FOI release

Ex-police officers entering the private security industry

Published 26 October 2023

1. Request

What analysis have you undertaken of entry into the security industry by ex-police officers who may have been found to have breached professional standards or who may have left before such proceedings were concluded?

2. Response

I can confirm that the SIA does not hold this information. However, we do have a number of stringent processes and procedures in place to ensure that SIA licence holders and SIA licence applicants, whoever they may be, are fit and proper people.

When an individual applies for an SIA licence we undertake a serious of security, vetting checks. More information in respect of what those checks are and the general process can be found here: Apply for an SIA licence.

During this application process the SIA can take into account further information:

The SIA may ask an Applicant or Licence Holder to give it more information if they do not give the SIA the information it needs. The SIA may check the authenticity of the information an Applicant or Licence Holder gives it with the relevant government body or with the help of the police. The SIA must be satisfied that the evidence provided is authentic, up-to-date, complete (e.g. it covers every area where an Applicant has lived and lists any offences on their record) and comes from a competent official source which the SIA can confirm.

This has been extracted from page 8 of our Get Licensed, Licensing Criteria, which is also available on our website here: SIA: Get Licensed.

Secondly, the SIA also takes into account something called ‘Non-Conviction Information’ when assessing whether an individual is a fit and proper person to hold an SIA licence. Information in respect of this can be found at page 39 of our Get Licensed, Licensing Criteria at the link provided above. If you are unable to access this link, I have extracted the relevant part for you below:

The SIA will consider other information about an Applicant or Licence Holder that indicates whether they are fit and proper to hold a licence. The information may be provided to the SIA by organisations that it works with, e.g. the police, HM Revenue and Customs, other regulators, local authorities, and private security companies. The SIA may also obtain the information from its own sources, e.g. SIA warnings, County Court judgements, civil prosecutions, CCTV footage, social media, news reports, medical reports, ancillary orders (e.g. a sexual offences prevention order), fixed penalty notices, penalty notices for disorder, reports from Crimestoppers, and reports from members of the public.

“Information” will normally mean evidence which shows, on the balance of probabilities:

• relevant criminal activity (as defined in the section on Offences);
• anti-social behaviour;
• criminal association;
• failure to comply with the Private Security Industry Act 2001;
• failing to comply with SIA licence linked training;
• knowingly or recklessly misleading a government body;
• activity that is likely to bring the industry into disrepute; or
• any other activity which indicates that the Applicant or Licence Holder is not a fit and proper person to hold a licence.

An Applicant or Licence Holder will typically be able to comment on any non-conviction information the SIA intends to take into account before any decision is made to refuse or revoke a licence. Such comments can be explanations of what happened or be evidence of mitigation. The SIA reserves the right to take into account, on a case-by-case basis, any relevant information. This includes information from any time period and which the SIA received from any source.

Lastly, the SIA also processes intelligence that we receive from various sources, as mentioned in the paragraph above, including from members of the public. Our intelligence reporting part of our website can be found here: Report security staff or companies to the Security Industry Authority (SIA). Upon receiving the intelligence, the SIA will assess the information provided and use it to either:

• refuse, suspend or revoke SIA licences
• refuse or withdraw Approved Contractor Scheme (ACS) approval
• support its prosecution cases against companies or individuals

The SIA may need to gather more evidence before taking action against the company or individual that has been reported and in those cases we may contact the person who reported it for more information if consent is given to do so. Evidence of criminal behaviour may be shared with the police or other law enforcement.

[Reference: FOI 0453]