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.