Australian Security Officer’s Community

Found this post on a Government Web Site. Go here to read in full

Its what we all learnt when doing our security course, but you should review this and keep it in your head as these days we hear of more and more violent incursions and robberies.

As more of this type of violent crime occurs you can expect security to be used more and more, and we will all start to have to deal with this type of crime. Ive personally been there and its not a nice feeling afterwards. You get the shakes for a while. But during the incident if you remember your training, don’t be the hero, as your already a target, you should be ok. Remember to use your head and assess, observe and report. Oh and dont get hurt.

Dealing with armed intruders

Remain calm
Remaining calm can have two effects:

It can reduce the chance of the offender becoming agitated and reduce the risk of violence.
You can observe things more clearly and enhance your safety. Remaining calm in stressful situations is often difficult. Mentally preparing yourself and using positive statements during an event can help. Tell yourself what to do, i.e. “be calm” rather than what not to do, i.e. “don’t panic”. Some helpful phrases are: be brave; keep quite; move naturally; stay in control; stay still; and above all, remain calm.

Appear submissive and compliant
Speak only if you need to answer the offender and always reply honestly. In a pressure situation people can say things that are unnecessary. This can increase the pressure, cause a breakdown in confidence and lead to panic. Keep your answers short, precise and positive using simple words and phrases, e.g. “The safe is closed and locked. I only have the money in the cash drawer.”

Obeying the offender without question will enhance your personal safety as well as the safety of other staff and customers. Listening carefully to the offender will enable you to turn negative statements into positive ones. When you are told “Don’t look” or “Don’t move” think of “Look away” and “Stay still”. Act promptly and efficiently and you will improve your chances of remaining safe.

Remain as far away from the offender as possible. When asked to hand over the money, place it on the counter and take a step back. This will ensure you don’t crowd the offender and encroach on his or her comfort zone.

Keep your hands in sight at all times. Adopt a submissive, honest posture by keeping your hands open, away from your sides with the palms facing the offender. If you need to move your hands out of the offender’s sight, ask them for permission, e.g. “I have to get a bag from under the counter, OK?” Wait for approval before proceeding.

Turning side on to the offender can make you look less threatening by making you look smaller. It also presents less of a target to the offender to hit and allows you to protect yourself with your arm.

Raise the alarm only when safe

Alarms should only be activated if it is completely safe to do so. If there is any risks of the offender reacting badly or seeing you activate the alarm, wait until they have left the premises.

Once the offender has left, secure the premises, cordon off the immediate area and call the police. Place a notice in the front window stating you are closed due to an armed robbery.

Assist the police
To assist the police following an armed robbery, please note the following:

The time of the offence
The time the offender left the premises
The weapon/s used or implied
A description of the offender (PDF, 112kb)
What the offender took
Any evidence at the scene
The direction the offender left in
Any transportation the offender used including type, make, model, colour, registration and number of occupants; and
Witnesses to the event (they should still be in the premises).

If a witness wants to leave, you have no rights to hold them. Ask them to provide some identification and take down all their details before they go. Ensure you get contact phone numbers and address details. Write down a description of the witness as well. Hand this to police as soon as they arrive. Offenders sometimes have accomplices posing as customers during a robbery.

Observing offenders
The way you observe the armed robber may reduce the risk of personal harm, for example:

avoid direct eye contact. Don’t stare, as this would be perceived as threatening to the offender.
observe by short glances. When it is safe to do so. Keep your eyes down and look at the chin of the offender and use your peripheral vision to obtain details. This is less threatening to the offender.
look for the facts. There is no typical stereotype for offenders. Be sure of what you actually see.
write down your story. Run through the events and record as much detail as you possibly can. You never know what may seem unimportant but may turn out to be a vital piece of evidence that can solve the case.

Once again I find myself trolling the internet to see what the security industry is up to in Australia and I keep coming across stupid Websites trying to rip off people. Sites that will publish a Job Vacancy for 30 days for the sum of $80.00. They dont vet the applicants for you or anything, and yet I see people still use them. Maybe out of desperation to try to fill a vacancy as soon as possible.

The major Job or Career Sites like Seek or Jobsearch vet and attempt to notify potential applicants at least. Of Course Jobsearch is my pet hate topic at the moment, due to the fact that most of us are excluded from applying for the job. I know that this is not supposed to be the case and the employers are assured that anyone can apply. But I know for a fact that only the unemployed or those with job seeker numbers are considered by one agent for Jobsearch. So if you go with them your only going to get mainly new immigrants or untrained and unexperienced security personal applying for the job. This is only my opinion and I may yet be proved wrong. Those that are experienced and with jobseeker numbers, I appologise to you. I doubt you exist

I have sent a couple of mates with glowing resumes to one jobseach agent/provider and hey, not a peek from back from the agent. No Job seeker number. No point complaining though, when you consider the current Prime Minister’s Wife made most of their money from owning some of these agencies, they must be all doing ok and will not give a damn what I think or say.

I would reccommend though, if your a reputable security company that wants quality staff with experience, dont go soley with jobseach.gov. You need to use other options in conjunction.
That way you will catch any decent officers that actually do get through the jobsearch network and you may attract other people with other means. Research free job listings, they are around.
I will do a blog on them soon.

Oh forums like this one are also good, people subscribe and if you post a vacancy in the forum it gets emailed to all those that elect to have it so. And its free. You just have to do a bit of work and read the resumes or cover letters. Its definately worth the trouble. When you think of it, what the hell does someone who workes in Human Resources know about security.
I mean if you read my CV and it states that I discharged my weapon in the line of duty, You might think that I am a good officer who doesnt panic and does the job. (No one was injured, just a little froghtened). The HR person would be horrified and reject me outright as a madman who cant be trusted. They could be right of course. It would be an extreeme case but who knows.

Of course I have had interviews by these agencies (Not Jobsearch) and I have to try to keep a straight face as they ask the stock standard questions that anyone with the knowlege of how they work, and who researches the questions and give awesome answers that can be picked up off the net. Its so funny when you see them being impressed. I know if they sent me to me as a candidate I would be doing my own interviews. I would not entirley trust them unless I gave them my own questions and evaluation information.

Of course you should use the Career section in the paper as your priority as its what every Job Ad Agency goes through to pick up vacancies. ANd they will ring you to offer you their professional (sic) Services to find the best employee for you, For a Price.
Jobsearch.gov is paid for from our taxes. I understand that the agents within jobsearch get paid only when they place someone with a Jobseeker ID who has been unemplyed for a long time or only works on a casual basis.

The web site is coming along nicely, I hope the search engines start to pick it up. Im looking forward to getting a few visitors in the security industry.

Ill be updating things as I learn them.

Please register in here and as any news or updates come in you can opt in for an automatic email to advice you of updates. So as new things of comments come in you will get to know.

Next on

A TRIAL of new security scanners that will subject travellers to a “virtual strip search” will start at Australian airports this month.

Just read about this here . I am so over these so called civil libitarians. Stephen Blanks of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties reckons that detailed images of a person’s body, in particular body shape are shown, which many people might find highly embarrassing,”. I wish these civil rights people would take a deep hard look at themselves. I bet if they were sitting on a plane and another passenger pulls out a knife they would wish that security officers had strip searched the knife wielding passenger. In my opinion I would prefer security to view an xray of me instread of a really embarrassing strip search in a closed room.
Do we want airport security or not. I know I do. The Xray does show the outline of a females breasts and male genitals and, Oh my god, anything hidden in those places. Its what we need. I have done stip searches in the past and I tell you Im as embarrassed as the passenger is. Its horrible for everyone. I do understand that a female may object that her xray image showing her outline may be viewed by a male officer. But at least those people at the moment have a choice.

Over the last 12 Months I have kept an eye on the Jobsearch Web Site. It seemed to me that someone has convinced the majority of Security Providers to list with them. I also kept a close eye on all the rest of the different sites around the place and has seen a marked decrease in the number of job listings for security officers in other places.

The crux of my rant here is that Jobsearch is one of the worst places to try to obtain employment. If your a crowd controller or an officer only working under 15 hours a week then, Yes, Jobsearch is for you. The rest of us experienced officers dont stand a chance of getting an inteview or even looked at.
Why do I say this - Well personal experience.
I have applied for three jobs with a jobsearch agent in the last 12 months. I have never been answered and I can assume this is because I dont have a Jobseeker number from Centerlink. I cant prove it, but these agencies get paid to place an employee with a job seeker number and get nothing if they place me in the position vacant. I would say that not all of them follow this practice, but the agency that I have dealt with three times have totally ignored me.
I even sent the agency manager a letter of complaint, and of course they ignored that.
I could complain to the ombudsman but this is more fun, as I already have a good job and dont really need them yet, and to complain officially, means they get all my personal details, so then they can really screw with me.

Oh try to apply for this job, click here, just to see if you get ignored as well. Let me know if they actually are interested without a Job Seeker Number.

Please remember that we are all Security Officers, ( I hate being called a guard). Dont compromise yourself or a client. Dont post information about any company or person that could cause damage to them or yourself. Dont name any person or company in a derogitory if your having a rant, we dont want the lawyers to get it too easy. Remember the old war sayings, Loose Lips Sink Ships. So be careful, you dont want any bored mongrel lawyers coming after you, they have a tendancy to take what you say, and twist it to their best financial benefit.

Welcome to my blog.

My name is Tony and I have started this Web Site to try to collate information for Security Officers in Australia. We can talk about issues and swap any information we feel is relavanty.
There is also a Forum attached to the site where we can chat about different things and find, over time information relating to our security industry.

What will be in here.
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