Most security guards not well-trained: Police

Most security guards not well-trained: Police

Evi Mariani, Jakarta

The high crime rate in the city has prompted some owners of
luxurious houses to hire security guards. However, most guards
are not that useful when confronted with fearless robbers.

This month alone, three houses that had guards in upscale
South Jakarta were robbed. The robbers overcame the uniformed
security guards by pointing sharp weapons at them.

"The guards are probably not well-trained ... the employers
perhaps only bought them uniforms but did not give them proper
training," Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Prasetyo commented
over the weekend.

He added that to be a security guard, one should undergo
training arranged by the police.

The training includes martial arts and shooting lessons. "We
also train them how to react if there's a bomb threat in the
office building where they work, for example," Prasetyo
explained.

A guard at an office building on Jl. Sudirman, Hermawan, 31,
claimed he had been a security guard for five years and had
participated in two training programs.

"The first one was police training that took two weeks. The
last one was with the military," he told The Jakarta Post on
Saturday. "It took two months to complete."

Before each training program he had to undergo psychological
and physical tests, as well as an endurance test arranged by a
security guard agency. The agency also set physical requirements,
such as a minimum height of 168 centimeters for recruits.

"My standard devices are a knife, a baton and handcuffs,"
Hermawan said.

What if a robber pointed a gun at his head?

"Well, we have just to be brave," he answered.

Another security guard working for a company in South Jakarta,
Diki, does not have the slightest idea about what he would do if
confronted with an armed robber.

Before working as a security guard, Diki was an office boy at
the same company. When the company trimmed down its workforce,
Diki was given a guard's uniform. He is registered as an employee
under the general affairs department as the company does not have
a security department.

Earlier last month, in a seminar on security managers, former
Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Makbul Padmanagara said that
companies in Jakarta regarded security more as a cost-consuming
matter, not an investment.

He revealed reports of a number of companies that simply gave
security guards uniforms, but not training. Nor did they have a
proper recruitment process.