Rwanda National Police has raised concern regarding the overworking of guards by private security companies, which they say reduces the level of vigilance in the wider range of security at public facilities.
The police commissioner for Private Security Service Providers (PSSP) Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Jean-Nepomuscene Mbonyumuvunyi made the call over the weekend during a pass-out of private security guards in Kigali.
Over 60 private security guards underwent a one-week refresher training with view to strengthen security ahead of the festive season.
Mbonyumuvunyi said that although police has continuously warned against overworking of security guards, some companies have turned a deaf ear, which he said may soon attract penalties.
"As police, we constantly make random inspections on private security companies but we found that some companies don’t have dedicated shifts for guards, making some work all day round which is very risky because it reduces their level of vigilance,” he said.
Mbonyumuvunyi added that the companies have always been advised schedule shifts for guards’ workload but some have not met the minimum requirements.
"We give the reports from our inspection exercises to management of the companies, complete with recommendation but some companies tend to ignore these recommendations,” he said.
The chairman at Private Security Forum Andrew Nkurunziza said that as the forum, they are well concerned over the state of affairs, adding that necessary measure would be put in place to compel errant companies to comply.
"We discussed the issue during our general assembly held recently and we agreed it should not happen again,” he promised.
Nkurunziza also mentioned that the forum is considering setting up a single training school for all security companies such that they can have uniformity in private security.
"We have already identified a piece of land in Bugesera which we will buy next year and seek help from police and other institutions to help us build the school,” he said.
The level at which Rwanda is developing in terms of infrastructure especially hotels, banks and commercial building makes it imperative to have active security companies, officials said.
Mbonyumuvunyi said that the fact that the country’s development has gone hand in hand with the burgeoning of tourism sector, safety of facilities must be a priority.
He said that the vigilance by the security guards has contributed to police’s crackdown on many crimes in the country especially in the city, saying that they will continue help them in building capacities, especially in the area of crime detection.
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