Comparison of work in the implementation of interventions by the police and private security services

Security is a fundamental human right, also enshrined in Article 34 of the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia. As such, security is provided by various entities, including the police and private security services.

When we want to be sure that our home is safe during our absence, we can secure it with technical security systems that can be connected to the security control centre (VNC). In the event that the alarm system is triggered in our home, VNC notifies the security interventionist, who comes to the place and checks why the alarm condition has occurred. In many cases, security interventionists also need the help of the police in their work.

In their work, security personnel can use certain measures and means, which are written in Article 45 of the Private Security Act (ZZasV-1). The aforementioned law is the fundamental law according to which security guards must perform their work.

When using certain measures and means, they must inform the police, who come to the place where the measure was used and act with their powers. Police officers have more powers than security personnel.

Police officers must comply with several laws and regulations in their work, the fundamental ones being the Act on the Work and Powers of the Police and the Act on Organization and Work in the Police.

In their work, police officers perform various tasks, during which they also meet with various authorities and security guards. For the successful performance of tasks, especially the detection and prevention of criminal acts, cooperation between police officers and security guards is important.

Security guards must notify the police when using certain measures. In the event that the police do not arrive at the scene within the specified time (2 hours), the security guard must release the detained person. This is where the security officers’ powers are lacking.

The security guards took over certain tasks from the police, including responding to interventions. I dare say that the security guards have insufficient powers, which also includes the fact that they do not have priority vehicles, and consequently, the perpetrators of the crime have enough time to commit a robbery and escape from the scene of the crime.

One of the more demanding jobs in the field of private security is precisely the duties of a security guard. He is the one who responds to various alarms, as we already mentioned in the first paragraph. When a security guard receives an alarm notification, he never knows what will await him at the scene of the incident.

Armed burglars may also be waiting for him there, so it is especially important that the security guard has adequate professional training and that he regularly improves his knowledge. Every alarm event must be perceived as dangerous by the security guard, even if it is a false alarm. For more demanding security objects, such as banks, the VNC itself immediately notifies the police in the event of an alarm event.