Security Officer/​Guard

Eddie: Hello, my name is Eddie, I’m 18 years old and I go to Whanganui City College and I’m interested in a career in security.

Clinton: Today’s security industry is fast growing where technology is making big changes. Edward’s headed to the impressive headquarters of Whanganui Security to find out more.

Eddie: Wow, what a great place!

Mark: Yep, we really love it here. Come on upstairs and well show you around.

Clinton: Company owner Mark Simmonds is on hand to start Edward’s tour.

Mark: One of the great things about this building is the size –we’ve got 18,000 square feet here which allows us to do a lot of training. We do a lot of in-house and external training. The range of jobs start basically from static guards, where they’ll be on a site protecting premises or buildings, move through to patrols where they’re mobile, checking plants and equipment, you’ve got the cash crew which will do all the ATM machines and the likes of that, and then into the technical crews which do alarms and installations.

Clinton: Before Edward heads out for his security experience there’s a run down on safety and the company rule book.

Mark: These are the things that you need to learn to obtain your licence.

Clinton: So first it’s off to Whanganui’s Trafalgar Square Mall where Edward meets security guard Allister Bostok.

Eddie: So what job do we do here in the mall?

Allister: Well at the moment we’re just here to be seen, be seen so that shop lifters know that we’re around and so the shop lifting will simply not happen.

Mark: Static guard jobs that we do around Whanganui and around the country include Trafalgar Square where we have guards making sure that the site is safe, people moving around are safe, being able to evacuate the building and at the end of the night being able to secure and lock the building down.

Allister: So another part of being seen is actively talking to staff, getting to know them, that way they have faith in you that you’re going to be there when they call, also they will know that once you’re there, they can just back off and you can handle the shop lifter.

Clinton: Next Edward’s off to the Hatrick Raceway where guards keep secure the track itself, the race meeting, the cash and, unusually, they assist the vet with the drug testing. Les Colman is the Security Guard on duty.

Les: The work we do here is to protect the integrity f greyhound racing. Because people are betting on the greyhound races there are rule there to ensure that there isn’t cheating…

Clinton: And keeping kennels clean of any possible contamination is all part of the job.

Clinton: Well it’s been a winning day for Edward so far, -and there’s more. Come evening he’s joining guard Mike Green for his night shift patrol.

Mike: O.k Edward, this is your RT for the day, we’ll turn it on…

Clinton: A 6:00 pm to 6:00 am security patrol averages 250 kilometres each night and Edward’s ready for it.

Eddie: What’s in the box?

Mike: These are for our job…

Mike: …these are some of our keys…

Eddie: That’s a lot of keys!

Mike: That’s a lot of keys…

Mike: Let’s go!

Eddie: What do you like about the job?

Mike: I get to see a lot of people, help people, you can have a mind-set where you own the town, or the city, that’s pretty big, and you look after it.

Mike: Whanganui Port. So we’re just checking the ropes to make sure they’re connected to the boat. That window has been smashed, that’s why we check the boats.

Clinton: Guards usually work on their own, and occasionally in areas of conflict.

Mark: In our industry a good security guard is someone that has got very good speaking abilities and reasoning. The industry has changed from where they would have a guard in the old days where they were used as an enforcement tool more than anything, today our guards are trained far better. We have a special programme – anger management is one of the things that we study hard with the staff with to be able to de-escalate a problem.

Clinton: Knowing the law is essential and the New Zealand Security Association administrates comprehensive training programmes.

Bronwyn: It’s important that we work with companies to help them achieve the code of practice through industry standards. It’s also important that we make sure that the training is relevant, that the people working in the industry are fir for purpose to make sure that everybody is trained to a consistent and high standard.

John: If they’re involved with a security company, once they’re in the company it’s then up to the employer to decide when to enrol a particular trainee into the Level 2 qualification and usually because the Level 2 is predominately theory, with two modules of practical which relates to conflict management, then, no, there’s no real need to have any prerequisite qualifications.

Clinton: Come nightfall the patrol continues. One of Mike’s duties is lock down several car yards.

Mike: We’re just going to pull these gates across.

Mark: Our technology growth is unbelievable – as fast as we’re learning new technology, new technology is basically following right behind us – high speed broadband has made a huge difference to our industry so there’s a lot of new toys coming out all the time.

Clinton: Mike’s car is fitted with GPS and cameras that look forward and back. So, in the event of a threat, the car can be tracked and viewed.

Mark: Our job, even primarily because they’re doing the same thing day in, day out, there are always changes and they need to be made aware. They’ve got to be very aware of their surroundings because most of our guards at night are working by themselves so there is inherent danger all the time so they really do need to be on the ball.

Mike: So what you need to do on the RT is just check in every half hour.

Eddie(on RT): 7175, ten/six. Over.

Woman responding on RT: Copy that, thank you.

Mike: No problems?

Eddie: No problems.

Mike: Alright, well done.

Mark: Edward did very well with the boys, they were pleased with him, and if he’s interested in becoming a security officer, we’ll definitely bring him in and we’ll go through the process with him and get him on his way.

Eddie: Yeah I enjoyed this experience and I particularly liked going out on the night patrol and experiencing security guards at night, and yeah I would find this job, for me in the future, I’d want to do this job.

Clinton: The National Certificate in Security (Level 2) is the first step to a career in Security. The Level 3 Certificate provides strands for the many specialisations such as mobile patrol, retail, event and community security. To be a security officer you have to be licensed and be at least 18 years old. Qualified security officers are currently in high demand and skills learnt are transferable to other similar professions.