Is Security Really Secure? Perth teens nightmare at the hands of guards

By Georgia Rullo //

THE mere meaning of security is to be free from danger or threat, so why are they at the front of problems being faced in Perth’s club and festival scene?

18 year old Perth teen Taylah Wood* experienced this first hand when she attended ‘Seasons’ at Ascot Racecourse on March 12.

She was waiting in line to the event for two hours before walking to the bouncers for an ID check when a female security guard asked her to take her sunglasses off, a standard procedure for event checking.

When she did, she was told she was unable to be let through as her eyes were “red” along with the fact that one eye could not close, under the assumption that she was heavily intoxicated.

Wood, who then had to wait another hour with security guards before finally being let in has mild cerebral palsy. This causes one side of her body to lapse around half a second later to the other side.

When Taylah mentioned her disability and told the guards they were being unreasonable, the female guard told her again that she was still not allowed in.

“I was very upset, they definitely could have handled the situation better,” she said.

The teen said a senior manager then came out and handed “complaint” cards for people like Taylah to email about their mistreatment.

“I didn’t want to complain, I just wanted to forget about it,“ she said.

Australian Security Industry Association Limited says the industry employs over 170 000 people nationwide, with one of their two main groups listed under manpower which includes body guarding and security officers.

There are three main levels of achieving a certificate in security at ASIAL, which includes entry, trade or advanced level training.

There are over 19 courses available for people to complete, with the time it takes to complete ranging from seven days to one year.

21 year old Tyler Miscall, who worked the door at Bar1 nightclub at Hillarys Marina for the best part of a year agrees that security guards do get the training and cannot just be one if they choose.

“There are specific courses you have to do, and they are normally semester to a year long,” Miscall said.

He also says future bouncers are taught mainly different ways to handle drunk people as well as how to get out of aggressive situations.

Miscall adds that although they get a lot of training, more should be done in terms of the spectrum of training they get.

“Security guards do need more training to deal with injury based events, their current training is really to deal with when a situation breaks out in front of them,

“As soon as [a situation] moves off their property and out of their eyesight, its not their issue,

“That’s the problem,” Miscall finished.

Ascot Racecourse were contacted but were unavailable to comment.

*Name was changed for anonymity reasons.