Most Student Constables are expected to be licensed this week after unsent paperwork was discovered in the Student Constables Office on Feb. 19.
AMS Vice-President (Operations) Leslie Yun said she’s expecting most of the licences to come in this week.
“We got confirmation Tuesday afternoon,” she said. “They were sent out from the Ministry [of Community Safety and Correctional Services] Monday evening or Tuesday morning.”
Yun said she and AMS Hospitality and Safety Director Ellen Allwright sent in the paperwork for 45 of the 65 licenses two weeks ago but had to wait for additional documentation, mostly birth certificates, from the rest of the Student Constables.
The 45 Student Constables who had their paperwork sent in two weeks ago should be able to work by the end of the week, she said, adding that they shouldn’t need very many private security guards after this week.
The AMS has been hiring private security guards from G4S Security, the same firm that they use for banking security, Yun said, adding that because the AMS contracted them, they must follow the hands-off policy. If a private security guard were to transgress, the AMS would be responsible.
“The responsibility would fall on us, but we haven’t heard of any incidents so far,” she said, adding that she has been in close communication with the G4S personnel to avoid any incidents. Yun said the AMS decided to contract private security guards for $18.75 or $23/hour instead of letting each event hire their own security so they could make sure they were on board with the hands-off policy.
Allwright said the security guards are expected to cost $4,200.
“That’s why we thought taking this on was better,” she said. “Because we know the people we hire will be in line with our philosophy.”
Allwright said the security gaurds are working as employees of the Student Constables.
“When we are outsourcing we’re ensuring we still have a Student Constable there working as oversight so if they aren’t living up to our philosophy we can contact their supervisor,” she said.
This weekend there are five events that will require 40 private security guards, she said, adding that the biggest event is the ASUS formal and the security guards for it cost $18.75 rather than $23 because of the event requirements.
Allwright said because most Student Constables will be licensed soon, their biggest focus is training for next year in light of new provincial legislation.
“One of the big things that’s upcoming is the implementation of mandatory training for our security service as of April 15 will be mandatory for any security personnel, which includes our constables, to do,” she said. “That is something that we are currently working with the ministry, currently understanding the impact this training program will have for our service in working towards next year how this is going to impact the service in terms of the legislation.”
Yun said any Student Constables licensed after April 15 will have to undergo 40 hours of training which will probably be the first week of May.
“We’re hoping to have enough returning staff,” she said, adding that since returning staff would have their licenses prior to April 15 they are not subject to the training requirements, but any new hires from the March hiring period will be.
Yun said she’s concerned the summer training will mean fewer people will want to be Student Constables.
“We’re concerned it’s going to hinder our ability to hire Student Constables even more so we’re increasing the number of returning staff and creating incentives,” she said, adding that the biggest incentive is a pay raise.
Last night the Board of Directors voted to approve a pay raise for the Student Constables from $9.50 to $11 with an additional $1 for each rank individuals move up within the organization from J1 to J2 to Senior.
“If we’re still not able to meet the staffing levels we need, we’re really concerned about what the impact is going to be,” she said.
Yun said Student Constables aren’t subject to the $25,000 fine for individuals who do not comply with the private securities act and $250,000 for corporations.
“Since the majority of our staff are now licensed and those who are still waiting for their licences are not performing security guard duties, we are within the legal parameters of the legislation and therefore we are not subject to a fine.” Director of Residence and Hospitality Services Bruce Griffiths is the holder of the Queen’s liquor licence.
“As the holder I’m responsible for ensuring its compliance with the liquor license act,” he said. “The legislation that covers the private securities act, Bill 159, is not under the alcohol commission.” Griffiths said he doesn’t think the liquor licence is in jeopardy because it doesn’t mandate security guards on the premise at all.
“There’s nothing that says you have to have security in the liquor licence act and it just says you need to maintain a premise in a certain way.”
—With files from Michael Woods
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