'Retired Army officers should be used in industry security'

Terming the industrial safety and surveillance to be of major importance, Army's Eastern Command chief Lt Gen Abhay Krishna on Friday said industries should utilise retired Army officers to boost the security infrastructure as they are highly trained in risk management.

"Retired Army officers should be used to ensure industry security. Our people are highly trained in how to handle security risks like fire, disaster.

"They are highly expertised in surveillance, monitoring and intelligence gathering which are applicable for safeguarding the industry infrastructure," Krishna said on the sidelines of Industry Safety and Surveillance Conclave organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce here.

"We already have a huge trained manpower (in the Army)... highly trained in risk management. Also, they retire from service relatively early, so most of them are in the middle aged group. That is why I have made this offer," he said.

Krishna said the standard of security personnel provided by private agencies in the country is "not very high" as most of them lack proper training.

"I think instead of getting the untrained people employed just because the person wears a security badge, the industry should utilise the expertise of the retired army officers."

"Most of the industrial tragedies take place here because we do not use our mind, do not try to achieve the expertise and always try to take action after the mistake. Sometimes, we keep repeating the mistakes too," he said.

Referring to intelligence gathering as one of the most important aspect of any security procedure, Krishna said the Army gets trained in cyber security, intelligence gathering, fire safety, physical security on a day-to-day basis.

"Intelligence gathering is very important. You have got to have intelligence about everything... Unless one constantly gathers intelligence, he will not able to identify the threats," he added.

--IANS

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