At an exclusive Q&A event for Yondr clients, Rory Steyn, Nelson Mandela’s former personal protection team leader, provided some insights into his time working with the South African president and shared key security principles that could be applied to our industry. In the article below, Rory shares how empathy plays a part in security.
CEO of African Operations at NSA Global Rory Steyn talks to John Perlman regarding the protection of whistleblowers and witnesses on The John Perlman Show.
For those of us in either law enforcement, private security practice, or both; we’ve all been there. Someone gets in your face, sometimes getting physical, spewing vitriol and insult after insult at you because they know they can. Or rather, because they know (or think) that you can’t do anything about it. Sound familiar?
South Africa awoke to a cabinet reshuffle last week, one that many in the private security industry will say did not go far enough in addressing the issues that arose during the looting and disruption that occurred so recently and cost the country so much.
Several news articles published this past week interviewed managers of and security officers themselves and quoted the very reputable Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in saying that the SA Police Service is unable to address the safety and security needs of its citizens. It is private security companies that have stepped into that gap, trying to breach it. As with education, those families that can afford to, pay for both private education and private security; two things that, in most other countries, are provided by the State.
The South African Police Service published the latest crime stats for Q1, 2021.
The immediate question that springs to mind is, “How much under-reporting is really happening?” This is because every conceivable platform used by the ‘common man’ to gauge crime trends, such as security WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram groups established by industry role-players, crime prevention forums, residential areas and their private security vendors; clearly indicate a significant uptick in crime. Both in frequency and brazenness, if that is even a word.
Given our recent introduction of a range of new, specialised services, and ever since our establishment in 1999, NSA Global Security Consultants has developed an impressive track record of successful international security deployments worldwide. We are now proud to introduce our new South African divisions that bring world-class security solutions to the South Africa security context.
Having watched this video many times on all kinds of platforms over the past week or so and read hundreds of comments, some positive, some funny and some negative, we are motivated to note down some general observations and thoughts:
The SA Police Force as it was known then, established “Truck Hijacking Units” comprised of experienced detectives in the early 1990s, to deal with what was seen as an increasing scourge, and one following on from a rise in vehicle hijackings; something that we still know today.
The Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, had it right when he said, “Change is the only constant.” And most new year messages contained wording to the effect that, “2021 can only be better, let’s just forget 2020.” I think Heraclitus would’ve been amazed if he were able to look around today. Here’s a small sample of today’s headlines from the world of news, economics and of course, security:
