The Private Security Personnel and Private Investigators Bill is at Select Committee.
This Bill appears to only benefit employers.
It does not benefit self-employed Officers, employees, clients of security companies or the public.
The Bill shifts the costs and responsibilities currently borne by employers to their employees and adds on the as yet undisclosed, cost of mandatory training.
For the honour of paying all this money, Officers get nothing.
Besides that the Bill is simply a rehash of the 1974 Act and if passed in its current form will leave the industry in the same state as today.
Current major issues:
The Bill does not extend powers of arrest and the associated protections for Officers.
To their credit National has questioned this lack.
The Bill does not address the fact that the Trespass Act doesn’t work.
The Bill does not address Officer safety at all.
The Bill does not address industry performance issues and therefore has no benefit for our clients.
The Bill still ties Certificates of Approval to the employer despite the fact that the employment situation in New Zealand has changed significantly since 1974.
The Bill introduces mandatory training but only for persons who have been employed in the industry for more than three months.
This rather unusual exemption defeats the purpose of the mandatory training. It is new entrants to the industry that need the training the most.
It also ensures that those companies with high staff turnover levels will not have to train their staff whilst those who retain staff, usually due to better wages and conditions of employment, will be penalised for being good employers through the cost of training staff.
The Justice Department apparently believes that a new Officer can be taught “all he needs to know” in a mere 18 hours.
The Bill retains the temporary approval regime which has been a disaster and largely responsible for the high level of licensing evasion.
Temporary approvals are to be valid for three months the same as the training exemption.
The Bill also introduces a provision that permits an employer to engage unlicensed staff for up to two weeks should they suffer a “staffing emergency”
This appears to allow an employer to replace staff who are dismissed or resign the next day particularly if no licensed Officer will work for the wages or conditions offered.
Employers need never increase wages and conditions as they can simply take new people off the dole and put them in uniform for up to two weeks until they get a temporary approval.
There are many more issues.
What can be done?
The Bill is at Select Committee and submissions have been called for.
National has raised question about whether the Bill in it’s current form is what is needed for the security industry to be effective in the 21st Century.
Basically, they are asking that those working in the industry tell them what we need to do our job now and into the future.
If you’re an Officer, join the site there is a lot more information inside and more coming.
Tell every other Officer you know to join the site.
If you’re a client, you need to decide what you want us to do to protect you and your property.
Then tell the Select Committee what you expect your security providers to do for you.
How to contact the Select Committee.
We are not telling you yet.
There is more information you need to know before making a submission so please check back next week.
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