輔警的哀歌。。難怪玩具熊不幹了！

天然夜行者

輔警的哀歌。。難怪玩具熊不幹了！

漫長的時間，謝天謝地的工作：新加坡的安全部門努力獲得人才
作者：Tang See Kit，Channel NewsAsia
POSTED：2017年1月10日上午8:00
更新：2017年1月10日下午9:09
   ... AA
新加坡：星期二晚上8點，疲憊的辦公室工作人員離開公司的辦公室，Abdul Rahim先生的第一天剛剛開始。

輔警（APO）身穿深藍色制服並配備左輪手槍，在入口處站在他的位置，在那裡他將在接下來的12個小時內進行安全檢查和巡邏任務。

這位47歲的新加坡人說：“你看到我大部分時間都在守衛，但如果在建築物內發生任何事情，我將在幾分鐘內到達那裡，檢查一切是否正確。

在處理槍支和反恐怖主義等領域受訓的APO部署在一系列職能，包括保護關鍵設施和諸如商業銀行等非政府辦公樓，以及支持警察部署在新加坡一級方程式大獎賽。警察局還授予警察權力，在值班時搜查和逮捕罪犯，並可以護送被拘留者。

擁有3500名團隊，私人安全公司Certis CISCO是新加坡最大的輔助警察部隊（APF），其次是AETOS和SATS安全服務。根據內政部長K Shanmugam去年4月的統計，總共有約7000名APO，其中一半以上是新加坡人。

但更多的是需要，它是一個奮鬥，以滿足需求。自2011年以來，根據警方發言人的說法，APF已經設法將其新加坡APO的數量擴大到僅250，低於APO的需求，預計在未來幾年內將超過600。引用困難吸引當地人和招聘合格的馬來西亞人，Certis CISCO和AETOS最近表示，他們正在尋找台灣填補他們的空缺。

在工作了將近十年後，Abdul先生說，他已經適應了APO的艱苦工作需求，例如長時間在他的腳。雖然有很多像他一樣，還有那些在幾個月內退出 - 通常是新的官員從年輕一代。

“年輕人不能忍受這麼長的時間，他們需要享受，但這項工作沒有時間或精力，我知道一些家長支持這些年輕人戒菸，並將幫助支付罰款打破債券。

AETOS目前擁有大約2,600個APO，他們告訴Channel NewsAsia，當地人很大程度上是因為工作的性質，這可能是“身體和精神上的艱難”，而不得不忍受“艱苦的工作條件”，如惡劣的天氣和需要工作班次。一位發言人說，年輕的新加坡人，“往往有不同的工作前景和工作期望”，發現很難接受這些要求。

對於29歲的Vincent Teo *來說，這是漫長的工作時間，最終鞏固了他的決定稱為它退出去年。在他作為APO的三年裡，他說他已經24小時輪班，中間只有幾個小時的休息時間。

“作為一個輔助警察可以很有趣，”他告訴Channel NewsAsia。 “你可以幫助人們做正常的公眾成員不能做的事情，但工作時間是瘋狂的，人力短缺沒有幫助。


行業實驗室

可以肯定的是，緊縮的勞動力市場不限於APF。在手無寸鐵的安全部門，佔當地安保行業最大數量的工人，長工作時間和停滯的低工資使得該部門的工作多年來對許多人沒有吸引力。

“一個月是足夠了，”安樂先生說，他回憶起他作為一個購物中心保安十多年前的短暫。新加坡人每週工作六天，每天工作12小時，並支付約45新元一天的工作作為一個兼職。

“這是快錢，因為你可以得到你的薪水在兩個星期，我需要現金。每個小時在幾個級別有巡邏任務...步行直到腿疼痛（原文如此），我用我的一天休息，趕上睡眠，但它是遠遠不夠的，“安，42歲，他現在是一個認證的安全培訓師，並運行自己的公司製造GPS支持的老年人安全設備。

去年9月，逐步工資模式（PWM）旨在提高安全人員的工資，同時確保他們的技能和職業協同發展，該部門開始生效。根據安全僱員聯盟（USE）執行董事史蒂夫·坦，新的五級工資階梯標誌著“重要的第一步”。

“看看世界各地，沒有哪個地方是一個安全人員低工資的工作，你為什麼要支付一個低工資的工人保護你最寶貴的資產？這是沒有意義，”他告訴新聞亞洲。

在警察局下，警衛人員的最低基本工資是1,100新元，而他或她在履行每個階段的訓練要求時，該警務人員將能夠升起薪級，最後可以領取超過1,700新元的薪金一名首席安全官。截至上個月，新加坡的大多數250家安全機構都符合PWM的要求。

陳先生說，“從來沒有一個好時機（實施PWM），但是我們必須打破這種惡性循環，而PWM是重要的第一步。”儘管他強調說，這種模式是“不是解決所有問題的靈丹妙藥問題”。

一方面，長時間工作和加班的問題依然存在。安全機構的老闆說，經濟放緩，這使那些僱用安全服務的人思考他們的費用，以準備更精明的一個月，沒有幫助他們改善的情況。

考慮到如果每個保安人員的工作時間減少，增加額外人數或部分時間的成本，一些客戶不願意接受12小時輪班的替代安排。要求與工人簽訂合同以期加薪的機構還必須與競爭對手競爭，他們的投標成本低於入職水平。

SpinnetAsia的執行董事K V Kumanan說：“對於我們可以”拉串“的客戶，他們有時可以給我們的主管一天或兩天，但是沒有多少客戶。

“有些人說：”保安人員坐在那裡，看看人們進出，他們大多數時間都在空閒。現在的經濟較貧窮，他們不想為了安全付出更多的代價，但他們需要明白，這些人員每週工作12天或更多的時間，他們怎麼能感到疲勞和崩潰？甚至MRT分解，對吧？


來自技術的一些幫助

隨著勞動力短缺的可能持續，一些私營保安公司已經利用技術幫助減輕現有工人的工作量，提高生產力。

在風險管理和安全機構TwinRock Global，在某些地點安裝了閉路電視（CCTV）攝像機，以便進行現場監控，減少對地面安全人員的需求。它還鼓勵一些住宅客戶使用門禁控制設備（如自動屏障）“無防護”。

此外，兩年的本地公司在名為THOR的實時報告系統中投入了超過5萬新元，該系統將作為智能手機應用程序提供，以幫助加快日常工作流程。

董事總經理Raj Joshua Thomas說：“現在仍然有許多手工工作流程，包括大量的書籍和錄音，甚至有時候通過手動呼叫每個網站來完成，我們想要消除這種情況。

“有了THOR，當一個軍官報告工作時，他只需要在應用程序中拍攝自己的照片，這將被地理標記。整天，應用程序告訴他他的日程安排和每個任務，他可以指示他是否完成它，例如在巡邏時掃描設施周圍的QR碼，每一個都將實時發送到總部和客戶。它仍處於測試階段，Thomas先生預計該公司的應用程序將在2017年年中全面推出。

在Certis CISCO的24小時綜合運營中心，傳統的監控方法，如檢查CCTV屏幕的人員，已經被配備了視頻內容分析（VCA）技術的現代CCTV系統所取代。 VCA技術可以識別遊蕩行為或檢測人們撬開購物中心的玻璃門的行為，根據操作中心主管Tristan Sim先生。

私人保安公司還與凱德商場合作，通過其業務流程重組操作設計“可以自動化或補充保安員功能的新型安全技術解決方案”。

例如，新加坡廣場等購物中心現在安裝了智能閉路電視，可以監控停車場或車輛下車點的交通流量，而不需要一天的安全人員。據Sim先生說，這種技術的使用將安全人力需求減少了20％。

展望未來，Certis CISCO已經將目光瞄準了利用人工智能（AI）。

“我們打算做的是用我們的VCA攝像機（合併）AI，因此，不是檢測像交叉移動的簡單算法，我們可以使用AI來挑選異常和行為，如人群戰鬥或大群人的會眾如果可以做到這一點，我們的營運中心的人力需求也可以減少。」

長期解決方案？

然而，行業玩家和觀察家承認，儘管技術可以幫助提高生產力，但它有其局限性，不能完全替代人類。

因此，長遠來說，需要更有效地策劃和利用人力，以應付勞工市場緊絀的情況。為此，USE的Tan先生提議在安全合同被調用之前，對所有開發項目進行安全評估是一項強制性要求。

“對於買家，安全合同涉及技術合同和人力合同，他們很少一起被召集，這對安全機構有影響，因為它沒有諮詢技術，這意味著它將不得不操作任何已被選擇，即使它可能不是最好的技術。

“今天，安全評估只是強制性的，如果它是一個關鍵的安裝，它將能夠評估一個地方是否需要安全官員，並可以被技術取代...如果標準已經存在，為什麼不打開它到整個行業？

以瑞典為例，陳先生補充說，新加坡的勞工危機並不像看起來那麼嚴重，如果業界知道如何以正確的方式部署人手，便可以解決。

“瑞典的人口是950萬，是兩倍，但他們只有2萬名警衛，在這裡有41000名警衛，我不認為這是一個人手短缺的問題，我們只是沒有正確使用人力，指的是一些保安人員如何在他們的日常工作範圍內有禮賓和清潔工作。

“安全是一項重要工作，我們的安全人員不能在他們的基本職責之外做普通的工作，只有當這種工作得到改進，安全才能成為一個受人尊敬和高度重視的工作。


改變觀念

但是，這種對“死胡同”的看法是一種恥辱，可能需要時間來改變。

TwinRock Global的Thomas先生回憶說，他在一家當地的技術教育學院（ITE）的學生們對他的公司進行了演講之前。

“在開始講話時，我被噓了，學生說：”回家，拉，這不是我們感興趣的幾乎是在我說我來自安全行業後，“退休的律師他的工作去接管家族企業去年。

雖然行業觀察家說PMW可以幫助吸引新的血液到行業，更多的需要做。首先，淡馬錫理工學院安全產業研究所負責人Jeffrey Seah先生建議，行業參與者應該考慮通過基於績效的獎金和工作輪崗來改善員工福利，並提供更有利的工作與生活平衡。

這就是TwinRock Global正在努力實現的新生效益，例如生日假，以及為符合其期望的官員提供額外的每月績效津貼。該公司也正在採取PWM進一步，與自己的進步的職業道路。

“在我們公司，你可以開始作為一個安全官員，但我們會給你培訓消防安全，飛無人機，你需要的密切保護職責的技能...和這些培訓，你最終可以成為一個教練和開始培訓新的保安人員，“托馬斯說。

“很遺憾，新加坡的職業有一個恥辱，為了表明這可以是一個真正的職業，我們已經為我們的官員提出了這個計劃我在ITE談到這一點，幸運的是，我的談話，學生似乎快樂，噓聲成為掌聲。

但是，不僅僅是沒有武器的安全官員必須克服這個恥辱。 APO也面臨這個問題，根據Abdul先生。

“最奇怪的評論，我聽說過我的工作是因為我們在守衛這個地方，他們叫我們守衛狗。你做什麼，人們沒有看到，當他們沒有看到什麼是欣賞，這是一個謝謝。

但是，阿卜杜勒先生不讓他們去找他，併計劃繼續工作，直到他退休。

“對我來說，我一直都在安全部門...我喜歡這個工作，使我能夠與人互動，最重要的是，我得到一個任務，以確保和照顧我被張貼到的地方， “他告訴Channel NewsAsia。 “這是我的責任，我會做的。

*注：這個故事中輔助警察的姓名已更改，因為他們在匿名條件下與Channel NewsAsia交談。

Long hours, thankless job: Singapore's security sector struggles to secure talent
By Tang See Kit, Channel NewsAsia
POSTED: 10 January 2017 at 8:00 AM
UPDATED: 10 January 2017 at 9:09 PM
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SINGAPORE: It was 8pm on a Tuesday night and as weary office workers left the company's premises, Mr Abdul Rahim's* day had only just begun.

Dressed in a dark blue uniform and armed with a revolver, the auxiliary police officer (APO) took his position at the entrance where he would be carrying out security checks and patrolling duties for the next 12 hours.

"You see me standing guard here most of the time, but if anything happens inside (the building), I will have to be there within a few minutes to check if everything is all right," said the 47-year-old Singaporean.

Trained in areas such as handling firearms and counter-terrorism, APOs are deployed in a range of functions including protecting key installations and non-governmental premises such as commercial banks, as well as supporting police deployment at major events like the Singapore Formula One Grand Prix. APOs are also given police powers to search and arrest offenders when on duty, and can escort persons in custody.

With a 3,500-strong team, private security firm Certis CISCO is the biggest auxiliary police force (APF) in Singapore, followed by AETOS and SATS Security Services. In total, there are about 7,000 APOs, with more than half being Singaporeans, according to Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam last April.

But more are needed and it is a struggle to meet demand. Since 2011, APFs have managed to expand their pool of Singaporean APOs by only 250, falling short of the demand for APOs which is projected to exceed 600 over the next few years, according to a police spokesman. Citing difficulties in attracting locals and recruiting qualified Malaysians, Certis CISCO and AETOS have recently said they are looking to Taiwan to fill their vacancies.

After being on the job for nearly a decade, Mr Abdul said he has adjusted to the gruelling work demands of an APO such as having to be on his feet for long hours. While there are many like him, there are also those who quit within months - usually new officers from the younger generation.

"Youngsters cannot stand the long hours. They need enjoyment, but this job leaves you with no time or energy for that. I know some parents support these youngsters to quit and will help to pay the penalty for breaking the bond."

AETOS, which currently has around 2,600 APOs, told Channel NewsAsia that locals are largely put off by the nature of the job, which can be "both physically and mentally strenuous" while having to endure "tough working conditions" such as harsh weather and the need to work shifts. Younger Singaporeans, who "tend to have a different job outlook and job expectations", have found it hard to accept these requirements, a spokesman said.

For 29-year-old Vincent Teo*, it was the long working hours that eventually cemented his decision to call it quits last year. During his three years as an APO, he said he has had 24-hour shifts with only a few hours of rest in between.

"Being an auxiliary police officer can be fun," he told Channel NewsAsia. "You get to help people and do things that a normal member of public wouldn’t be able to do ... but the working hours are crazy and the manpower shortage doesn't help."

INDUSTRY-WIDE LABOUR CRUNCH

To be sure, the tight labour market is not restricted to the APFs. Within the unarmed security sector, which accounts for the biggest number of workers in the local security industry, long working hours and stagnant low wages have made jobs in the sector unattractive to many over the years.

"One month was more than enough," said Mr Victor Ang, as he recalled his short stint as a shopping centre security guard more than a decade ago. The Singaporean toiled six days a week in 12-hour shifts and was paid around S$45 for a day's work as a part-timer.

"It was quick money because you could get your pay in two weeks and I needed the cash. There were patrolling duties every hour across several levels ... walk until leg pain (sic) and I used my day off to catch up on sleep, but it's never enough," added Mr Ang, 42, who is now a certified security trainer and runs his own company making GPS-enabled security devices for senior citizens.

Last September, the Progressive Wage Model (PWM), which aims to raise the pay of security officers while making sure that their skills and careers progressed in tandem, came into effect for the sector. According to the executive director of the Union of Security Employees (USE) Steve Tan, the new five-level wage ladder marked an "important first step".

"Look around the world, nowhere else is a security officer a low-wage job. Why would you pay a low-wage worker to guard your most prized assets? That doesn't make sense," he told Channel NewsAsia.

Under the PWM, a security officer's minimum-level basic wage is S$1,100 and as he or she fulfils the training requirements for each rung, the officer will be able to rise up the wage ladder and eventually command a salary of more than S$1,700 as a chief security officer. As of last month, the majority of Singapore’s 250 security agencies are in compliance with the PWM's requirements.

"There is never a good time (to implement the PWM) but we have to break this vicious cycle and the PWM is the important first step," said Mr Tan, even though he emphasised that the model is "not a panacea to solve all problems".

For one, the problem of long working hours and arduous overtime remains. Bosses of security agencies said a slowing economy, which makes those that hire security services think twice about their expenses in preparation for leaner months ahead, has not helped them to improve the situation.

Given the cost that comes with an additional headcount or a part-timer should the man hours for each security officer be reduced, some clients have been reluctant to accept an alternative arrangement to the 12-hour shift. Agencies bidding to retain a contract with workers due for a pay rise will also have to compete with rivals who undercut them in tender bids by basing their cost on entry-level pay rates.

"For clients that we can 'pull strings' with, they are sometimes able to give our officers an additional day off or two but there are not many of such clients," SpinnetAsia's managing director, K V Kumanan, said.

"Some of them say: 'The security guards just sit down there and look at people coming in and out. They are idling most of the time.' Now with a poorer economy, they don't want to pay more for security but they need to understand that these officers work for 12 or more hours for so many days a week. How can they not feel tired and break down? I mean, even the MRT breaks down, right?"

SOME HELP FROM TECHNOLOGY

With the labour shortage likely to persist, several private security firms have tapped technology to help ease the workload of existing workers and boost productivity.

At risk management and security agency TwinRock Global, closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras have been installed at certain sites to enable off-site monitoring and reduce the need for security guards on the ground. It has also encouraged some of its residential clients to go "guard-less" with access control devices like automated barriers.

In addition, the two-year-old local firm invested more than S$50,000 in a real-time reporting system named THOR, which will be available as a smartphone app to help speed up daily work processes.

"There are still many manual work processes now, with a lot of books and recording involved. Even attendance is sometimes done by calling each site manually. We want to do away with that," said managing director Raj Joshua Thomas.

"With THOR, when an officer reports for work, he just needs to take a picture of himself in the app which will be geotagged. Throughout the day, the app tells him about his schedule and for each task, he can indicate whether he has completed it such as scanning the QR codes around a facility when he is on patrol. Each of these will be sent to the headquarters and clients in real time." It is still in its testing phase and Mr Thomas expects the company's app to be fully rolled out by mid-2017.

Over at Certis CISCO's 24-hour integrated operations centre, traditional methods of surveillance such as having officers scrutinising CCTV screens have since been replaced by modern CCTV systems equipped with video content analytics (VCA) technology. The VCA technology can identify loitering behaviour or detect the action of people prying open a shopping centre's glass doors for instance, according to Mr Tristan Sim who heads the operations centre.

The private security firm has also worked with CapitaLand Malls to design "new security technology solutions that can automate or complement the functions of a security guard" via its business process re-engineering operations.

For example, malls such as Plaza Singapura are now installed with smart CCTVs that can monitor traffic flow in the carpark or vehicle drop-off points, removing the need for a security officer to be stationed there all day. Such uses of technology have reduced security manpower requirements by 20 per cent, according to Mr Sim.

Moving forward, Certis CISCO has set its sights on harnessing artificial intelligence (AI).

"What we intend to do is to (merge) AI with our VCA cameras and so instead of detecting simple algorithms like line-crossing movements, we can use AI to pick out anomalies and behaviours like people fighting or congregations of large groups of people at certain areas. If this can be done, the manpower requirements at our operations centre can be reduced as well," Mr Sim added.

A LONGER-TERM SOLUTION?

However, industry players and observers acknowledge that while technology can help to boost productivity, it has its limitations and will not be able to replace a human being entirely.

As such, more effective planning and utilisation of manpower will be needed in the long run to cope with a tight labour market. For that, USE's Mr Tan proposed making security assessment a mandatory requirement across all developments before a security contract is called.

"For the buyers, a security contract involves a technology contract and a manpower contract, and they are seldom called together. There's an impact on the security agency because it is not consulted on the technology, which means that it will have to operate whatever that has been chosen even when it may not be the best technology.

"Today, the security assessment is only mandatory if it’s a key installation. It will be able to assess if a place needs security officers and can be replaced by technology ... if the standards are already there, why not open it up to the whole industry?"

Using Sweden as an example, Mr Tan added that the labour crunch in Singapore is not as dire as it seems and can be resolved if the industry figures out how to deploy manpower in the correct manner.

"Sweden has twice the population at 9.5 million but they only have 20,000 security officers. With 41,000 security officers here, I don’t think it’s a manpower shortage problem we are talking about. We are just not using manpower correctly," he said, referring to how some security officers have concierge and cleaning duties included in their daily job scope.

"Security is an important job and our security guys cannot be doing mundane chores on top of their basic duties. Only when this is improved, then can security have a shot at becoming a respected and highly valued job."

CHANGING PERCEPTIONS

But this perception of a "dead-end job" is a stigma that will likely take time to change.

TwinRock Global's Mr Thomas recalled being booed by students at a local Institute of Technical Education (ITE) prior to a presentation about his company.

"At the start of the talk, I was booed. The students said: 'Go home, lah. This is not something we are interested in' almost immediately after I said I am from the security industry," said the former lawyer who quit his job to take over the family business last year.

While industry observers have said the PMW can help to attract new blood to the industry, more needs to be done. For one, industry players should consider sweetening their employee benefits with performance-based bonuses and job rotations, as well as provide a more conducive work-life balance, suggested Mr Jeffrey Seah, head of the Security Industry Institute at Temasek Polytechnic.

And this is what TwinRock Global is moving towards, with newly-implemented benefits such as birthday leave and an additional monthly performance-based allowance for officers who meet its expectations. The company is also taking the PWM a step further, with its own progressive career paths.

"At our company, you can start off as a security officer, but we will give you training about fire safety, flying a drone, skills you need for close protection duties ... and with these training, you can eventually become an instructor and start training new security officers," Mr Thomas said.

"It is unfortunate that there is a stigma on the profession in Singapore, so to show that this can be a real profession, we've came up with this programme for our officers. I talked about this at the ITE and luckily by the end of my talk, the students seemed happy and boos became applause."

But it is not just unarmed security officers who have to grapple with this stigma. APOs also face this problem, according to Mr Abdul.

"The weirdest comment I've heard about my job is because we are guarding this place, they call us guard dogs. What you do, people don't see and what is there to appreciate when they don’t see. It is a thankless job."

But Mr Abdul does not let these get to him and plans to stay on the job until he retires.

"For me, I have all along been in the security sector ... I like it that this job allows me to interact with people and most importantly, I am given a task to secure and take care of the place I am posted to," he told Channel NewsAsia. "This is my responsibility and I will do it."

*Note: The names of the auxiliary police officers in this story have been changed as they spoke to Channel NewsAsia on condition of anonymity.

schweitzer

太长。。。

天然夜行者

schweitzer 发表于 11-1-2017 08:40 PM
太长。。。

通常有故事性和資訊的都是長的，比幾百面的書短了

東區一匹狼

最近APO的工薪把話題越炒越熱引起大家注意

啊不然呢

两个字，“兔聋”