Latest news with #SecurityAssociation
RNZ News
2 days ago
- Health
- RNZ News
Hospital security guards want handcuffs, powers to detain violent people
Hospital security guards want more powers to deal with rising violence. Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER Security guards in hospital emergency departments want more powers to deal with rising violence and the increasing number of people confronting them with knives. Head of the Security Association, Gary Morrison, said there had been a marked increase in physical and verbal abuse in recent years and, increasingly, weapons were coming into hospitals. "What we're hearing is a lot of knives being carried, weapons being present, and just a lifting in the aggressive nature and feeling in those areas." Morrison said the abuse in emergency departments was often fuelled by drugs and alcohol, and reflected wider trends across society - but guards could do little in response under the current law. Security guards were trained to de-escalate and avoid confrontation, he said, but in certain environments, such as hospitals, greater powers to intervene were needed. Morrison said security guards went to work with stab-proof vests and some increasingly wore body-cameras, however, he also wanted to see handcuffs included in the uniform. "What we would like to see is that security staff have the power to detain offenders pending the arrival of police, but we'd only advocate for that where there was a very stringent training and licensing regime built around it. "Where it's safe to do so, where staff are adequately trained and the opportunity is there to keep the scene safe afterwards, it is a deterrant if security can actually detain an offender." He said such powers would be beneficial in areas such as retail, hospitals and anywhere with potential violent behaviour and thefts. Morrison said the group was strongly advocating for a law change that would allow security guards to detain people, in line with proposed changes to citizen arrest legislation . Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
18-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Oranga Tamariki security contract unfair - New Zealand Security Association
The electronic security tender was awarded in October, triggering complaints by local firms to the security association. Photo: RNZ Oranga Tamariki is facing complaints from local businesses it is not playing fair over a new security contract for youth justice facilities and care and protection homes. The ministry is putting in new electronic and CCTV security controls its residences. The New Zealand Security Association has written to the ministry twice, complaining the frontrunner to get the job "does not appear to hold a security licence", even though the law demands it. The "preferred vendor" is understood to be the NTT multinational, which the ministry said had complied with the law, including by having a subcontractor that was licensed "at the time" of the tender. The ministry said: "We are in the final stages of this process and are unable to discuss details due to commercial sensitivities. "Oranga Tamariki is undertaking a thorough due diligence process to ensure compliance with all relevant security requirements." RNZ has not had a response from NTT. The ministry pushed back in a four-page letter last month against the security association's complaints, which included the claim OT had unfairly shut out local bidders. The ministry told RNZ Oranga Tamariki had "run a robust procurement process". The ministry's assertion about "robust" IT procurement contrasted with last week's report from the Auditor-General, who found longstanding serious flaws in the procurement of services to help children, worth half a billion dollars a year. The Auditor-General looked into how the ministry slashed many contracts with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) last year, finding poor planning and decision-making - and that the ministry had known for years its procurement and contract management for social services had problems. It was then [ revealed on Friday that a property manager who worked in the ministry and her husband kept their marriage secret to defraud OT of $2m in 2021-22. Oranga Tamariki acting chief technology officer Damian Woodhouse said the procurement of IT services was handled by a "completely different department" to the one handling the procurement and management of contracts for social work and intervention services. "Oranga Tamariki is satisfied its procurement of IT services is proficient," Woodhouse said in a statement. The electronic security tender was awarded in October, triggering complaints by local firms to the security association. It questioned the shift to store the data from the new system - such as CCTV footage - offshore in cloud servers. It has also asked for due diligence around the role in the new system of California security camera firm Verkada, noting regulatory action against it. Hackers breached Verkada in 2021 and got into more than 150,000 live camera feeds. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) went after Verkada last year, and reached a settlement. "There was no fine imposed related to the security incident, but we did agree to pay $2.95 million (NZ$5m) to resolve the FTC's claims about our past email marketing practices," Verkada told RNZ in a statement. It "continues to prioritise strengthening its data security posture", it said. The security association's other complaint was that an initial tender document led local bidders to believe they were required to offer a solution that would fit with OT's existing systems from New Zealand company Gallagher Electronic. It was "very surprising" when this turned out not to be the case, wrote chief executive Gary Morrison. The ministry defended itself in a four-page letter in April. Its tender had insisted on a "cloud-first approach" in a "zero-trust network environment", but did not say the solution must integrate with Gallagher, it said. Morrison said the letter had only raised yet more questions, and said last week that he was still waiting for an answer to those. The Children's Ministry's systems are in question in various ways. Its poor privacy controls allowed mass egregious breaches of people's personal information, with changes to try to improve that since last year. It was forced to continue its reliance on old and "brittle" information systems for at least a year longer than it should when a key IT project was delayed recently. The poor procurement of social work and intervention contracts revealed last week, prompted the Taxpayers' Union lobby group to call for accountability. "Despite years of warnings, the agency has refused to fix fundamental weaknesses in how it contracts with service providers," it said. Separately, after the $2m con was revealed, the ministry said it had acted when concerns were raised in 2022. "It has strengthened internal control measures to harden the organisation against fraud, increased training in fraud awareness, and improved corporate policies, systems, and procedures," it said. The Taxpayers' Union lobby group called for accountability over the poor procurement of social work contracts. "Despite years of warnings, the agency has refused to fix fundamental weaknesses in how it contracts with service providers," it said. Also last week, and pre-Budget, the government announced a new $190m Social Investment Fund was being set up to change how many social services are delivered.
