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All in-house security officers and guards employed by universities and colleges will be vetted and re-trained to deal with the rising cases of insecurity within and around such institutions.

The Private Security Regulatory Authority (PSRA) yesterday said following the increased incidents of insecurity, it has been decided that a meeting with heads of security and officers in charge of securities in public and private universities and institutions of higher learning be held with a view to ensuring they are safe and secure.

“In view of the foregoing, the government has commenced mandatory nationwide security vetting, training and licencing of all in-house security officers,” PSRA said.

The exercise will also involve contracted private security officers and all officers offering security services, be they employed by the said institutions or otherwise engaged as private security providers.

Private security

The government had adopted a raft of measures to professionalise the private security industry and enhance collective security capacity in order for them to work closely with the national security organs/.

The Authority has also involved guards and bouncers who have been retrained and vetted, a move intended to go a long way in ensuring safety and security given their distribution across the country and their position as points of contact.

“Over a million guards are spread across the country and with proper vetting and training they will enhance public safety and security. Our officers must work closely with the local guards given their distribution across the country and their position as points of contact,” Nairobi police commander Adamson Bungei said last week.

The government is in the process of re-engineering and streamlining the sector’s operations to ensure effective and efficient service delivery.

To ensure that private security firms fully comply with the regulations, the PSRA has also set out conditions which must be met before their services are engaged.

On Monday, for example, the PSRA faulted the Kenya Railways Corporation over a tender to hire the services of a private security company.