THIS Easter season is a unique time in the history of the security industry.

Security guards will, effective April 1, 2023, become staff of the security companies they are currently contracted to, ending 50 years of them being contract workers.

This, for the first time, guarantees two things. Firstly, they must be paid for additional hours worked at overtime rates; and secondly, they now become totally and completely tax-compliant.

These are both positive developments that I am not sure all in the industry truly understand.

You see, when the industry was created the Government of the 1970s ensured that security guards got a different minimum wage rate than the rest of the country because the security companies were viewed as virtual employment agencies and therefore could not logically employ guards as staff.

This has somewhat changed over the last 30 years, a little at a time, but now that the playing field is level, will the Government continue to maintain the special minimum wage rate? That is the question!

How will this impact the industry? How will the business community respond?

Well, I asked three other experts other than myself and got similar answers.

The one that I will quote is Owen Ellington, the former commissioner of police. He did, after all, run the largest security organisation in the country, the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).

He said “the industry was as large as it was because it was affordable. These changes will make it unaffordable, hence many jobs that weren’t really security jobs but persons used security guards for them will revert to persons being hired in that original category rather than as security guards”.

Less security positions will reduce the size of the industry and, as a result, more persons will morph into electronic options such as cameras, etc.

I think Mr Ellington has hit the nail on the head. I couldn’t have said it better myself.

On a sad note, the tragedy of the daylight robbery and murder of the armed courier team member is the black lining of what would be a celebrated time in our history. It is also a bitter lesson in the risks that security officers face every day.

That video was hard to watch. It showed courage in the face of abject brutality and greed as the woman fought and fired for her life under gunfire, whilst her colleague was being slaughtered like an animal.

This horrible episode, hopefully, will demonstrate that security guards face very similar risks to police officers and deserve far more respect than they are given.

It also was another demonstration of the inhumanity of the Jamaican criminal.

I can’t help pointing out the irony that there are legitimate organisations in this country that are more concerned with the rights of the men pumping bullets into the guards than the guards who were being massacred on video.

Has even one human rights organisation condemned the actions of the killers of the guard?

Has INDECOM come out condemning the shooting of the guards, or for that matter the shooting of six police officers in 12 days?

Can you imagine the human rights coffee posse meeting and planning their attack if it was law enforcement or security killing gang members in that manner?

Am I the only one baffled and ashamed of this irony?

Okay, let’s discuss some of the points brought forward by the living room experts who have been criticising the guards, their response, and the security companies.

So first, the issue of arms. The guards’ weapons did not run dry of ammunition, so the round capacity of their guns did not contribute to their demise.

The guards’ bulletproof vests stopped the rounds that hit them, so they were adequate.

Whether the vehicle armouring was level one or 10 is irrelevant because they were shot outside of the armoured unit.

The guard who died was issued a bulletproof vest. He, unfortunately, like many of us, chose not to wear it, for whatever reason.

I find my own makes me slower so sometimes I don’t wear it. It is a decision I have taken, and I have to take responsibility for that decision. However, I believe that I should rethink that decision.

We need to stop looking on the guards and the security company as being at fault for the tragedy of last Monday. It is the fault of the men who choose to kill for profit, and them alone.

Moving money is a dangerous occupation, as is police work. When our security officers or police officers are hurt or killed, it occurs when they are doing a service that is necessary. If they don’t do it, society cannot function, whether it is moving money or raiding houses.

Criticising them and laying fault at their feet is easy, until you walk a mile in their shoes. You truly don’t understand their challenges unless you spend time in their occupation.

Learn from this! Look on the conduct of these animals as they slaughter your fellow citizens and understand why I hate them so, why I am so confused that so many good people I know worry so much about their rights. It must be clearer to you now why I want mass detention of all gang members, the end of foreign influence at INDECOM, and a society that is as determined as me to move this garbage of gunmen into cages so they can kill and maim no more.

Feedback: drjasonamckay@gmail.com