The horrifying incident in which a bouncer raped a woman at a quarantine unit in Bhayandar has once again brought focus to unregulated private security agencies which have proliferated in the twin-city.
In a belated but much needed move, the police have now embarked on a mission to review the operations of the registered security agencies, thus creating a database comprising complete information on private security personnel employed at innumerable residential and commercial establishments across the region. In a similar drive conducted in 2015, the police had compiled a database of around 36 such agencies which were registered with authorities.
However, the figures have surged in the past couple of years.
“Apart from verifying the authenticity of the agency and its owner, the native and residential address of the employed security guard will be checked. This will not only streamline the working of registered operators but will also help us in identifying and weeding out illegally operating agencies,” confirmed SP Dr. Shivaji Rathod, who added that the drive to update the database was aimed to ensure that the agencies are operating only with due permissions and were not violating any norms.
In accordance with the Private Security Agencies (Regulation) Act, any establishment needs to obtain a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the police before starting its manpower providing operations. However dozens of such agencies were brazenly operating, sans proper licenses.
"Many crimes involving private guards go undetected as most of them come from remote villages in and out of the state and it becomes virtually impossible to track them once they leave the region as in most instances the agency is unable to provide any details to the police as it had failed to maintain proper records," said a former police officer.
