Licensed Armed and Unarmed Security Officers

Mr Zainal Sapari asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs (a) if he will provide a breakdown of (i) the total number of armed and unarmed private security officers licensed by the Police Licensing and Regulatory Department in the current year; (ii) the total number of armed and unarmed private security officers engaged by the Government in all its outsourced contracts in the current year; and (b) what is the estimated value of all security contracts outsourced by the Government in the current year.

The total number of armed private security officers, known as Auxiliary Police Officers (APOs), and unarmed private security officers (SOs) licensed by the Police as of July 2012 is 6,408 and 65,679 respectively.

In March this year, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Home Affairs conducted a survey of public sector security contracts. Responses from contractors were sought on a voluntary, in-confidence basis via the respective Government agencies. Based on the returns, Government agencies engaged a total of about 1,200 SOs and 1,800 APOs. The estimated value of these security contracts was about $175 million.