Kidnapping: Global Problem - Limited Solutions!

Looking at the world from a protective-intelligence perspective, the theme for the past week has not been improvised explosive devices or potential mass-casualty attacks. While there have been suicide bombings in Afghanistan, alleged threats to the World Cup and seemingly endless post-mortem discussions of the failed May 1, 2010 Times Square attack, one recurring and under-reported theme in a number of regions around the world has been ‘Kidnapping’.

At the moment a kidnapping occurs, the abduction team usually has achieved tactical surprise and usually employs overwhelming force. To the previously unsuspecting victim, the abductors seemingly appear out of nowhere. But when examined carefully, kidnappings are, for the most part, the result of a long and carefully orchestrated process. They do not arise from a vacuum. There are almost always some indications or warnings that the process is in motion prior to the actual abduction, meaning that many kidnappings are avoidable. In light of this reality, let’s take a more detailed look at the phenomenon of kidnappings.

Types of Kidnappings

There are many different types of kidnappings. Although kidnappings for ransom and political kidnappings generate considerable news interest, most kidnappings have nothing to do with money or political statements. They are typically kidnappings by family members in custody disputes, emotionally disturbed strangers wanting to take a child to raise or strangers who abduct a victim for sexual exploitation.

Even in financially motivated kidnappings, there are a number of different types. The stereotypical kidnapping of a high-value target comes most readily to mind, but there are also more spur-of-the-moment express kidnappings, where a person is held until his bank account can be drained using an ATM card. Such incidents gave been reported from Greater Noida Expressway in UP and from few suburbs of Mumbai.

Then there is a Virtual Kidnapping, where no kidnapping occurs at all but the victim is frightened by a claim that a loved one has been kidnapped and pays a ransom to the alleged abductors. Some of the piracy incidents in Somalia also move into the Economic Kidnapping realm, especially in cases where the crew or passengers are seen as being more valuable than the boat or its cargo.

Since kidnapping is such a broad topic, for the sake of this discussion, security professionals presently may focus primarily on kidnappings that are financially motivated and those that are politically motivated.

Financially motivated kidnappings can be conducted by a variety of criminal elements. At the highest level are highly trained professional kidnapping gangs that specialize in abducting high-net-worth individuals and who will frequently demand ransoms in the millions of dollars. Such groups often employ teams of specialists who carry out a variety of specific tasks such as collecting intelligence, conducting surveillance, snatching the target, negotiating with the victim’s family and establishing and guarding the safe-houses.

At the other end of the spectrum are gangs that randomly kidnap targets of opportunity. These gangs are generally far less skilled than the professional gangs and often will hold a victim for only a short time, as in an express kidnapping. Sometimes express kidnapping victims are held in the trunk of a car for the duration of their ordeal, which can sometimes last for days if the victim has a large amount in a checking account and a small daily ATM withdrawal limit. Other times, if an express kidnapping gang discovers it has grabbed a high-value target by accident, the gang will hold the victim longer and demand a much higher ransom. Occasionally, these express kidnapping groups will even “sell” a high-value victim to a more professional kidnapping gang. (On a side note, most express kidnapping victims tend to be male and are most frequently abducted while walking on the street after dark, and many have impaired their senses by consuming alcohol.)

In the United States, it is far more common for a relatively poor person to be kidnapped for financial motives than it is for a high-net-worth individual. This is because kidnapping groups frequently target groups of illegal immigrants, who they believe are far less likely to seek help from the authorities. In some cases, the police have found dozens of immigrant hostages being held in safe-houses.

Between the two extremes of kidnapping groups — those targeting the rich and those targeting the poor — there is a wide range of kidnapping gangs that might target a bank vice president or branch manager rather than the bank’s CEO, or that might kidnap the owner of a restaurant or other small business rather than an industrialist.

In the realm of Political Kidnappings, there are abductions that are very well-planned, such as the December 1981 kidnapping of Gen. James Dozier by the Italian Red Brigades, or Hezbollah’s March 1985 kidnapping of journalist Terry Anderson. However, there are also opportunistic cases of politically motivated kidnappings, such as when foreigners are abducted at a Taliban checkpoint in Afghanistan or AQIM militants grab a European tourist in the Sahel area of Africa. Of course, in the case of both the Taliban and AQIM, the groups see kidnapping as an important source of funding as well as a politically useful tool.

Understanding the Process

In deliberate (as opposed to opportunistic) kidnappings based on financial or political motives, the kidnappers generally follow a process that is very similar to what we call the terrorist attack cycle: target selection, planning, deployment, attack, escape and exploitation. In a kidnapping, this means the group must identify a victim; plan for the abduction, captivity and negotiation; conduct the abduction and secure the hostage; successfully leverage the life of the victim for financial or political gain; and then escape.

During some phases of this process, the kidnappers may not be visible to the target, but there are several points during the process when the kidnappers are forced to expose themselves to detection in order to accomplish their mission. Like the perpetrators of a terrorist attack, those planning a kidnapping are most vulnerable to detection while they are conducting surveillance — before they are ready to deploy and conduct their attack. As we have noted several times in past analyses, one of the secrets of counter surveillance is that most criminals are not very good at conducting surveillance. The primary reason they succeed is that no one is looking for them.

Limited Solutions

Of course, kidnappers are also very easy to spot once they launch their attack, pull their weapons and perhaps even begin to shoot. By this time, however, it might very well be too late to escape their attack. They will have selected their attack site and employed the forces they believe they need to overpower their victim and complete the operation. While the kidnappers could botch their operation and the target could escape unscathed, it is simply not practical to pin one’s hopes on that possibility. It is clearly better to spot the kidnappers early and avoid their trap before it is sprung and the guns come out.

Kidnappers, like other criminals, look for patterns and vulnerabilities that they can exploit. Their chances for success increase greatly if they are allowed to conduct surveillance at will and are given the opportunity to thoroughly assess the security measures (if any) employed by the target. We have seen several cases in Mexico in which the criminals even chose to attack despite security measures such as armored cars and armed security guards. In such cases, criminals attack with adequate resources to overcome existing security. For example, if there are protective agents, the attackers will plan to neutralize them first. If there is an armored vehicle, they will find ways to defeat the armor or grab the target when he or she is outside the vehicle. Because of this, criminals must not be allowed to conduct surveillance at will. Potential targets should practice a heightened but relaxed state of situational awareness that will help them spot hostile surveillance.

How to avoid

Potential targets should also conduct simple pattern and route analyses to determine where they are most predictable and vulnerable. Taking an objective look at your schedule and routes is really not as complicated as it may seem. While the ideal is to vary routes and times to avoid predictable locations, this is also difficult and disruptive and warranted only when the threat is extremely high. A more practical alternative is for potential targets to raise their situational awareness a notch as they travel through such areas at predictable times.

Of course, using the term “potential targets” points to another problem. Many kidnapping victims simply don’t believe they are potential targets until after they have been kidnapped, and therefore do not take commonsense security measures. Frequently, when such people are debriefed after their release from captivity, they are able to recall suspicious activity before their abduction that they did not take seriously because they did not consider themselves targets. One American businessman who was kidnapped in Central America said upon his release that he knew there was something odd about the behavior of a particular couple he saw frequently sitting on a park bench near his home prior to his kidnapping, but he didn’t think he was rich enough to be targeted for kidnapping. As soon as he was abducted, he said that he immediately knew that the awkward couple had been observing him to determine his pattern. He said that he often thought about that couple during his two months in captivity, and how a little bit of curiosity could have saved him from a terrifying ordeal and his family a substantial sum of money.

The same steps involved in a deliberate kidnapping are also followed in ad hoc, opportunistic kidnappings — though the steps may be condensed and accomplished in seconds or minutes rather than the weeks or months normally associated with a well-planned kidnapping operation. And the same problems with lack of awareness often apply. It is not uncommon to talk to someone who was involved in an express kidnapping and hear the person say, “I got a bad feeling about those three guys standing near that car when I started walking down that block, but I kept walking anyway.” This frequent occurrence highlights the importance of situational awareness, attack recognition and proper mindset maintenance.

Potential targets do not have to institute security measures that will make them invulnerable to such crimes — something that is very difficult and that can be very expensive. Rather, the objective is to take measures that make them a harder target than other members of the specific class of individuals to which they belong. Groups conducting pre-operational surveillance, whether for an intentional kidnapping or an opportunistic kidnapping, prefer a target that is unaware and easy prey. Taking some basic security measures such as maintaining a healthy state of situational awareness will, in many cases, cause the criminals to choose another target who is less aware and therefore more vulnerable.

Also, most people who are kidnapped in places like Afghanistan or the Sahel know they are going into dangerous places and disregard the warnings not to go to those places. Many of these people, like journalists and aid workers, take the risk as part of their jobs.

In retrospect, almost every person who is kidnapped either missed or ignored some indication or warning of danger. These warnings can range from observable criminal behavior to a consular information bulletin specifically warning people not to drive outside of cities in Guatemala after dark, for example. This means that, while kidnapping can be a devastating crime, it can also be an avoidable one.

Third Dimension of Terrorism: UAVs

What 9/11 proved in USA was that terrorism is not related to field only! It spread its wings in the air. Hijacking of aircrafts is thing of the past in which certain degree of violence was involved. How a ‘violence oriented perverted mind’ can think-of knows no limit! The terrorists speedily migrated from use of small arms, bombs and grenades to IEDs, and NCB (Nuclear, chemical and biological) materials. The world has seen in recent past decisive shift in the terrorists’ approach to ways and means to unleash violence. India shall not remain unaffected to this change.

We have seen the third dimension of Terrorism during 26/11 in Mumbai. The entire world took note of it. That terrorists will actually use the sea-route was not conceived by Indian establishments specially intelligence agencies! Even when LTTE was for decade using the sea-route to land arms on Indian shores and even when since many decades smugglers used the sea-route with impunity for smuggling narcotics, gold and arms-and-ammunition, this incident came as surprise to security forces in India. Even when there was writing on the wall about potential use of sea-route by terrorists, we failed to read! The “Blue Water Capability” of ’LTTE-on-the-run’ was indicative of similar capability which was to be extended to ‘sate sponsored terrorism’ of Pakistan brand.

The last week has been full of rumors that the terrorists are planning to strike India using aerial routes such as gliders, micro-lights etc beside using small aircrafts. We have prepared ourselves to effectively counter such attempts is beyond doubts. But one fact needs everyone’s attention and that is the potential use of UAVs (Unmanned Arial Vehicles) by the terrorists. While doing research for an article for one Defense Year Book, I gleamed through certain alarming facts related to UAVs used by USA in Afghanistan and Baluchistan. There are reports that not all the UAVs sent there are accounted-for! There were thousands of them sent for reconnaissance and attacks on Taliban hideouts. It is believed that Pakistan army was in control of part of them. Some of them were actually used there but few of them are believed to have been spirited away. Even the UAVs under control of US Army in Baluchistan and Afghanistan are not fully accounted for. The discrepancies noticed are not officially reported and the investigation to trace their where-about is underway in very secretive manner.

The mysterious disappearance of these UAVs has posed great threat to the security of India. These UAVs will create havoc if Talibans and the terrorists of other hues get control over them. The intelligence agencies must take note of these possibilities and ensure that Pakistani and American activities related to UAVs remain under close watch. The security forces must also take note of these developments and prepare themselves to combat threats emanating from such possibilities. There detection and counter response needs to be upgraded accordingly.

Rise of UAVs

When man went to war it was he and his enemy. Fight was all about peprsonnel strength, valor and application of mind. Application of mind led to invention of weapons and sooner then expected there was platora of wepons to be used – in indivuidual fights or collective fights such as of armies of adversaries – individual or Nations. Search for effective wepons lead to human kind many weapons where human involvement was sought to be less and less so that men can be away from harm’s way. So that while wepon systems are fighting each others, their controllers are far away under secure command and control posts.

In Mahabharata, Dritrashtra heard the entire running commantory from Maharshi Ved Vyas in the safe confines of his abode. There were flying objects at that time which could be controlled mentally. Evn if the tales of Mahabharfata are to be taken as scince fictions, they were based on some realities or possibilities of realities as limit of the most ‘out-of the-world fantasy’ is moored to ground realities – as said by great philosopher Patanjali. It is therefore safe to assume that remote controlled weapon systems such as Brahmastra and metally controlled flying machines such as Pushpak Viman were within the realms of reality.

What is a UAV?
An Unmanned Aerial, or Air, Vehicle (UAV) is according to MSN Encarta an "un-crewed reconnaissance vehicle: an un-crewed aerial vehicle that can fly over combat zones and staging areas, dropping supplies to troops, releasing bombs, carrying out reconnaissance on enemy forces." This definition would have everyone believe that UAVs are only used in military scenarios. This is far from the truth.

An un-attributed definition used by the US military is: UAVs are capable of operating without an internal pilot; are tethered by a radio control link; and can be preprogrammed for both flight and payload operations prior to launch. This second definition gives a much clearer perspective on the uses and roles of a UAV.

One final note on the UAV acronym: it has many extensions, as all-acronyms.com has noted 10 including plurals:

• Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(s)
• Unmanned Aerospace Vehicle(s)
• Uninhabited Aircraft Vehicle
• Unmanned Air Vehicle
• Unmanned Airborne Vehicle
• Unmanned Autonomous Vehicle
• Unmanned Vehicle
• Upper Atmosphere Vehicle

For UAS, all-acronyms.com has only one aerospace variant, Unmanned Aircraft Systems. It is perhaps this definition that is the most important. However within these extensions there is one very important word, Autonomous. UAVs or UAS will in the future become fully autonomous. Like advanced artificial intelligence these systems will be able to sense where they are, what they are doing, what they should be doing, where they should go to complete the pre-programmed task and how they can complete that task most efficiently and effectively and with a certain degree of luck return to base. In the future the UAS rather than the UAV pilot will be the biggest decision-maker during a mission with the UAV pilot just monitoring what the vehicle is doing. The abbreviation UAV has been expanded in some cases to UAVS (Unmanned-Aircraft Vehicle System).

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV; also known as a remotely operated aircraft) is an aircraft that flies without a human crew. Their largest uses are in military applications. To distinguish UAVs from missiles, a UAV is defined as a reusable, uncrewed vehicle capable of controlled, sustained, level flight and powered by a jet or reciprocating engine. Therefore, cruise missiles are not considered UAVs, because, like many other guided missiles, the vehicle itself is a weapon that is not reused, even though it is also unmanned and in some cases remotely guided.

Predecessors of UAV
The term drone (Webster’s: "a pilot-less airplane or ship controlled by radio signals") was in vogue in the 1940s and 1950s when they were used predominately as aerial targets, giving way to remotely piloted vehicle (RPV) in the Vietnam era to distinguish their new role as reconnaissance assets from that of their target cousins, then evolving to unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in the 1980's, when interest in them renewed, to show a break from the previous generation technology and to cleanse any political/mental association with Vietnam. With efforts underway to develop rules integrating UAVs into the National Airspace System, and realizing that Federal Aviation Administration rule-making authority applied only to "aircraft," the term remotely operated aircraft (ROA) was coined in 1997 to ensure UA were covered under FAA's statutory language. The U.S. Air Force refers to its Predator UA as "remotely piloted aircraft" because they are unique in having a pilot with a stick and rudder flying them.

The Curtiss / Sperry Aerial Torpedo made its first successful flight on 6 Mar 1918 at Copiague, Long Island, NY. The 950-lb UAV flew 1000 yards after being launched by a falling-weight catapult; six were built and several made repeated flights. Subsequently, in Oct 1918, the 530-lb Wright Liberty Eagle (a.k.a. Kettering Bug) made its first successful flight; some 40 were built, with production cut short by the war's end. Both were more specifically the forerunners of today's cruise missiles. The British RAE 1921 Target made the world's first successful radio controlled flight without a pilot onboard on 3 September 1924, followed just 12 days later on 15 September by a similar accomplishment by a modified U. S. Navy N-9.

Common uses of UAV
UAVs can perform those missions considered "dull, dirty, or dangerous" for their manned counterparts. Examples include orbiting endlessly over a point for communications relay or jamming (dull), collecting air samples to measure pollution or Chemical / Biological Warfare toxins (dirty), and flying reconnaissance over hostile air defenses (dangerous). And while some will still contest it, it is increasingly accepted that UAVs cost less to build (two to five times the weight of the pilot in specialized equipment is needed just to support him, not to mention double, triple, even quadruple redundant systems to ensure his return, not just the aircraft's) and to operate (pilot proficiency flying is eliminated or maintained on cheap semi-scale UAVs, oxygen servicing is eliminated, etc.).

UAVs differ from ordnance and missiles in that the air vehicle is designed to come back and be re-used. They also differ from remotely-controlled aircraft and especially small hobby planes in that they operate out of line of sight and at altitudes where a person on the ground cannot readily see them. Like guided missiles UAVs are sophisticated systems incorporating lightweight airframes, advanced propulsion systems, secure data links, and high technology control systems and payloads. These air vehicles still need a pilot who rather than being seated in the aircraft itself is located in a control centre normally referred to as a Ground Control Station. The degree of sophistication now required to field an UAV is leading to people in the business referring to these systems as Unmanned Aerial Systems or UAS.

There is a wide variety of UAV shapes, sizes, configurations, and characteristics. Historically, UAVs were simple drones (remotely piloted aircraft), but autonomous control is increasingly being employed in UAVs. UAVs come in two varieties: some are controlled from a remote location, and others fly autonomously based on pre-programmed flight plans using more complex dynamic automation systems.

Currently, military UAVs perform reconnaissance as well as attack missions. While many successful drone attacks on militants have been reported, they are also prone to collateral damage and or erroneous targeting, as with many other weapon types. UAVs are also used in a small but growing number of civil applications, such as firefighting. UAVs are often preferred for missions that are too "dull, dirty, or dangerous" for manned aircraft.

The MQ-9 Reaper (originally the Predator B) is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) for use by the United States Air Force, the United States Navy, and theRoyal Air Force. The MQ-9 is the first hunter-killer UAV designed for long-endurance, high-altitude surveillance. The MQ-9 is a larger and more capable aircraft than the earlier MQ-1 Predator. It can use MQ-1's ground systems. The MQ-9 has a 950-shaft-horsepower (712 kW) turboprop engine, far more powerful than the Predator's 115 hp (86 kW) piston engine. The increase in power allows the Reaper to carry 15 times more ordnance and cruise at three times the speed of the MQ-1.

In 2008 the New York Air National Guard 174th Fighter Wing began the transition from F-16 piloted planes to MQ-9 Reaper drones, which are capable of remote controlled or autonomous flight, becoming the first all-robot attack squadron. Then U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff General T. Michael Moseley said, "We've moved from using UAVs primarily in intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance roles before Operation Iraqi Freedom, to a true hunter-killer role with the Reaper." As of 2009 the U.S. Air Force’s fleet stands at 195 Predators and 28 Reapers.

Indian Story So far…
Successful utilization of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in the Kashmir region, coupled with India’s aviation industry boom, is expected to provide UAV development programs the necessary foundation to succeed in the immediate future. India’s UAV market has been idle in the last two decades and has not followed up on the earlier successes of indigenous UAVs. Hence, the government has targeted a few areas in the Indian armed forces that need modernization. The introduction of UAVs is one of the first steps taken in this direction. In the future, the utilization of UAVs in India’s military is expected to eventually spillover to commercial industries as well.

'UAV technologies are expected to re-shape national defense strategies and policies, and are currently being tested in real-world situations by the Indian armed forces,' says the analyst of this research service. 'Early test results have proven that this technology will be very useful and successful in different types of operations.' In addition, maritime operations, as well as surveillance and reconnaissance operations in India are boosting the demand for medium altitude long endurance UAV (MALE UAVs) and tactical UAV (TUAVs).

India’s lack of focus and technological capabilities drives the need for a concerted framework for current and future UAV development programs.

What future hold for India
While many infrences can be drawn to the statement by former Mosad Chief Afrem Helvi given during HT Leadership Summit 2009 that “Only hot pursuit can break the backbone of terrorism” it provably hinted at use of technology and not the humen form of it. Reminding that “if pakistan have nuclear weapons then india too is not inferior” his advise was to break the terrorists bases he emphesized that “for hot persuitit is not essential to use conventional forms(Hindustan dated 31st oct. 09). Thus UAVs seem to logical option for this purpose. Possibly emoldened by the USA success in Swat Vally in Pakistan, Indian Home Minister was hinting at ‘fierce retaliation’ if 26/11 is ever repated by Pakistan (TOI dated 2nd Nov. 09).

To become a major participant in the Asia Pacific UAV industry, government-linked organizations have been set up to provide a concerted framework for current and future development programs.' The Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) is one such institution that assists India to be self-reliant in terms of UAV technology. In view of India’s extensive use of the UAV technology, the country’s armed forces are expected to be well equipped. In addition, India is likely to require non-domestic partnerships in the immediate future to proceed with indigenous research and development.

Expert Frost & Sullivan analysts thoroughly examined the following market sector in India in their research:

• UAV Research and development
• Manufacturing
• Training
• Components and parts
• Maintenance and repair

Management’s perception of Security

Introduction

Security is a vital function of fostering an appropriate environment conducive for development and growth. In the wake of growing security concern at national and international levels, it has become imperative for all the establishments including industrial entities to upgrade and modernize the security systems for effectively meeting the growing challenges.

Security is not any more regarded as peripheral function entailing additional expenditure to the organization but is considered as a critical and integral part of the organization for the prevention of loss that the organization might suffer in absence of effective security system. This is contrast departure from traditional approach which management uses to have only few years back. Any forward looking management with sincere concern for the security of plant and personnel has either changed their approach or is in the process of changing it with the understanding that security is no more side function but it is main line function with bearing on organization’s productivity and profitability.

It is imperative for security professionals to understand the principal of operation, application and constraints of security so that they could provide effective security environment in an organization. Security In-charges perform not only line duty but also staff duty, in that, they work as an Advisor to the top management on all matters relating to security administration. It is, therefore, essential that all the Security In-charges share the vision and aspirations of the management and be part of the management’s perception of security. They are also instrumental in remodeling the security plans and giving new directions to the management’s approach to security measures.

Sound Security Philosophy

All the security measures undertaken in any industrial entities are aimed towards ensuring continuity of production and related business activities. Management’s focus is always to ensure that nothing should happen which would be harmful to person, property and plants, which affect adversely the organization’s productivity and profitability. That is why security must be capable of evaluating the present security measures vis-à-vis threat perception. The security measures must be adaptable to the changes taking place in context of social, industrial and economical trends.

Effective security system must have four interacting elements as given below:

• Delay
• Detect
• Deter or alert, and
• Respond

So much so that at times measures for delay also work as measures to detect or deter. The best possibility is that one singular security measure is capable to perform the functions of not only deterring and delaying but also detecting the potential wrong doer, giving sufficient time to the first responder to muster all the resources and manpower to counter any attempt on breach on security.

Security is integrated function

It is matter of past that security function was related to un-important side function which was thought to be consuming organization’s financial resources without being profit generating activities. The security was considered a function which worked in isolation and often was reduced to ceremonial activities and was considered to re-active rather than pro-active.

With the advent of open economy, global approach and industrialization, the management now-a-days not only considers the “cost of security” but also considers” not having the security”. It is very emphatically realized that security function is a main line function and has become an integrated function by which most of its inputs are received from other functions and most of its outputs are treated as input for other departments such as Fire and Safety realize upon Security on reports on conditions of water hydrants, hose pipe, nozzles etc. placed all over the plant along with basic fire fighting equipments. Similarly, Production Department rely upon the observations of the plant area through security gadgets all personnel surveillance to ensure that the production units are in healthy conditions.

Following few are the illustrations about integrated approach towards security department:

• Security functions are performed more or less by all the departments
• Fire & safety, production and operation & maintenance functions are directly linked with the security functions
• Stores & purchase, marketing and product development have security bearings

Direct link with productivity

The industrial security as an integrated function of the management in India is a very recent concept. It is now only that work-managers in the industries started treating this function as an important function directly related with the productivity and profitability.

Present management considers that security aptitude is directly related to the individual’s attitude towards life. No one intentionally have accidents, no one consciously exposes himself to danger and similarly no one is expected to deliberately indulge in unsafe practice or act in a manner compromising the security measures. It is for that reasons only that all the employees in industries highly vulnerable towards fire are non-smokers. Though security practices discourage them bringing smoking material inside. They also on their own become concerned about their un-safety and security and therefore change their habits and encourage others discouraging them towards smoking. This type of community feeling and sense of responsibility become additional impetus to security consciousness. In short security is everybody’s concern.

Present law and order situation has forced every industry not to rely upon law enforcing agencies but to have their own dependable security plans and personnel. Every employee’s participation in ensuring security consciousness is a matter of apprehension by the management. However, it is also the management’s duty to ensure the speedy and exemplary punishment to those who are found responsible for breach of security measures. After all, it is a matter of life of other innocent employees and family members or people at large which is endangered by such breach of security.

Security is everybody’s concern

Security needs today are much more complicated in view of the growing impact of latest information technology, high-tech communication systems and fast change and growth. If not today, in future, people need to adopt an in-built security system in their personal lives. Present law-and-order situation has forced every industry to have their own security plans.

These industries are no more fully dependent on law enforcing agencies which are short of resources and at times short of manpower. Any breach of security which affects the industries affects it employees also. This realization is very sharply noticed in the employees working in hazardous industries. It must be also realized that even when the security is the primary job of the security professionals, it must be remembered that they have their limitations too!

Any breach of security jeopardizes the life of all the persons in the vicinity; therefore, it must become the prime concern of everybody.

Security is way of life

Every parent teaches their children to walk safely and play safely as they ensure their children play and run or cycle in a way in exposing themselves or others to danger. Slowly, children themselves develop security consciousness and graduate to driving safely. Thus, security is way of life, as in our life we learn to live safely and securely, we also bring this attitude and aptitude to our work place also. No one would like to expose himself or others to in danger; similarly they also do not appreciate or encourage others to expose them in similar situation. Security staff though is charged upon the basic duties to ensure security of work place, their job is made easier by the employees who believe that security is way of life.

Changes in Security

From the stage when security meant a chaukidar, it has reached the stage when it is highly technical, and, skilled manpower is required for manning and staffing the security department. It is now a high-tech field where engineers who know the computer - software and hardware, will only succeed.

As industrial development is taking place faster than expectations, threats to the industries are also increasing. The ways and means available to miscreants have also been upgraded as it means security professionals to change in their reaction accordingly. They are expected to become pro-active. Perpetual preparedness is the need of the hour. They are required to appreciate their roles and responsibility clearly and perform their assigned task suitably. They must also abreast with latest development in the filed of security systems and upgrade their professional skills. Therefore, they must recommend state of art technologies and gadgets for effective security measures in the light of fast changing “attack methodology” by anti-social elements.

Security is management function

It is the duty of management to protect the personnel and property of the installations by having necessary security infrastructure. It is erroneous impression that security is responsibility of security officers and not the management. Security officer is to advise the management on security matters and implement their directives and instructions.

Security & System Design at Blue Print Stage

It has been noticed that many industries are set up with huge investment which do not offer conducive work environment or safety and security of personnel, raw material and the finished products. As a result, more expenditure is incurred on installing effective security measures at a later stage when either heavy loss has incurred or the organization’s reputation has been irreparably damaged. It is also observed that at later stage a design or lay out fault caused heavy expenditure for effective security arrangements. Forward looking management paces an integrated approach and ensures that security is inherent strength of any industry. For this management ensures that all their industrial ventures are secured by design and planning. Security surveys, threat evaluation, risk assessment etc. are such tools to not only find out the potential causes of the approach of security but also to find out the effective remedies. It is encouraged by modern broad minded management that architect, project director and the security in charge interact with each other right from the blue print stage till successful commissioning of the project.

There should be a constant dialogue between architect and security expert right from the beginning. Advantage of this approach is that there is in-built security consciousness and there is no major alteration or modification at later stage involving huge expenditure

Security to be Cost Effective

Though no expenditure is considered too high while considering security of personnel, management would always prefer the options which are not only highly effective but also involve less expenditure. Overly Jealous approach to curtail expenditure should not result into situations when security measures become ineffective. Management would be willing to allocate budget only to such proposal which not only indicate the effectiveness of the security measures proposed but also prove to be incurring the least possible expenditure. Management would also examine that designed security systems match with the threat perception. If threat perceptions are not based on sound research supported with facts then exaggeration may creep in causing in desirable high expenditure.

Cost Effectiveness in the parlance of Industrial Security Management is the situation where by the highest security standards can be maintained by spending lowest possible amount after which there can be no further decrease of money or man power without affecting the security preparedness adversely.

Sound Management Practices

It is imperative that security management is based on well worked out plans, procedures and preparedness. This state can only be achieved by observing following:

• Upgrading knowledge & skill
• Continuous training & sensitization
• Upgrading security systems & gadgets
• Updating security plans & programs
• Enforcing directives from Govt. & other agencies
• Increasing sensitivity towards security needs

Conclusion

Management now days consider security as main line functions and understand that it is integral part of productivity and profitability of the organization. Management is also actually aware of requirement of providing adequate budget to the security needs. It is also expectation of the management from the employees that they remain security conscious, alert and pro-active to security requirements and treat security as their primary concern if not primary role. Many industrial disasters are testimony that only those organizations could come back to business which had sound management practices related to security and safety. After all, “War decides not who is right… but who is left!”

All security personnel are required to ask three questions to themselves and find the answers for their own self satisfaction and also for their justification of their existence in the organization : (i) Why are we here? (ii) Are we meeting expectations? Are we in control or controlled by environment? While answering first question i.e. (i) Why are we here – all security personnel need to understand their role clearly and take suitable action.

While finding the answers of above three questions, they have to address themselves as to whether they are up to date. So far as knowledge and technology is concerned, it has to be of international standard.

Security is way of life and basically depends upon right attitude and aptitude, but consciousness is to originate and spread further from each and every employee. As Goethe has once said “Let everyone sweep their door steps and world will be the cleaner place.

CASE STUDY: UNETHICAL PRACTICE DURING CONSTRUCTION PHASE

THE BACKGROUND

During the construction phase of one pipeline project, line pipes and flanges of various diameters were stored at one of the Base Camps. This Base Camp was located in an open field without any perimeter wall or fencing and with hardly any illumination during night. The exigencies of project called for high in / out bound movement of materials stored in the Camp which itself was in the middle of wilderness. The entire material was under the custody and security of the Consultant (one of the leading PSUs in consultancy service under Ministry of Petroleum).

THE CRIME

The area was notorious for dacoits as many gangs operated there. The overall security responsibility was of undersigned that used to carry out area patrolling during night time as on various occasions gangs were reported to have attempted to enter the Base Camp and steal whatever they could.

The striking fact emerged after analyzing past incidents that whenever group of personnel were reported in the vicinity and were challenged, the custodian of material i.e. the Consultant reported theft of various items which appeared to be false and fabricated. So much so that even when some imaginary people were challenged and gun rounds were fired in the area for dramatic effect, next morning Consultant invariably reported theft cases.

The Project In-charge was kept in confidence along with Executive Director (Security & Vigilance) and one night the store yards’ doors were sealed and various heavy items stacked outside were marked surreptitiously just to find out easily if anything was moved from there. As per the plan, during the night Security Gypsy with search lights on and armed security personnel challenging imaginary thieves moved in and around the Base Camp late in the night. Next morning, as expected, Consultant submitted written complaint of theft of about dozen of flanges of 36” diameter!

Soon after the Project In-charge was taken to the spot in the store yard, where those flanges were supposed to have been stored and reported to have been stolen from. One observation confirmed that from the site nothing was removed as markings put last night were intact. There were no foot prints, nor there were any marks of removing heavy 36” dia flanges which require at least four men to handle each of them.

MODUS-OPERANDI

The matter was further investigated and deep- rooted conspiracy emerged in which the Storekeeper of the Consultant was the master mind. The whole operation of misappropriation of the property was carried out with the following modus operandi:

* Same contractor was awarded the job of laying the pipeline by another Oil PSU also laying the pipeline of 36” dia. Same Consultant was providing consultancy to this Oil PSU also. The procurement source of flanges was also same in both the projects.
* The project of other Oil PSU was getting delayed due to damage and short supply of flanges of 36” dia whereas our project has sufficient spares.
* Even while receipt voucher indicated supply of number of flanges, there was deficient supply on ground. Thus, even while documents indicated certain number of supply of flanges on ground, the concerned Storekeeper actually received lesser numbers. Thus ground balance was always less than the record balance. This situation was created and used for adjusting the ground objects by blaming them on theft cases.
* Deficient supply was re-routed to the same Consultant and the same Contractor at project site of other Oil Sector PSU.

CONCLUSION

Striking similarities in modus-operandi and similarity in crime pattern must be given serious and closer look as most of the time a sinister plot might emerge out of misappropriation of valuable items causing not only the financial losses but also very expensive delay in project completion, thus harming market reputation of the organization beyond repair.