Law Enforcement Careers

Archive for September, 2011

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How to professionalize the security industry

After more than 400 years the private security industry in the UK can claim advances in proficiency yet continues to fall behind in its pursuit of professionalism. As a private security analyst, I’ll tell you why I believe the industry needs to do more to break away from a public perception that has it as no more than a force of ‘night watchmen.’

I strongly believe that there is no room in the industry for watchmen. Instead, the industry needs to develop a clear career path for those who join, and demonstrate that it is an industry with the ability to make a significant contribution to the overall security of the country.

As a store detective, I worked with a number of the country’s larger retailers. Constant contact with customers enabled me to track a variety of situations but, after around 3 years there are two incidents that remain with me.

The first happened during my first day on duty at a store in Camberley. A couple entered the store and headed for the coat section. The lady removed a coat from the hanger, tried it on and casually walked over to the exit and with her partner made a run for a waiting car-The cost of the coat… £900 – Why high value coats were not protected better and why were they so close to the exit? These are questions I asked myself.

So with this in mind whenever I was assigned to a retail store, during my store tour, I identified items of high value and determined whether they were positioned in a location that facilitated their easy removal from the store.  I always submitted my findings with suggestions for improved security to the store management. Some managers cooperated but most of them didn’t. After all I am only a ‘security,’ what do I know?

On another occasion I was assigned to a store in London Colney.  It was located in the middle of nowhere, and no more than two minutes from the motorway. Two big retailers shared the site.

The store I guarded had two fire exits that opened towards the motorway. The toilets were situated between the two stores. For me, this meant that a shoplifter could take bags of merchandise towards the toilet but since technically they are still within the confines of the store security could not interrogate or apprehend them.

The biggest problem though was the merchandising of the stock. There were high value coats and jackets at the entrance. I raised my concerns in discussion with the store manager and gave him the benefit of my professional opinion, but he did nothing. Within a few hours of our discussion, seven of the jackets were snatched. Again, I was proven right.

You see, the store’s location made it easy for shoplifters to drive up to the store, make a quick grab, dash and speed off back onto the motorway. After that incident I advised the manager to remove the rest of the jackets from the entrance. He informed me that the plan for arranging merchandise on the shop floor comes directly from their head office. I suggested that maybe he needed to call the head office and inform them that his store was located in the middle of a ‘free for all’ and the current layout was unsuitable for this location. He listened but never acted on my advice. A few days later thirteen of the jackets were stolen. Finally he decided to remove them from the entrance. But his organization had already lost £5000.

Why didn’t the manager listen to me? Maybe it’s because Security officers have always had a love hate relationship with retail managers.

At times I feel that security is seen by most security buyers as a grudge purchase or an unneeded expense, instead of an investment. The main reason for this perception has been the industry’s inability to clearly define its role in the security pyramid of the UK. Everyone knows that the Police are responsible for enforcing the law, the Armed Forces defend sovereignty, MI5 and MI6 are internal and external operatives. Who or what is a security officer? How does the industry define itself? In marketing there is a saying that it’s not what is said but how it is said. It seems to me that the industry has been unable to define itself to the country and sadly for those who have chosen private security as a vocation.

Four Hundred Years On

The concept of private security is not a modern phenomenon. In fact, private security existed in the UK before the police force. Cave drawings and other archaeological findings clearly attest to the fact that the issue of safety has long been the concern of man from the beginning of time. The earliest security officers can be traced back to the 1600s when out of the desire to protect their property, wealthy merchants established a private security force known at the time as ‘Shiver and Shake Watch’. This was followed by the Bow Street Runners and eventually the Marine Police Force, sometimes known as the Thames River Police and believed to be England’s first professional Police force.

It was formed in 1798 by magistrate Patrick Colquhoun and a Master Mariner John Harriott, to tackle theft and looting from ships anchored in the Pool of London and the lower reaches of the river… The 1800s saw the creation of what can be considered the modern police force when the concept of the rights of the individual began to take hold. For the first time tax revenues were used to pay for night watch.

With the development of trade and the expansion of the free market economy also came laws that illegalised many previous practices. At the same time an increase in serious crime brought pressure to bear on the local constabulary and forced officers to prioritize their response,

Once again wealthy individuals decided to purchase their own security. This saw emergence of a more wide spread and professional private security industry. Like most privately owned businesses, the private security industry was left to operate under its own code. The result was near anarchy as criminal gangs drifted into an increasingly profitable industry.

In an attempt to regulate the industry in 2001, parliament enacted the Private Security Industry Act. That led to the formation of the Security Industry Authority.

Today’s security industry is a far cry from the night watch of yester year. It is a multi-billion pound global industry, employs three times more people than the police and engages in a raft of activities from event management to ferrying millions of pounds each day to businesses around the country. More recently it has become involved in the transportation of prisoners,

However, the industry is faced with a number of very important questions:

Step One to Professionalizing – Definition  

 As security professionals how do we define ourselves?  And what powers do we have? If we are to dispel the notion that we are just night watchmen to be called upon as the need arises, the issue of definition needs to begin with the government, police and other stalwarts of security in this country.  We are a significant part of the security structure and we are on the frontline of the prevention and maintenance of law and order. But we are a 21st century force with a sixteenth century mandate. We face modern day challenges and are expected to tackle them without the necessary tools or legislation. Consequently, the professionalizing process has to begin with an amendment in the Private Security Industry Act that provides a clear definition of our roles and powers.

Step Two to Professionalizing – Training

 Whilst on duty in Camberley, I noticed two women stuffing their handbags with jewelry. I radioed CCTV control to keep a watch on them while I observed them from a distance. When they were satisfied that they had taken enough, they walked out of the store without paying for the merchandise. There were already two security officers positioned at the exit, so as they exited the store they were apprehended. While leading them towards the holding room, one of the ladies dropped to the floor at the entrance of the store and refused to stand up. It took three officers almost forty-five minutes to safely move her to the holding room.

A few weeks after this incident, I was assigned to a store in Cheshunt. While patrolling the aisles, I noticed a female customer remove a scarf and jumper and concealed them in her handbag. I kept her in my sight until she stepped out of the store without paying. I approached her and identified myself as a security officer. On hearing this she sped off. I chased after her and apprehended her in the middle of a car park. I felt I could handle her on my own. This was until a gentleman approached with a knife and threatened me. Because of my training I eventually managed to subdue him and take control of the situation. No one was injured.

Like me many security officers are faced with potentially dangerous situations every day but too many of them are inadequately trained to deal with unpleasant situations.  

There needs to be three stages of training: Pre-licensing, Continuous development and Specialization  

Pre Licensing

The SIA needs to recruit an adult literacy expert to work with industry professionals to design a training programme. The way the current programme is designed makes it impossible for anyone to absorb all the required information in 30 hours and be able to use it effectively.

 Continuous Development

 Along with the pre-licensing course work, there needs to be an in-house course designed for security companies that will be used internally to further develop new & seasoned security officers. Developments in security legislation should be incorporated into any continuous training & development programme. Security officers should also be assessed every 3 years to ensure that they are complying with the legislation. The renewal of their license will depend on their continued development and knowledge of the industry…

Specialised Training

If Security officers expect to be treated like professionals, then we must begin to behave as professionals. There is no professional in the world that undergoes only 30 hours of training in their lifetime. With the barrier for entry into the security industry so low we need to raise the level of training to give us the extra recognition we require to be seen as a professional industry. 

Conclusion

In this country we have a few of the best institutions in the world: the BBC, Oxford & Cambridge, Scotland Yard, Fleet Street and above all the British Armed Forces. For centuries these institutions have been setting standards for the rest of the world to follow. The introduction of the SIA was another opportunity for Britain to set the standard and create a model of professionalism within the private security industry for the rest of the world to copy and learn from. After all we were the first country to introduce the concept of licensing in the security industry. However, the current structure is not designed for the extra tasks it is expected to undertake. The SIA was created to license security officers and accredit security companies.

Therefore professionalizing the private security Industry will require:

Redefining the mandate of the SIA and restructuring it with the appropriate framework and mechanisms Defining our role within the grand scheme of the security structure in the UK Creating a set of criteria for entry Revamping the training regime to make it fit for purpose

The UK private security industry is seen by some as a gravy train, run by people who have never worked a single day as a security officer. If we are truly serious about professionalizing the industry, we will need to engage with those who understand the challenges facing the various stake holders.

Let those who regulate the security industry be reminded that there is no place in the 21st century for an institution that is run along the lines that made it fit for purpose in the sixteenth century.

With the increasing rate of criminal incidences and security issues, criminal justice is emerging as an important course to be learned and is gaining wide popularity over the years. The recent events of terrorism have generated a rave amongst citizens to gather knowledge about the subjects quite unknown to them, and hence criminal justice has become a really interesting topic to study as of now. Criminal law bachelor’s degree will provide the student a rare chance to understand the laws and regulations enforced to keep the criminal justices at par and also comprehend upon the cj theory, corrections, law enforcements, courts, forensics and paralegals.

A bachelor’s degree in criminal law will also help an individual to gain entry-level jobs or can also make the person eligible for enhanced career options like the corrections, public safety, parole, investigation, juvenile justice, court systems, private protective services, probation and law enforcements.

It is interesting to note that there are a huge number of universities and colleges who are offering the bachelor program in this category and with specialization in specific areas in criminal law. Kaplan University is amongst the top class universities of the country and enjoys a unique position of providing bachelor programs in criminal justice highlighting on eleven varied areas of the subject. The university provides BS programs in Legal studies and a BS programs in Paralegal studies. Everest University Online also provides diverse bachelor degrees in criminal investigation, paralegal studies and homeland security, which gives this great chance to the students to concentrate on their area of interest.

American InterContinental University Online provides an accelerated bachelor program on the subject. Capella University offers BS in Public Safety with specializations including Homeland Security and paralegal education. Strayer University is quite different in its approach of providing degrees based on the tastes of the students like the BS in Criminal Justice with Homeland Security and Emergency Management or Homeland Security Technology as the specialization subjects. Bachelor degree programs in Crime Scene Investigation, Cyber Crime and Juvenile Justice is offered by the South University and is quite popular for its exclusive contribution of different degrees which is based on the needs of the students. Walden University provides an exclusive program known as the Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Criminal law and Criminals.

It is important to know that a bachelor’s degree in criminal law will enrich the student with knowledge about the various criminal justice procedures and the knowledge for public safety research and principles. Criminal Justice Bachelor degree programs will put you in front of your career lane and will allow you to be a specialist at your task, displaying professionalism and commitment towards your job.

Law enforcement snipers; In this age of more sophisticated technology and broader access to detailed information, the job of the Police Officer has become more dangerous and complicated. This episode explores the use of highly disciplined snipers in a tactical unit. The History Channel travels to Los Angeles, San Jose and Albuquerque to watch Snipers train with special enforcement units, which work to subdue the deadliest and most cunning criminals. In Fairfax, VA, we stare over the shoulders of Secret Service snipers who operate as the eyes and ears of our country’s most important security detail. With their precision shooting and sophisticated reconnaissance abilities, a well-placed, talented Law Enforcement Sniper can make the difference between a routine arrest and an impromptu massacre.

Career choices, opportunities and advancement are available for those who want to have a career in criminal justice. These opportunities include work such as police officers, correctional officers, paralegals, private investigators, crime scene investigators, forensic psychologists, and lawyers.

The chief duty of a police officer or sheriff is to implement the law. This involves protecting communities against criminals, arresting law offenders, and examining crimes. They seek and gather evidence to aid in prosecuting criminals and law offenders, file detailed reports, and become a witness in court when needed. Many police officers serve in towns or in cities. Sheriff’s deputies, on the other hand, usually serve in small, rural areas that have no police department of their own. Police officers and sheriffs deputies are trained to act in response to a wide variety of situations and emergencies. One of the career advancement opportunities in criminal justice for sheriffs and police officers is heading up particular units like homicide. Another advancement opportunity is also available for sheriffs and police to replace those in office who are reaching retirement age.

One of the duties of a correctional officer is to watch over or manage offenders who are serving their time in jail, reformatory, or penitentiary and those who are incarcerated but still awaiting trial. To avoid escapes, assaults, and conflicts, they safeguard inmate security and responsibility. In spite of the work setting, correctional officers assist in enforcing rules and regulations, and they maintain order by monitoring the inmates’ activities and work assignments. They enforce discipline in the penitentiary. They also regularly hunt drugs or weapons in inmates; check for contrabands; test bars, locks, doors and windows for any indication of tampering; and scrutinize visitors and letters for banned materials. Law enforcement duties and responsibilities in the reformatory, penitentiary, jail, or correctional institution where they work are also part of the correctional officer’s job. Opportunities for career advancement in criminal justice for correctional officers are numerous. Among them are correctional treatment specialist and correctional sergeant.

A paralegal or legal assistant, under the supervision of a licensed attorney, updates and reviews files, drafts documents, interviews clients, prepares trial notebooks, does legal research, and helps the lawyer write legal briefs. A paralegal assistant also assists the attorney get ready for corporate meetings, trials, hearings, and closings. However, the law does not allow paralegals to give legal advice, set legal fees, present cases in court, or other tasks that fall in the category of law practice. The duties of a paralegal differ depending on the lawyer, law firm, agency, or organization. Career advancement for paralegals is remarkably good. A lot of paralegals enter the U.S. Department of Justice, private law firms, or acquire experience first then establish their own company. While others, on the other hand, choose to continue their studies and become police officers, attorneys, or enter other areas of criminal justice.

Do local law enforcement agencies prefer military experience? If so do they hire personnel serving in the reserves?

say I want to start out as DEA after a few years of law enforcement. I know state and federal pensions are different but lets say if i dislike the DEA after 5 years can i switch to another law enforcement like FBI ATF etc. will i be able to add those 5 years onwards toward 20 year pension? please help thanks!

please list all you know thank you
more along the lines of detective or criminal investigator are there any more?
well thats one opinion ex cop

Never have there been so many tools for Palmdale employment lawyers to help people recently fired to win damages for discrimination, to seek a better severance package, including not only a longer period of pay benefits, but also other items, most important of which can be a longer period of health insurance benefits following the termination, or even to save the employee’s job.

If you’ve been fired from your job as a result of discrimination or retaliation, been harassed or the victim of a hostile work environment, or paid less than a person of the opposite sex for the same work for no other valid reason, visit our website at http://www.CaliforniaAttorneysLawyers.com and call us at any of the numbers easily found on our website.

In Palmdale and throughout California where private employers and government offices have laid off people in the hundreds and thousands, sometimes on a weekly basis there is substantial fear among those who have recently been terminated and those who are in fear that they could be next to be let go. In areas such as the Palmdale area where unemployment and foreclosures are at their highest in the state, many employees who have been discriminated against or fired in retaliation for complaints of harassment and who previously feared making any complaint, now feel they have nothing to lose.

Some employees are filing class action lawsuits based on everything from age and sex discrimination to discrimination against veterans. Individual claims are being made for overtime pay that the employees never received and retaliation for whistle blowing or reporting harassment.

One of the best tools for Palmdale employment lawyers is often the employee’s company manual and other memos of the company which often lay out glowing descriptions of how fair the company will be in their employment practices. Such manuals often describe all of the types of actions which the company claims they will not tolerate including the various forms of harassment and how the company will never take a retaliatory action against anyone blowing the whistle on harassment at the company.

Such manuals provide a powerful tool to the employee and the employment lawyer to show the company exactly how they violated not only the law, but also the company’s own employment guidelines. Faced with such violations of the principles the company itself laid down and promised to their employees, it is difficult for such companies to argue that they didn’t realize how they were supposed to respond to an employee’s reports of harassment or that they didn’t know they couldn’t fire someone for making such reports.

Employees must keep in mind that under California law, complaints alleging discrimination or retaliation must be filed with the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement in California within six months of the alleged discriminatory or retaliatory action by an employer, except in certain circumstances.

Some of the laws enforced by the Labor Commissioner in the State of California which prohibit discrimination and retaliation include discrimination or retaliation for threatening to file a complaint with the Labor Commissioner, for taking time off to serve as a juror, be a witness in court or to attend judicial proceedings related to being a victim of a crime or related to a victim, for discharging victims of domestic violence, for taking time off to seek medical or psychological treatment related to domestic violence or a sexual assault, for taking time off to go to a child’s school at the request of a teacher, for disclosing his or her wages, for engaging in political activity, for being a whistle blower (not the real whistles), for being paid less than employees of a different sex for the same work unless based on a bona fide factor other than sex, or for complaining about safety or health conditions.

For Palmdale Employment Lawyers such as myself who are also Women’s Rights Lawyers, when President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 in late January, he remedied a great injustice and provided employment and women’s rights attorneys with yet another tool in our arsenal to fight for employee’s and women’s rights.

Now women in California and the rest of the nation have a law that gives them the ability to redress the wrong suffered upon them by society in allowing men to receive more money for the same work from an employer and limiting the rights of women to bring a claim for pay discrimination.

In the past, women were required to file suit within 180 days after first being paid unfairly, even if the discrimination of being paid less than male workers in the same jobs continued. And if a woman failed to discover that male workers were being paid more for the same work, a woman still could not hold her employer accountable if she didn’t learn of the unfairness and take action within 180 days of first being paid the lesser rate.

Under the Fair Pay Act of 2009 signed into law by President Obama, the statute of limitations of 180 days starts with each discriminatory paycheck, rather than when the employer starts to discriminate. So long as a woman in CA files her claim within 180 days of receiving any discriminatory paycheck, not just the first one, she is considered timely in bringing her claim.

An important aspect of the Act is that the effective date of the Act is retroactively set at May 28, 2007, which will allow it to apply to all compensation discrimination claims that have been filed on or after that date.

Women can sue for back pay awards for up to two years before she files her employment discrimination claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Fair Pay Act of 2009 does not change the two-year back pay limit.

Under the Act, an unlawful practice occurs when a discriminatory compensation decision or other practice is adopted, when a person becomes subject to the decision or practice, or when a person is affected by the decision or practice, including each time wages, benefits or other compensation is paid.

California also has it’s own version of the Federal WARN Act which in certain circumstances requires 60 days warning before laying off workers. Under the 2003 California version of the Act, the requirement of 60 days warning applies to establishments with 75 or more employees who have been employed for at least 6 of the previous 12 months, who layoff or relocated 50 or more employees within a 30-day period. There are also various exceptions to the rule.

For the elderly employee laid off, an important ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court has given added protection to older workers. Elderly persons who file employment discrimination lawsuits no longer need to prove that an employer acted intentionally. It is enough that the employee can prove that the layoffs had a disparate effect on the elderly workers.

Layoffs of caregivers providing care to sick family members may also violate federal law.

And all of these tools are still in addition to the tools Palmdale employment lawyers have against employers who practice discrimination based on sex, religion, race, age, or sexual orientation, or who subject their workers to a workplace that constitutes a hostile environment.

Visit our website at http://www.CaliforniaAttorneysLawyers.com and call us if you have been discriminated against or are the victim of retaliation by an employer in Palmdale or if you have been receiving less pay than a person of the opposite sex for the same work by your employer for no other valid reason.

It is thus imperative that an employee being laid off who is provided with a separation agreement and release of all claims against his employer consult with an employment attorney to determine if there weren’t violations of any of these laws and others that can assist the employee and his or her attorney to negotiate a larger severance package.

If you have recently been fired, are in fear of losing your job or if you have been presented with a separation agreement or severance package and have been discriminated against, harassed or are the victim of retaliation in Palmdale by your employer, we invite you to call our office.

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