# The Ontario Security Guard Act, & Security Work in General



## Thompson_JM (25 Jan 2006)

since the thread on Arming the TTC is starting to spirial, I thought that perhaps we should make a designated thread on private security, and all that is associated with it. in all its glory.....

so, Comments on security, the Ontario security guard act (or rather the up and comming act) and all that good stuff can go here....

MY personal opinion?

Im personally glad im getting into a class B pos. with my unit. until the security industry makes some drastic changes, I dont want anywhere near it. Unless youre in an area of the industry like Slim is where he is doing some fairly interesting work (CP/VIP stuff right?) the average Guard Job isnt worth what were getting paid... and i make 15 an hour at my hotel in downtown T.O.   
until use of force training for guards is manditory, Im not getting back into the trade anytime soon. I'll go RegF before i go back to it. To dangerous, no backup, little training, and little support.

Cheers
     Josh


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## ps387 (25 Jan 2006)

I have no knowledge of the Ontario Security Guard Act and I've never been a guard in Ontario, but I was one in Vancouver for a number of years. I even taught level one of the Basic Standards Training (BST) course required by the Private Investigators and Security Agencies Act (PISA). BST level one focused primarily on how to take notes and conduct patrols. There is also some information given about your legal rights and responsibilities and outlines some of the Criminal Code sections. BST level 2 does show guards how to physically restrain an individual, but the focus is on de-escalation and conflict resolution.Most instructors work very hard to convey the message to new guards that force is an absolute last resort and should never be initiated by the guard.  
As I said, I worked as a guard, and I did so in one of the worst neighbourhoods in Vancouver; the downtown east side. On the flip-side I assisted the RCMP with security for then-PM Chretien when his visited one of the facilities my company had a contract with. I worked a dinner event with Vancouver Police and the Secret Service where former-President Clinton was speaking and I covered a number of concerts and television/movie shoots. I have never once found myself in a position to use force or came in close enough proximity to someone who set off alarm bells, that they would be able to use it on me.
I think it's fine to provide people with the basic information as to how to defend themselves, but the chances that someone, when put in a stressfull situation where things are happening at the speed of light, is going to remember how to apply a bent-arm-bar taught in a 2 day course from 3 years ago is practically nil. 
The real purpose of security work is not to apprehend criminals, it is to observe and report information so the police can apprehend criminals. As I used to tell my students, if you are guarding a bank (common example as we had over 200 branches on contract) and someone were to come in and rob it, your job is to make note of the suspect and all the occurs. And if the suspect asks you to hold the door for him on the way out, do it...with a smile. The few guards that did try to stop a robbery (mostly note passers) or apprehend a suspect, were fired for violating the company's 'no force' policy. Many companies have this policy. It's not worth your health or their legal fees for you to physically 'interact' with someone while on duty. In my opinion, if you're in a position where you find yourself having to use force, you've done something wrong.

Cheers


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## zipperhead_cop (29 Jan 2006)

Well said, ps.  If all guards could keep that level headed approach to doing their jobs, you would have no problems.


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