Chapter 6

Security Education, Training, Certification, and Regulation.

Goal: To understand the differences in security education, training, certification and regulation.

Objectives:

• Discuss the status of security education and training over the last 20 years.
• Identify the role of higher education in training and education.
• Identify the growth of literature and periodicals/magazines available to the security professional.

Lecture:

Since its inception, private security has endured a "rent-a-cop" image - the uneducated, poorly trained "cop wannabe," commonly seen "guarding" malls and industrial facilities, often in an ill-fitting uniform. While no longer the situation in most cases, there still exists a syndrome called "Private Security’s Vicious Circle." It goes like this:

Marginal personnel>Little or no promotions >High turnover> Little/no training> Low salaries> Ineffective performance and on-and-on.

(Note: this is adapted from Clifford Van Meter, Exec. Dir., Private Security: Report of the Task Force on Private Security (Washington, D.C.: National Advisory Committee on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals, 1976, p. 13)

State-mandated training as well as industry-wide professionalism has somewhat reduced this historic problem in security.

As you go through Chapter 6 of our textbook, focus on some efforts to identify problem areas in the security field and some recommendations for improvement. E.g., look at the discussion on the "Gore Bill" and the "Sundquist Bill," pages 90-91.

For security management positions, education is more important today than it was previously (of course, this seems true in most professions). If you look at security management job descriptions, many require a bachelor's degree as a minimum. Most managers I know have a BA/BS plus a graduate degree. Several I know have law degrees, though that is probably the exception. I know several who have Ph.D. degrees, though that is unusual. More and more, job announcements (when they are public- most are never publicized and rely on word of mouth) list preference for the CPP designation. Other certifications are listed and discussed on page 96 of our text.

How does one get the background for a security manager position? Good question. Many of us come from the government or military. E.g., FBI, CIA, Secret Service, Army. Other come from police backgrounds. I know a new airport security director (federal job) who retired from his state's highway patrol as a senior officer. Why does this happen? Well, for one thing, these jobs provide good experience in the basics of security. Often more important, they provide a person with CONTACTS! As I said earlier, top security jobs are often not advertised. The job I am in was not advertised. It was passed around by word of mouth. These are the people the manager needs to know to keep information flowing on the threat and the countermeasures that are necessary. Remember earlier I mentioned having to find a security expert in Moscow? I found him through contacts. Some of these were former CIA operatives who knew this Russian guy when he was their opposite in the old KGB. These former spies (probably still are spying!) knew each other across the borders and knew whether or not they were straight shooters. That is, they respected each other although each was on the opposite side. Those are the guys and gals you might be seeking out on special projects.

In the discussion of Magazines and Periodicals on page 97, there is major surviving professional security publication: that is Security Management, published by A.S.I.S.

WEBSITE:

http://www.securitymanagement.com/library/000453.html

(scroll down to "Security Officer Regulation: A Statutory Analysis")

ASSIGNMENT: Based on your reading and personal observations, no matter how limited, answer Review Question 3 on page 99. A paragraph or two is enough.