State has big backlog of guard applications

Limited staffing and a last-minute rush by security guards to comply with a new law governing the industry has resulted in a backlog of more than 2,300 applications for identification cards awaiting processing by the state Board of Private Detectives and Guards.

At the center of the issue is Act 208 of 2010, which required that by June 30, 2013, all Hawaii security guards go through an eight-hour instructional class, be fingerprinted, undergo background checks and obtain registration cards from the board, which is part of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.

An estimated 10,500 security guards and others who might fall under the definition of "acting in a guard capacity" were required to get the new cards. But as of Monday only about 4,500 ID cards had been issued out of about 7,700 applications received, the department said. About 875 people had yet to be licensed or required further review, leaving more than 2,300 that had not been processed, the DCCA reported.

Lee Donohue, security director at Securitas Security Services, said the delay in processing applications has caused the state’s largest security guard company to lose money. Newly hired guards without the ID cards cannot work by themselves and can only shadow veteran guards until they do, he said. As a result, he said, Securitas cannot charge its clients for the cost of those employees. "So we’re eating the cost."

Donohue, a former Hono­lulu police chief, said the division should have been given more support when "they were given this daunting task of trying to get everybody registered."

Others dealing with the issue, however, praised the board and Charlene Tama­naha, its executive officer.

"The agency’s been working really hard," said Jane Sugi­mura, president of the Hawaii Council of Associations of Apartment Owners,who has been part of an ad hoc committee that began meeting in anticipation of the new law two years ago.

Sugimura’s group is exasperated by the new law for different reasons from ones cited by security companies such as Securitas. Many apartment and condominium owners are wondering whether apartment managers or parking lot attendants actually fall under the definition of a security guard, she said. The board has not come up with a clear definition, and it may be up to the Legislature to clarify its intent, she said.

The law was intended to better regulate an industry that some felt was suffering from a bad reputation. The swelling in the ranks of applications was spurred in large part by the requirement that all security guards within a security agency now be registered. Under the old law, only the company and a "principal guard" needed to register, Tama­naha said.

Further, the old law required only security companies to register with the state. Those companies or properties that supplied their own security guards — from hotels to apartment buildings — were exempt, she said.

The agency began its notification program in 2011 and created the ad hoc committee to help get the word out to various interests who use security guards from condominium associations to shopping centers and Realtors, Tama­naha said, and helped set up training sessions.

Tamanaha said her office normally consists of herself and a clerk, but she has enlisted the help of other DCCA officials to work overtime — at night and on Saturdays — to help process the piles of applications that have been coming in.

The agency is self-sufficient and derives its revenues from fees but still must obtain approval from the Legislature to hire new people. Lawmakers in 2012 appropriated $114,532 for two temporary staff positions, but the agency felt that rather than waste precious time training the new employees, it would be more efficient to pay a rotating group of 10 existing staff employees familiar with the program to work overtime on evenings and weekends, said Brent Suyama, DCCA spokes­man.

A big part of the problem is that many security guards waited until the last few months, or even weeks, to begin the registration process. "You can lead a horse to water …" Sugi­mura said.

Frank Commendador, owner of Jan-Guard Hawaii, said he believes the industry was slow to accept the new law and contributed to the bottleneck.

After scrambling to meet the deadline, Commendador said, some of his own company’s guards are still waiting to hear whether they’ve been issued IDs.

"I think once we get past this year, things will be a lot more smooth," said Commendador, whose company contracts out security guards on Oahu and Hawaii island.

As with other security company representatives, Commendador said he supports the law. "Our industry keeps getting a bad name — the rent-a-cop syndrome," he said, adding that his company’s own background checks and training for employees is more extensive than what’s in the new law.

Technically, the new law requires the full six-member board to OK an application at its monthly meeting, but a three-member application review committee, made up of the three Oahu board members, is meeting every few weeks to pre-review the processed applications, Tama­naha said.

Those who applied by June 30 and have not yet been processed are being told to continue working unless they’ve been flagged with a "deficiency letter," Tama­naha said. That could be an application that did not include all documents such as a high school diploma, a payment check, or needed to have their criminal records reviewed further by the applications review board, she said.

Those who applied July 1, when the law took effect, or after are supposed to obtain their ID card before working, Tama­naha said. The board agreed at its July 11 meeting to allow part of its staff time to be devoted to processing new applications in response to concerns raised by the security guard industry.

Spike Denis, a Securitas official, urged board members at its July 11 meeting to help ease the backlog that was affecting major security companies, which collectively hire an estimated 100 new security guards a week.

Denis said the agency was estimating process times of 15-20 days for new applicants, a situation that was unfair especially because the agencies are highly regulated, conduct rigorous background checks and provide extensive training for their guards beyond what is required by the new law.

Another hang-up has been the extensive number of applicants who warrant a "deficiency" flag and require more extensive background checks and verifications due to criminal records, Tama­naha said.

An estimated half of the applications have some type of conviction that requires additional review by either Tama­naha or the board. While some are for traffic violations or other offenses that would not preclude an applicant from acting as a guard, "all felony convictions require board review."

Commendador said he was "shocked" at the high percentage of convicts registering for security guard IDs. Like Denis, he said his own company’s background checks on potential hires are extensive.