Security workers at Auckland pubs fear that people will be able to read the numbers on their ID badges and use them to identify them on a licensing register. File photo / NZME
A security company says threats made against its employees working in Auckland pubs have reached a point where it holds a “genuine fear” for their safety.
The Auckland company has been taping over the workers’ certificate numbers on their identity cards, fearing they could be identified on social media, but has now been told this is unlawful.
The company has been identified only as “A Security” in a newly-released decision of the Private Security Personnel Licensing Authority.
The owner of A Security told the authority that, over the past year, threats to staff had got to the point where they feared for their safety.
He provided recent examples, including someone threatening to shoot a security guard for refusing access to a bar.
Other guards were threatened by gang members when they told them to relocate within a venue.
Another employee was seriously injured, the decision said, without detailing the circumstances.
“He [the owner] says that his staff are concerned that if they display their IDs people will be able to read their certificate numbers and then search the security register to learn their names,” authority head Trish McConnell said.
“If this happens he considers it would be relatively easy for the person to be able to find the security guard on social media and then be able to locate them or their families.
“It is for this reason A Security’s staff either obscured their IDs or taped over their certificate numbers.”
Police and the security firm owner both sought clarification from McConnell about the requirements of the Private Security Personnel and Private Investigators Act for guards to wear visible identification badges.
The Act says they should wear badges with a unique identification number and a photograph of the guard.
However, it also says a private security worker can be exempted from this if they “reasonably believe” that wearing it will threaten their safety.
Police complained that A Security’s employees were not wearing their IDs in a readily visible position. They met with the owner, who then told his staff to wear their IDs but to tape over their certificate numbers.
Police responded that they did not consider this complied with the Act, and filed a complaint with the authority.
McConnell said the examples she had been given of threats and violence against security staff occurred at bars while they were working.
However, she said A Security’s owner did not know of anyone who had recorded the eight-digit certificate number in small print from a worker’s ID and used it to find out that person’s name from the authority’s register. Nor did the police.
“Most patrons who threaten or assault security guards are affected by drugs or alcohol,” McConnell said.
“Therefore, it is highly unlikely they would remember the number, even if they were able to read it in the relatively dim light at such venues.
“I accept that security guards working at some pubs and clubs feel vulnerable and have a reasonable fear of threats to their safety. I also accept that on occasion security staff are placed in dangerous positions.
“However, wearing an ID which displays their certificate number does not contribute to the threats; nor does it increase the danger of positions into which they are placed.”
She said that the ID must be displayed so that its front is visible, and it must not have its unique identifier or any other of the required information blanked out or taped over.
Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of front-line experience as a probation officer.
