Jack Straw: getting tough

Straw Cracks Down on Security "Cowboys"

He said the Government would start consultations to establish a "comprehensive and effective" system of regulation for the private security industry.

Measures under consideration include a statutory licensing system for security guards, with penalties for firms which take on staff with criminal records.

Mr Straw, addressing the British Security Industry Association in London, emphasised the wide-ranging nature of the review, which would be extended to cover private vehicle wheel-clamping firms.

"It is an extraordinary irony that an industry which attempts to regulate the behaviour of others is subject to no regulation itself," he said. "The result is that ... cheats and villains are able to operate. These rogues undermine the fine reputation of the established companies who enforce effective standards and self-regulation."

David Fletcher: welcomes shake-up

Fletcher interviewed on BBC television. Dur: 2'10"

The head of the Security Industry Association, David Fletcher, welcomed Mr Straw's proposals. On BBC television's Breakfast News he spoke of the damage done to the security industry by rogue operators but he stressed that, "over-regulation must be avoided".

The move comes amid growing concern at the huge expansion of an industry estimated to employ 170,000 staff, far outstripping the police.

Criminal Records

In another case cited by the police, the managing director of a security firm recommended an employee for a shotgun licence, even though he knew he had been convicted of killing his wife.

The previous government, after strongly resisting pressure to regulate the industry, announced last December that it was consulting on proposals for a licensing system, with a six-month jail sentence for employers who took on anyone with a criminal record.