Security experts meet to discuss standards, guidelines

Security management professionals and certified protection professionals have gathered in Accra to discuss how to advance and improve security performance in Ghana.

The professionals, who are members of the Ghana Chapter (Chapter 278) of the American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS), draw their membership from the full spectrum of the security sector.

Members include cyber and operational security professionals from across the private and the public sectors, allied organisations and partners and security solution providers.

Speaking at the opening of a seminar and the chapter’s maiden annual general meeting (AGM) in Accra, the first Vice-regional Chairman of ASIS, Captain Joe Awuni, (retd), said the chapter sought to develop security management standards and guidelines that would enhance the performance of professionals in the sector.

To achieve that, he said, it held educational and networking forums which would provide access to current information and practices in the evolving and demanding security industry.
The AGM was on the theme: “Harnessing the role of the security practitioner for national development”.

Media

The General Secretary of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Mr Kofi Yeboah, shared with the participants how the chapter could leverage the media to promote security and safety in Ghana.

He urged them to be open to the media by engaging them more frequently to address critical national security concerns.

Mr Yeboah said to promote and publicise the work of security professionals and the industry in Ghana and drive best standards in the security industry, members of the chapter must communicate security issues in simple terms to enhance understanding and avoid inaccurate reportage by the media.

ASIS

The Chairman of the ASIS Ghana Chapter, Mr Alexander Acquaye, said security and safety were specialised areas which required the training of media personnel interested in the sector.

He said the chapter was ready to liaise with the GJA to train journalists who were interested in covering security and safety issues.

ASIS, he said, was the world’s largest and most recognised security association, with around 40,000 members, made up of security professionals from around the globe.

It was founded in 1955, with its Headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, and is mainly dedicated to increasing the effectiveness and productivity of security professionals by developing educational programmes and materials that address broad security interests.

In 2011, ASIS gave approval for the formation of its Ghana Chapter, the second chapter in West Africa after Nigeria, and it became fully operational in 2013.