The Security Industry

First part: Victoria & Australia

Second part: United States of America.

Victoria & Australia

This page last updated:  30th January 2007

In this Section

1) Control

2) Employment

3) IBIS work report

4) Sarre & Prenzell

5) ASIAL report

1) Control of Security Firms.

All Victorian Security Firms operate under the Private Security Act 2004 - administered by the Victoria Police's Licensing Services Division.  See our links page for contact details.

2) Types of employment in the security industry.

We at Aegis Security recognise 8 different types of employment.  They are:

1) Technicans - alarm installers, locksmiths, Safe builders and Installers etc

2) Bodyguards

3) Control Room Operators

4) Armed Guards

5) Nightclub & private venue crowd controllers (bouncers)

6) Shopping Centre & Public Venue crowd controllers

7) Nightwatchmen, entry exit reception type Security Guards

8) Patrol Officers/ Alarm Response

Each different type of job requires a different type of skill and ability.  Many people have a security guard / crowd control license but are just not suited to all the different types of work even though they all require a security license.

 hence we have seperated private venue/nightclub security crowd controllers from shopping centre and public venue security crowd controllers.  The later have a larger customer service orientation with the very occasional need for crowd control skills and usually, being in the public eye, a move them on and out rather than deal with the issue inside that some nightclub, private venue crowd controllers may prefer.

Nightwatchmen, Entry/Exit, Concierge type Guards your more traditional Security Officer.  Limited exposure to the public.  More monitoring the inwards and outwards good and services of clients.  A lot of paperwork and procedures.  Employed in Government offices and buildings, large corporations head offices,  industrial complexes and airports.  The role has changed as more companies add higher levels of security access to different areas of their buildings.  Still very much an observe and report type role.

Armed Guards - about 1,000 to 1,500 people employed in this field in Victoria on a combination full time /part time/ casual employment basis.  A lot of ex military types used to dealing with firearms get work in this field, mainly transporting large amounts of cash around to banks and stand alone ATM's with the occassional armed escort or guard for people like Family Court judges.  In the last couple of years armed guards have been killed on the job including Mr. Kastenburger @ North Blackburn, Jason Gully @ Springvale and Domonic Hefti @ High Point in the 1990's.

Patrol Officers/ Alarm response security officers are a different breed again.  Maybe only 300-400 security officers across Victoria with no more than 250 around working at any one night.  These officers work on the main alone, at night, driving from client to client and responding as required to burglary alarms and even medical alarms and fire alarms.  You need many skills for this type of work. The first being the ability to drive, drive quickly yet not crash or loose your license through speed camera fines.  Second you need good directional skills, the ability to get from A to B in the quickest time.  Third, the ability to prioritise; Fourth the ability to be time aware.  If you have to be at a certain clients at a certain time no good realising the fact with 5 minutes to go and being 20 minutes away.  Fifth to be a self starter. You start your shift with a blank call sheet and may need to hit anywhere upto 300 calls before the end of shift.  Sixth. You need to be able to check a building carefully and quickly plus further check alarm activations where thieves maybe in hiding or have been or worst, still on site.  Seventh. 

The ability to remember alarm codes, alarm keypad locations, different types of panels and how to turn them off, clear memories, isolate sectors and turn the panel back on locations of back doors and other remote entry points.  You may have 50-100 individual clients, some you only go to once a night. You have to remember what to do, what to check, which key and code (if any) and record that call and then move on.  Finally you need to be able to communicate with your control room via radio and or mobile phone and keep in contact and realise when you need to advise them of your whereabouts or situations that are happening.

This can be a great job but it can also be very busy and stressfull.  At the old M.S.S. Security each new Patrol Officer (PO) was given just 3 nights to learn their "zone".

In Patrols, if you had the Goose that laid the Golden Egg you would  have the complete opposite in Chubb Security.   In terms of service delivery to clients the term "woeful" just isnt strong enough.  When Chubb combined M.S.S. Security with Wormalds they had 2 choices. 1 a hard choice, go the M.S.S. way, big commitment by management, lot of work but in terms of service delivery to clients - second to none plus so dominate the rest of the alarm response, patrols business that everyone would eventually come to Chubb, or 2, the easy way, short term monetary gain and no capital expenditure requirement to Chubb.  The Wormalds way of sub contracting a majority of the patrol/alarm response work out to people who had cars badged in the Chubb name, wore a Chubb uniform but were not direct employees.  55% of every $ from each client went to Chubb the remaining 45% to the actual sub contractor. The one who had to supply the car/s, staff, equipment like radios & uniforms, petrol and running costs.  It can be of no suprise to any reader to learn that the "service" contracted to be supplied by Chubb, in a large majority of cases just wasn't done.  Chubb have had to pay clients in Newcastle and Tasmania millions in reimbursement for the non delivery of service.  Thats what we mean by short term monetary gain.    In Melbourne under the M.S.S. way they would have had 80-90 patrol cars out every night controlled by quality Senior Patrol Officers backed up by on the road supervisors.  Imagine, from Werribee to Craigeburn to Croydon to the Mornington Penisula, 80-90 cars.  This is about as many as the Victoria Police wold have a night.  Opportunity lost and the reputation of the Security Patrol industry badly damaged by such poor performance.

3) Report by IBIS World. see: www.ibisworld.com.au for more information.

L7864 - Security & Investigative Services (except Police)

Industry Definition

This report deals with establishments mainly engaged in providing security, protection services or private enquiry services, other than units of police forces and government security agencies. The industry includes guards and patrols, monitored security systems, casual and permanent security staff at licensed premises and similar establishments and at events, ATM and cash collection services and some aspects of secure document and computer data storage.

Key Figures

Statistic Year Figure Industry Revenue 2004-2005 $2,182 Million Industry Employment 2004-2005 38,939 Units Number of Enterprises 2004-2005 1,813 Units

Products/Services

The main products or services supplied by this industry are as follows: Armoured car service, Burglary protection service (except Police), Caretaking service, Detective Agency service (except Police), Enquiry agency service, Night Watchman Service, Protection Service (except Police), Security Service (except Police).

Upstream Industries

The industries listed below are the major supplier industries of Security and Investigative Services (Except Police). Click on the Hyperlink to jump to another Industry Snapshot. E4234 - Fire and Security System Services F4613 - Computer Wholesaling F4615 - Electrical and Electronic Equipment Wholesaling n.e.c. J7121 - Wired Telecommunications Carriers

Major Players

The Major Players are the top 5-10 companies in the industry based on total revenue. Companies must account for at least 5% of industry revenue to qualify. Market share and company performance analysis is available on the IBISWorld web site. Chubb Security Holdings Australia Limited Linfox Proprietary Limited Tempo Services Limited Tyco International Pty Limited Signature Security Group Holdings Pty Limited

Industry Conditions

The Industry "Security and Investigative Services (Except Police)" is in a growth phase of its life cycle, which means that the industry is generally growing faster than the economy. Capital/labour intensity is low and the uptake of new technology is high. The industry's globalisation level is low and the trend is faster than the economy. The industry has a low level of exports, which means exports generate less than 5% of the industry's revenue. The industry has a low level of imports, which means imports generate less than 5% of the industry's domestic demand. Exports are steady and imports are increasing. The level of regulation is medium and increasing and government assistance is none and steady.

Geographic Spread

The Geographic Spread graph gives an indication of the relative importance of this Industry in each state. Share of Security Services Locations by State NT (1.1) ACT (1.3) TAS (2.3) SA (4.7) WA (9.6) QLD (16) VIC (21.1) NSW (43.8) * figures above in Percentage

4) Sarre & Prenzler - The Law of Private Security in Australia

In their most excellent book "The Law of Private Security in Australia" 2005 Thomson Law Book Company. Authors Rick Sarre & Tim Prenzler tackle the tricky question of "how to measure the security industry in Australia"

For instance are "Security Door Installers" part of the security industry?

Are "Debt Collectors" part of the security industry? Process Servers? Insurance Investigators? Locksmiths?

The problem is in some studies some or all of these groups are considered part of the security industry and in others they are not, making the data somewhat suspect.

Sarre & Prenzler (pg 10) list 4 main ways in the security industry in Australia is measured.

1. ABS = Australian Bureau of Statistics - surveys on the security industry, last one in 2000.

2. ABS = Census - those who define themselves as working in the security industry

3. Data on the number of licences issued by the various state and territory governments.

4. Miscellanous sources such as the Australian Institute for Criminology.

5) From our friends at ASIAL.

see the link to asial on our security links page.

Security Industry Overview

United States of America

Information in this section from CRS Report to Congress "Guarding America: Security Guards and U.S. Critical Infrastructure Protection." November 12, 2004. Paul W Parfomak.

* CRS - Congressional Research Service.

Table 1
	Private	Government	Airport
	Facilities	Facilities	(Screeners)	Total
Contract	531,000		2,000	533,000
Staff	351,000	85,000	53,000	489,000
Total	967,000		55,000	1,022,000
Source: US Bureau Labour Stats - March 2003

Table 2 = U.S. Private Guard Contractor Key Operating Statistics 2003

Table 2		Market
	Revenues	Share	Employees	Owner
Company (Parent)	($ Million)	%	(1,000)	Country
Securitas U.S.A. (Securitas)	2608	23.7	100	Sweden
Wakenhut (Group 4 Securicor)	1489	13.5	38	U.K.
Allied / Barton	900	8.2	36	U.S.
Akal Security	500	4.5	8	U.S.
Guardmark	465	4.2	18	U.S.
TransNational Security Grp	386	4	15	U.S.
U.S. Security Associates	375	3.5	17	U.S.
Initial (Rentokil-Initial)*	293	3.4	14	U.K.
ABM Security Services	250	2.7	12	U.S.
Gognisa (Group 4 Securicor)	146	1.3	6	U.K.
Other Guard Companies	3610	31	258	U.S.
U.S. Total	11022	100	522

* good name for a private hire security company "Rentokil"!

Security Guard Training

In the U.S. 29 states do not require ANY training by potential security guards before they are licensed.

The best state AK requires 48 hours of mandatory training.

Europe

In Europe, potential Spanish Security guards must complete 260 hours of training and Hungary, 350 hours.

*Spain has a long history of Basque separtist terrorism which may explain the long hours.  Would equal close to 6.5 weeks of training!