Pretoria - Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa has urged private security companies to work with police to deal a blow to crime.
Speaking at the Security Industry Alliance Conference in Gauteng on Tuesday, Mthethwa said police should not be viewed as the "other institution on the other side of the fence".
The private security industry could compliment the police's crime fighting duties and had a crucial role to play in helping SAPS make South Africa safe.
"The future of the private security industry is looking bright. There is better regulation and cooperation from all industry stakeholders in ensuring compliance and enforcement of the laws of the country," he said.
The recent decline in cash-in-transit heists was, in part, due to the contribution of the private security industry, Mthethwa pointed out.
However, he noted that in some instances, robbers relied on "inside information" to plan and execute heists.
"We recognise that there are a variety of different companies with different resources available to them and what we need to look at is a set of minimum standards that will be implemented by all companies.
"We need to ensure all companies take seriously their responsibilities to protect not only their clients but also their guards and the public who are affected by cash-in-transit heists."
On the issue of the introduction of the revised Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSIRA) Bill, which is aimed at addressing weaknesses and gaps in the regulation of the private security industry, Mthethwa said work on the Bill was underway and considerable progress was being made.
The Bill is currently with State law advisors for certification before being introduced to Parliament.
"Some of the notable changes through the amendment will result in the introduction of government funding of the regulation; abolition of the payment of levies by individual security officers.
"It will also include tightening of the registration criteria to deter criminals from participating in the industry and ensure strategic limitation and prohibition of foreign control over certain sectors of our security industry," Mthethwa explained.
Recent changes to the PSIRA Council and management were yielding results.
"We have seen impressive improvement of the process of turning the institution around. Many areas of service delivery such as registration are improving... We are further told that the staff morale at PSIRA has improved and the internal corruption clean-up process is underway," he said.
An area of concern, however, was the prevalence of unaccounted firearms and ammunition in the hands of some of the mushrooming private security companies.
Also worrying was the non-reporting of lost firearms and firearms that are no longer in use when security companies close down.
"We need to better understand this industry and the challenges it faces because without such verification, we run the risk of harbouring criminals, have guards who are not vetted and infiltrating the industry with people who should not even be here," Mthethwa said.
The minister noted the fast pace at which the security industry was growing, with 8 828 security companies and more than 400 000 security officers needing to be regulated.
