The recent dastardly attacks in the Westgate shopping mall in
Nairobi have sent shivers down our spines. Moreover, they have shaken up the
entire shopping centre management community across the world. They have sent a
warning signal to every mall management to keep tighter controls to ensure
safety. No sooner did the attacks happen
in the Eastern African region, than immediate steps have been taken to beef up
security in malls and public places on a war footing in many parts of the world.
The US Federal government according to NBC reports was to hold discussions with
security agencies to beef up security in the US malls. Notwithstanding events
of this kind, India has always been a target of terror. But yet the steps that are
taken to safeguard and insulate our malls from such attacks are clearly
inadequate by any standards of safety.
In the last few years, after the 26/11 attacks in 2008, our
malls are guarded and for the first time a few steps towards ensuring security
were taken by all organizations that manage malls. We see the electronic security gates in every
mall. The security staff screen and search every visitor in the mall. Some
basic measures are put in place to safeguard our malls. But the entire security
system is quite weak in many a mall in India. It’s not enough if electronic
screening of visitors is done but it needs to be done with all proper security
measures in place.
Though in many malls a security team may be pressed into
operation, there is yet no measure followed on how many should be the minimum
number of security staff employed either in relation to the space of the
shopping mall or in relation to the number of customers who visit the mall. A
minimum number of adequately trained security staff in malls is essential to
carry out the implementation of personal safety measures in malls. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) does a very good job of ensuring security at our airports. They
are trained well to have a hawk’s eye on the entire environment and carry out
all the specified safety processes properly. The quality of the team and their
training levels with certification to every member from the various relevant
departments like fire department and police (not just to the mall management)
should be specified and made mandatory.
Daily security walks and mandatory parades for every security team
ensured by the mall management could address safety issues if any, on a daily
basis. Security training must be taken up seriously by security agencies. Each
security staff employed as guards in establishments should have undergone qualifying
training requirements (on the lines of The Indian Home Guards) under
certification by the state police department or by the Central Civil Defense
Training Centres in each State.
Whenever special security beef up is required, say consequent
on VIP visits, we see the mall security team engaging security dogs. The
security screening of vehicles and parking areas may need the service of
sniffers all the time. There are special breeds of dogs and there are special
training needs for them to be efficient. All these have to be specified and
made compulsory for every mall management to follow in India. Further the bag
screening is also done only in a very few malls sincerely. Efforts have to be
taken to ensure that every bag and every item shoppers might bring into the
mall is screened for safety. Every mall
must follow a common policy on what items could be carried into the mall for
reasons of safety. The whole list of
safety equipment to be carried in a mall should be made mandatory and certified
for the trained and demonstrated operating capabilities of the security team in
charge of the mall in a single security window by an authority like the state
police force.
It is suggested that the security team of the mall works in
tandem with the local police. The local police also needs to be in touch with
the security agencies and the chiefs of every security team in order to ensure
that the safety measures are in place. Local police, security agencies that
malls work with and the mall security personnel have to work together to take a
security audit of every mall and come up with the implementation of stringent
measures to ensure safety.
The safety of visitors to a mall is directly proportional to
the degree of seriousness the mall management may evince to ensure safety to
all. Currently specified mandatory compliances are only routine safety certifications
from a few departments to ensure basic safety. These are squarely inadequate in
terms of the safety standards to follow in order to guarantee total security. One
can ensure the serious guarding of our malls only when the safety responsibilities
are co-owned by the mall management and the state police authority, who should
not hesitate to deploy police presence in malls, whenever needed.
After all, safety is a matter of life and death, not to be
taken for granted, any way!
- Dr. Gibson G. Vedamani
