B LU E S E C U R I T Y
BLUE SECURITY
Minimising Danger In Durban PRODUCTION: William Denstone
Blue Security is a Durban born-and-bred company, taking care of home, community and business security needs. The private security industry in South Africa is among the largest in the world, and Blue Security continues to harness the latest in technology to keep itself safely positioned at the top of the pile. 2 / www.enterprise-africa.net
INDUSTRY FOCUS: SECURITY
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As Durban’s leading security provider, Blue Security can draw on almost 30 years of protecting its people and assets to keep them safer than ever. The careful forging of a brand known for being trustworthy, responsible and delivering service excellence has been instrumental in separating it from the abundant competition in the security arena. SECURE GROWTH In recent years there has been an explosion of growth in the private security industry, not only in South Africa, but also in the rest of the world. The private security industry in South Africa, though, is among the largest in the world, a fact closely linked to the rising number of high-wealth individuals in South Africa in comparison with the rest of the continent. Estimates put the number of registered companies at over 9000, and
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the sector employing more than half a million registered active private security guards. This is alongside a further 1.5 million qualified, but inactive, guards, figures which represent many times the available personnel of the South African police and army forces combined. A steadfast commitment to its central values and being synonymous with reliability has kept Blue Security ahead of the rest, to date, in an industry worth somewhere win the region of R40 billion. “Reputation is what separates us,” then-Managing Director, now CEO, Hank van Bemmelen, told us last February. “We drive our brand, deliver excellent service and ensure that we remain community-focussed. We are here to fight crime and nothing else. “Our core values comprise care, ownership, passion and service and when you get those right, everything else falls into place.” Blue Security’s policy of constant
// CRIMINALS ARE CONSTANTLY CHANGING THEIR STRATEGIES AND IF WE DON’T KEEP AHEAD OF THEM WE WILL GET LEFT BEHIND // innovation has allowed it to be behind some of the key developments in the security industry in recent memory. Among many others, smart control systems, habitation imitation technology and outdoor beam detection systems have been gamechanging advancements in client and property safety. “We are beyond the technology where you punch in a code to turn
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INDUSTRY FOCUS: SECURITY
the alarm on or off - everything is now mobile,” van Bemmelen explained. “We are in a space now where we need to adapt to stay in touch with that type of technology. CCTV, video monitoring and picture verification are the big things coming through the business. “Criminals are constantly changing their strategies and if we don’t keep ahead of them we will get left behind.” UNDER THREAT? It seems counterintuitive that an industry which has, on so many occasions, shown itself integral to South African society may face turmoil, but this could be a danger as a controversial new bill awaits a Presidential signature into law. The chief criticism of the legislation centres on the Minister of Police’s power to expropriate up to 100% of a foreign-owned security company, and limit foreign ownership of private security companies to 49%. However, passing this bill in its current form would almost certainly impact upon the private security
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industry as it currently exists. Economist Roelof Botha, speaking to the City Press, estimated that if the bill is signed into law more than 800,000 jobs across various sectors would be lost, as well as about R133-billion of the country’s GDP. “The evidence shows empirically that private security is contributing to the public good,” said Julie Berg, associate professor at the Institute for Safety Governance and Criminology at the University of Cape Town. “There’s a very blurry difference between a private interest and a public interest – they overlap a lot and that’s where the State is resistant to the idea that anyone other than the public police can do that.” The most recent Stats SA Victims of Crime survey found that the most feared type of crime is house robbery. In addition to this, the Victims of Crime survey showed public’s faith in the police’s ability to solve crimes has steadily fallen. In 2011, 64% of people had confidence in the police; this figure dropped to 58.8% in 2015/16. “Crime
// WE DRIVE OUR BRAND, DELIVER EXCELLENT SERVICE AND ENSURE THAT WE REMAIN COMMUNITYFOCUSSED // is rising on a daily basis… police don’t have the resources. People go into private security because they know the police can’t be all over,” commented Andre Rushin, an armed response officer for Secupro Armed Response in Mitchells Plain. Parliament passed the bill in 2014 after it was talked by former police minister Nathi Mthethwa for reasons of national security, since when it has been awaiting presidential attention. “When the president came in, he requested an audit of all the bills that need to be assented, and this is
BLUE SECURITY
among them,” explained spokesperson Khusela Diko. “Ramaphosa also requested advice on the bill from the State Security Agency and we are awaiting an opinion for it,” was the conclusion for the time being. ON THE SCENE While Durban does, unmistakably, have all the elements to seriously challenge Cape Town and Johannesburg as one of the most elite cities in South Africa, the local police force is still fighting hard to win its war on crime – largely down to the extent of criminal activity which occurs on the beachfront. Such is the perceived problem that an immense R39 billon has been plunged into targeting the city’s worst offenders. The city finds itself plagued by four primary crime types, according to South African Police Service (SAPS) data for 2017/2018. Common robbery, theft from motor vehicles, non-residential robberies and property-related crime are all on the rise; Durban Central has
the second highest rate of car and motorbike theft in the entire country, while damage to homes and living areas is another scourge. Fortunately for all, the sheer number of times that Blue Security finds itself on hand with swift action means that the Durban public are in increasingly safe hands after all. So often, a crime reported in the news will culminate in Blue Security heroism, and more often than not that crime will be one of the big four currently blighting Durban. Blue Security spokesperson, Andreas Mathios, described just at the end of January how an alleged shoplifter was arrested on the Durban beachfront after a theft from a shop.“The officer responded to the scene of the crime, tracked the suspect down and recovered the shoes,” he said. “The suspect was handed over to Durban Central SAPS members at the scene.” In the same period, an armed response officer was able to arrest an
alleged housebreaker. “The suspect climbed over a back wall and broke a window before forcing open a burglar guard to gain entry into the house. When our officer arrived at the scene he spotted the suspect climbing out over the back wall. He gave chase and managed to arrest him,” Mathios stated. Durban can be sure it is in safe hands, then, with Blue Security around. “I have a lot of passion to make a positive change in the world,” Hank van Bemmelen told IOL at the time of his appointment as CEO last October. “My first priority is that the business must fight crime and as in any business our people are our priority. “It will always be in your blood to fight crime,” van Bemmelen wisely concluded, and Blue shows no signs of quitting any time soon.
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Published by CMB Media Group Chris Bolderstone – General Manager E. chris@cmb-media.co.uk Sackville Place, 44-48 Magdalen Street, Norwich, NR3 1JU T. +44 (0) 20 8123 7859 E. info@cmb-media.co.uk www.cmb-media.co.uk CMB Media Group does not accept responsibility for omissions or errors. The points of view expressed in articles by attributing writers and/ or in advertisements included in this magazine do not necessarily represent those of the publisher. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained within this magazine, no legal responsibility will be accepted by the publishers for loss arising from use of information published. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or stored in a retrievable system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the publisher. Š CMB Media Group Ltd 2019
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ENTERPRISE AFRICA
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