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We eventually returned to the original question about The Security Women’s Forum and the importance of displaying to women that this is a dynamic industry, and one that they can get involved with and make a difference. ‘I think that there are a lot of women proving that all over the place in the economy, the director of the Stock Exchange for instance,’ said Molly. ‘We have people right at the very top. There is no limit to what women can achieve now. When I joined the Police Complaints Authority women police officers were relatively rare, although not quite as rare as they are in the security industry. Now women throughout the police service are highly regarded and their particular skills, especially their communication skills are absolutely recognised as superior to most men on average. I would say that for women in the police service the sky is the limit and I think the security industry is just one step behind and we will catch up over the next five to ten years.’
