Mall guards

Metal detectors are meant to hasten the security check. But many times, I passed by guards with hand-held detectors that do not work. Are they for display only?

The focus is now on the mall security guards in the police investigation into the robbery at the JCentre Mall in Mandaue City Saturday, Oct. 19, 2019.

Police arrested a total of nine suspects in the incident but four of them got killed in the process of their arrest. Robbed were jewelry stores Ginros Gem and Jewelry, Oro China Wedding and Engagement Rings, M Lhuillier Jewellers and Jay-Ann Jewelry, and money changer the Ichange Money Forex, where a total of P136 million worth of jewelry, cash and cellphones was taken.

While police go after the other four people involved in the heist, their investigation has considered security guards on duty at the mall that time as “persons of interest,” meaning they will be questioned for possible knowledge of the criminal act.

I leave it to the police to determine if the mall’s guards were culpable but one observation about how guards conduct security checks in malls is that they are inconsistent in the ways they go about the checking. I’m not referring to JCentre Mall alone because I noticed these irregularities in other shopping centers and malls.

Security checks are usually strict at the main entrance but it is cursory checking at the side or back entrances from parking areas. Some guards conduct the check like they are merely going through the motions of it. Not one second more.

They require people to open their bags or packages but, once opened, they quickly peek inside and not bother to spend more than a second checking the contents. And there’s something about the metal detectors that they carry. I’ve experienced many times guards with hand-held metal detectors that are for show only because they do not work.

Metal detectors are meant to hasten the security check. But many times, I passed by guards with hand-held detectors that do not work. Are they for display only? Something for the one hand to hold while the other looks, or goes through the motions of looking, into the bag or package? Without using the detector, they require people to open their bags, again, to peek and not actually check their contents.

There are guards who touch you or your back as you pass. Was that a frisk? Are guards supposed to touch those who enter? If they do frisk, they should inform the public or ask permission from the person to be frisked.

Then there are guards who, when I enter with my sunglasses on because it’s sunny outside, tell me, “Miss, imong sunglasses.” I usually reply with, “Oo, nindot no?” (Yes, they’re nice.) That’s because the guards don’t say what I have to do with my sunglasses. (A friend eventually told me what they meant. Lift them so they see you.)

Security guards are there to deter criminal activity by their mere presence or by doing a check. What happened Saturday night at the JCentre Mall calls for a review of what guards are supposed to do, what training they need and the equipment they should have to be able to do the job.

Often, the heroic misgivings of “citizen journalists” can cause panic when they spread news and information not sourced from the authority or government agencies. In fact in many instances, prank or fake news often spreads swiftly than the straight news.