Researchers for the Panorama programme said their investigation revealed an industry in which former criminals can flourish.
The show claimed that a loophole in Private Security Industry Act, which was set up to regulate the industry, lets serious criminals operate freely as “security consultants”.
One man, a convicted drugs trafficker with a firearms offence, told undercover reporters he controls a security empire spanning motorways, city centres, supermarkets, colleges and toy shops.
Robert Wright, who previously ran a security company in Scotland, is now said to be a “major figure” in the security firm Feba Custodia, which claims to operate at airports, hospitals and Ministry of Defence facilities.
During secret filming Wright admitted to being more than a consultant at Feba Custodia, saying he is “driving” the firm.
“Working with police”
“I am working quite extensively with Walmart at the moment,” he says.
“I am doing really well with them, I am earning quite a substantial amount of money just now.
“Believe it or not I am working with the police in Sheffield on an advisory capacity working on the CCTV Liaison Unit.”
Feba Custodia has been given Approved Contractor status by the SIA, but BBC sources think the firm could be indirectly employing Wright without knowing it because sub-contracting is so common in the industry.
The SIA’s chief executive, Michael Wilson, was quick to defend the security industry at large. He told the broadcaster that the industry was good, but had a “few bad eggs” that needed to be removed.
Loophole
He admitted, though, that the regulator cannot act against someone just because they are a security consultant.
“If he’s just calling himself a security consultant, and doing nothing, then we won’t touch him,” Wilson said.
“We can’t touch him because he’s not carrying out a licensable activity.
“If he can be shown to be involved in licensable activities, then we can touch him.”
He added, “I don’t see it as a loophole if somebody is genuinely acting as a consultant, then their background may concern us, but it’s not technically a problem unless they have a hands-on influence in that company.”
Wilson told the BBC that it was perfectly possible for Feba Custodia to have been awarded Approved Contractor status by having directors on its board that do not hold criminal records.
“If they have on their books someone who has not declared their director activities that is, acting in a shadow director capacity, perhaps calling themselves a consultant, then that is something we would look at very seriously and if we found that to be occurring in a Approved Contractor we would almost certainly remove their Approval status,” he said.
The British Security Industry Association (BSIA) congratulated last night’s programme, which it said “exposed a criminal minority within the security industry”, but said professionalism remains at the heart of the industry.
“The existence of a criminal minority within the security industry has been well known for some years and the need to eliminate this unwanted element is one of the reasons why the BSIA supported the industry’s regulation,” said BSIA chief executive David Dickinson.
He added that the BSIA will offer “every assistance” to the SIA in their work to seek out criminal operators and enforce legislation.