SIR – I READ THE MANNED SECURITY Solutions Supplement in Security Management Today’s February edition with great interest. One article – ‘Out on a limb?’, pp30-32 – made some excellent points. It also set me thinking about the ‘lot’ of the security officer, and those guarding sites on a solo basis.

Surely the time has come for our industry to pressurise the Government into allowing security officers the ‘privilege’ of carrying a small baton while on duty?

A baton would be a powerful, visible deterrent to potential criminals/attackers before it was even drawn, and a reassurance to law-abiding members of the public and those members of the workforce who depend upon security officers for their own protection.

The Government’s recent clarification on such matters confirms the right of householders to use weapons against burglars or violent assailants (see Raising The Standard, p43). Shouldn’t that basic right to self-defence be extended to security officers?

Source

SMT

Postscript

Mike James, Security Officer, Vision Security Group (VSG), (via www.smtdirect.co.uk)