Gov't urged to streamline private security organisations

Accra, May 7, GNA - Nana Adu Agyemang IV, Vice President of the Association of Private Security of Ghana (APSOG) on Friday, called on the government to streamline the activities of private security companies since some of them pose a treat to national security. He said a number of these companies operated from obscure places, which made it difficult for the security agencies to monitor their performances required by law.

Nana Agyemang was speaking at the end a two-week Training of Trainers course for private security organizations in Accra. The programme, which attracted twenty participants from the various security companies, was aimed at expanding the curriculum of the association to keep them abreast with modern trends. Some of the companies that took part in the training included K9 security services, Lions security services, Essiad security services and Yvette Security services.

Nana Agyemang also said the training would enhance the professionalism of the security guards to compliment the effort of the security agencies in the prevention of crime. He suggested that the Association should at least pay 1.5 million cedis as salary to their personnel per month to enable them to work well, adding that, if the personnel are not paid well they could become thieves.

Mr Peter Awoonor-Renner, Chairman of APSOG whose speech read on his behalf called on the trainers to put the knowledge they had acquired during the course at the disposal of the guards they were to train.

He asked them to discard the idea that crime prevention should be the sole responsibility of the police, adding that, the security guards had a role to play by assisting the police to maintain peace in the communities