Age Restriction for Private Security Officer's Licence Applicants

37 Mr Zainal Sapari asked the Minister for Home Affairs whether the Ministry will consider allowing only persons aged 18 and above to apply for the private security officer's licence.

Mr K Shanmugam: The Police Licensing and Regulatory Department (PLRD) only allows persons aged 16 and above to apply for a Security Officer's (SO's) licence. This takes into consideration that under the Employment Act, persons are no longer considered children or young persons, when they are aged 16 and above.

Regardless of their age, all SOs must meet the same training standards before they can be deployed. They must be certified competent in two mandatory courses conducted by training organisations accredited by SkillsFuture Singapore. These modules cover security skills and knowledge, such as how to respond to suspicious persons, vehicles or activities, when carrying out their duties. Assessments are conducted as part of their training to ensure that SOs are competent before they can be deployed.

There are fewer than 10 active SOs below 18 years of age out of over 40,000 active SOs. To date, PLRD has not received any adverse feedback regarding SOs who are below 18 years of age.