LAHORE, Oct 24: The citizens are today facing more security concerns than ever before thanks to the ‘incredibility’ of the police and privately-run facilities.

Who is to be relied on is the question most people ask when they plan to hire private security guards.

One of the first hurdles that appear is the high cost of arranging private security for businesses or houses. The trend has, however, picked up steam especially among the traders who are the main targets of the criminals.

What is more alarming is the fact that in the last couple of years private security guards have turned out to be the major accomplices in crime, especially bank dacoities.

Reports reveal that the lockers of banks on the Lytton Road and in Allama Iqbal Town were broken and all the valuables were missing in the recent past. In both incidents, security guards have been missing since the crimes were reported. Now the customers of the banks have been running from pillar to post to seek recovery of the valuables, but all their protestations have yet to bear fruit.

There are many other incidents in which none other than the security guards have been instrumental in criminal activities.

Maj Muhammad Awais (retired), who runs a private security company, believes that the cost should not be an issue for those looking for better security systems. He says there are electronic and alarm systems available now, besides deployment of guards at residential and business places.

He, however, agrees that those managing the security agencies are responsible for any crime being committed or aided by the security guards.

Additional IGP Khwaja Khalid Farooq, the city police chief, said the security agencies should be bound to accept the responsibility of any crime committed by their men. “They must have a complete data about the background of a person they hire and also enlist some guarantors.”

According to Ilyas Ahmad Bajwa of another security agency, the most effective gadgets are available in the market now, which can ensure security of some installations. “We install systems at houses and business concerns. The cost depends on the area but generally it varies from Rs15,000 to Rs50,000.”

About the burglary alarm system, he says his company has got the response force which reaches the spot within minutes after a message is received about forced entry into an area where the system has been set up.

“Sometime we react on our own and sometime we do it with the help of the police. We at least do manage to surround a targeted house within minutes of a crime.”

A senior police officer, who is among the proponents of the idea of the police-public partnership in the province to ensure protection of life and property, disagree with the claim that the police failure is a major factor behind the increasing trend of hiring private security guards.

In a city like Lahore which has a population of over nine million, he believes that the police alone cannot maintain law and order. So the private agencies have been given a chance to share burden of the government in providing security to the public.

He suggests that the guards of private security companies deployed in some areas should be enlisted with photographs in police stations concerned. —ASIF SHAHZAD