If it’s a question of timing, David Cowden could be said to have it by the bucketload. Six months ago, he decided to take early retirement from a 31-year career at Securicor where he became a group board member, chairman and latterly chief executive of the company’s security division. Almost immediately, he was approached by Dennis Stopford to take over the chairmanship of the BSIA.
The timing could not have been more significant. At the BSIA’s AGM, Home Office minister Charles Clarke spoke about the impending Queen’s Speech as BSIA members eagerly awaited news of the proposed Private Security Industry Bill.
“I have to say,” says Cowden, “that the message we were receiving was that it might not be included in the parliamentary programme, which made me think that we’d better start devising some sort of contingency.”
With this in mind, Cowden spoke to ACPO and one or two other user groups within the industry “to ask if we should be moving the voluntary regulatory environment a bit further on, and try and establish a half-way house.”
This has all been superseded by the announcement of the Private Security Industry Bill in the Queen’s Speech. “I’m extremely happy about that,” added Cowden.
The BSIA: leading by numbers
The BSIA has been a focal point for dialogue with the Government ever since it was established in 1967. While the Association’s membership is still quite small (400 strong and counting), its representation in terms of the volumes of business those companies generate is high – at 75% – and it represents something like 56% of the industry’s manpower.
Throughout its history the BSIA’s role has been aimed at establishing and maintaining standards within a self regulatory environment. Indeed, it has produced many codes of practice which have gone on to become British Standards. The BSIA was also responsible for setting up inspectorates for the systems and manned guarding sectors which evolved into NACOSS and ISI (now merged to form NSI), as well as SITO, the security industry’s highly respected training organisation.
Along with other issues which come under the umbrella of good house-keeping, the BSIA has also fed back to Government its support for moving the security industry on from a voluntarily regulated environment to a statutory, regulatory system.
Where to now, though? With the Security Industry Authority well on its way to being formed, Cowden sees it as an issue which will push the industry’s image up considerably among end users. It could also act as an instrument that would help underpin the foundations for terms and conditions of employment within the security sector. But does it also set the stage for closer partnerships with the police?
According to industry figures there are 160,000 security guards in the UK, compared with just 140,000 police officers.
“One has to be cogniscent of the fact that police resources, like many other public services, are under some degree of strain. The concept of best value is being applied to the police as it is to anything else,” states Cowden.
“After the Bill was announced, the discussions centred on being tough on street crime and yobbish behaviour. We also heard that the police force is short of some 3,000 officers and 5,000 ‘Specials’,” he adds.
“At the same time, regulation ought to give a lot more confidence both to the police and to the public as to the integrity of the people working within and managing and operating security companies.”
While it will still take some time for a licensing framework to be set up, Cowden is clear about the part regulation will play for the security industry. “For whatever party that’s in Government, crime is a major issue,” says Cowden. “All sorts of agencies have got to be involved in fighting crime. It would be churlish not to embrace the private security industry in this war. Whatever the relationship ends up being between the industry and the police, the security industry is still going to be involved in crime prevention, not law enforcement.”
“We do not see the powers of arrest changing. We don’t need it to change. We see the role as being one of assisting in crime prevention rather than law enforcement.”
Role model
Apart from licensing, Cowden identifies three other issues – false alarms, terms and conditions of employment and the impact of European legislation – of concern to the BSIA.
“Technology has to be developed and introduced on a greater scale to help alleviate the false alarm situation. ACPO has revisited its policy on false alarms, and the BSIA has been a reference point in formulating that policy.” Indeed, those talks followed a lengthy legal battle between the BSIA and West Midlands Police, when the force sought to impose severe restrictions on responding to alarms (well documented in the pages of SMT).
“The key is to work together with the police to identify all elements of the false alarms problem, and to devise a sensible programme of remedial action that can be implemented within a reasonable timeframe,” stresses Cowden. “I don’t believe it’s in anyone’s best interests for us to go into the courts to try and solve this issue.”
Sage on wage
Historically, the BSIA has also involved its membership in recording rates of pay and trying to establish minimum wage rates prior to the introduction of legislation.
Cowden says: “The minimum wage legislation has moved things on a bit. Wages have improved to a certain extent. I think now that the Statutory Regulation process is underway, this will provide added impetus for the BSIA to try and persuade both industry and end users to be more aware of the vital role that security officers play within the security environment. One hears the expression that security is a ‘grudge purchase’, and to an extent there’s some truth in that.”
In his role as chairman of the BSIA’s Transport Section (which he headed up in the 1990s), Cowden was instrumental in helping to raise awareness among end users that services provided by cash-in-transit (CIT) companies were a vital link in the cash supply chain.
“We had the situation where some customers would pay more for the removal of garbage than they would for transporting high values of cash,” he says. “I don’t think they meant to do that, but as chairman of the BSIA’s Transport Section I was able to assist in encouraging the membership to work more closely together on non-competitive issues.”
He cites an example. “We decided to treat issues such as attacks and losses as non-competitive, and to tackle those situations where the CIT industry was vulnerable. We worked with other agencies, including APACS, and between us we were able to tackle a number of problems on the security front that were very beneficial to both sides. That experience has stood me in good stead in terms of working outside of a company environment, and with the industry in general.”
Cowden is blunt in his appraisal of the price war for manned services. “The security industry, like any other, has to invest in technology. At the very least it needs healthy margins to be able to do that for the benefit of its customers. End users have got to keep in mind how best they can get a blend of manpower and technology. That is going to be difficult in the manned services sector, where you have a complement of 2,500 companies, each struggling to establish and maintain market share. Not to mention all the other commercial considerations they have to make.”
He adds: “That provides difficulties with prices, but I think end users have to get used to the idea that prices are going to have to improve in the next two to three years.”
Ask not what the BSIA can do…
“There may well be other important issues,” stresses Cowden, “but I’d rather the BSIA concentrates on those that are crucial, and gets working with the membership to achieve those objectives rather than have a huge list of goals and not achieve any of them.”
“I don’t think the membership can look to the BSIA to see what the BSIA can do for it. The membership must participate in tackling some of the issues. It’s not something that the BSIA can do in isolation, and then impose on its membership. The membership has to look at the next generation, and move things on.”
For those who think history repeats itself, the road ahead for the BSIA should be clearly signposted. Cowden started at Securicor as a guard while searching for a different career direction. Some 31 years later it turned out to be a good move.
“I was thinking about that while driving in the other day,” he muses. “One wonders if life is mapped out for you in some respects…”
Is the security industry unionised or does it have a staff association and what wages are paid to men an women is equal pay the norm. What hours are still worked
What is the state of the industry now remembering the good times when all things were equal