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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.