PNP to enlist security guards in fight vs crime

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine National Police (PNP) will enlist the help of security guards in the fight against criminal syndicates, an official said yesterday.

National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) director Chief Superintendent Nicanor Bartolome said the PNP will draw up guidelines subjecting security guards to rigid training to prepare them to “fight back” against criminals, especially armed robbers.

“We are now in the process of defining the standards like the recruitment, training and on what situation security guards are required to ‘fight back’ against criminals,” he said.

A large number of security guards have refrained from engaging armed robbers in a shootout because “they don’t have specific guidelines on what to do during such situation.”

Bartolome will sit down this week with Chief Superintendent Sonny David, head of the Security Agency and Guard Supervision Division (SAGSD), to craft the rules and regulations.

The NCRPO director is hoping that the adoption of these guidelines would prompt criminals to think twice before engaging in illegal activities in the presence of security guards.

Bartolome announced the PNP’s move during a recent meeting with officers and members of the Association of Hotel Security Officers of the Philippines (AHSOP) in Metro Manila at a hotel in Mandaluyong City.

In the meeting, Bartolome urged security officers to convince officials of their hotels to purchase walk-in scanners to improve security at hotel entrances.

According to Bartolome, the NCRPO is willing to conduct a periodic testing of the hotel’s bomb-sniffing dogs to determine whether they are still effective and capable.