During the past decade, there has been a steady increase in companies providing an armed reaction service to alarm and panic alarm calls. The insurance industry often specifies the necessity of having a reaction service and in most urban areas have become a recognised part of the security scene.
SAIDSA believes that there is a necessity for this service, particularly in view of its nature, to be carefully controlled and that guidelines should be given for the benefit of the client who is going to use an Armed Reaction Service.
By-Law No 3 “Requirements for an Armed Reaction Service” governs the control and operations of reaction services. It is important to remember that reaction officers have no more powers, right or privileges than any other private citizen.
It has become an accepted fact that in all major centres throughout South Africa there has been a large increase in crime, burglaries and attacks on peoples’ homes are daily occurrences.
The South African Police Service with their lack of manpower have great difficulty in coping with the dramatic increase on their workload and therefore cannot guarantee a response to alarm call-outs.
Armed Reaction services are therefore offered by private companies to attend to an incident. A house or business fitted with a security system signals for help if there is a break-in or if any emergency switch is activated. The signal is received at a monitoring control centre who then dispatch a mobile reaction unit to investigate.
It is emphasised in the by-law that a reaction supplier is providing a service of an extremely high risk nature and it is therefore essential to have accepted minimum standards for the protection of staff and clients. Also, there can be no guarantee that a reaction service will arrive at a site within a specific time period. Training of a reaction officer is to be to standards laid down by the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority
(PSIRA) and, in particular, he must be competent in the use of the weapon he carries.
Geographic areas of operation for a reaction service will vary in size due to many factors such as traffic density, road conditions and urban versus rural territory. As a general rule and under normal circumstances, the company providing a reaction service must have a minimum of two vehicles available for duty 24 hours a day with at least one vehicle being allocated to each dedicated area.
This area, to be patrolled by the one vehicle, must be of a size where a vehicle can provide an adequate response service to panic alarms in a reasonable period of time.
Equipment to be carried by the reaction vehicle is listed and there are rules on the issue and control of firearms.
Control centres used by reaction services must be constructed and operated in accordance with SAIDSA standards. SAIDSA also recommends that a legal written contract is entered into between a reaction service company and the client and there are also recommendations for insurance of reaction officers against death and injury.
It is sufficient to say that members of the public who are contemplating hiring the services of a reaction company, should always ensure that the company they are considering is a member of SAIDSA.
