Accountability activists in British Columbia say more transparency is needed around how complaints against security guards — especially serious allegations such as use of force and racial discrimination — are handled.

They say it’s of particular concern because a significant portion of complaints to the province’s regulator result in no sanction against guards or security companies, according to data obtained through a freedom of information (FOI) request and verified by CBC News.

Within both the FOI-requested dataset and publicly available figures, there is little further insight about how many complaints have involved more serious allegations, prompting a call from activists for the province to make more of the data public.

“Right now, people can’t even draw their own conclusions because [the data] doesn’t exist out there,” said Stephen Harrison, a Victoria-based blogger and police accountability activist who made the FOI request earlier this year.

There’s also concern that very few people are aware of the public complaints process in B.C. at all, especially as the province does not publicly post a list of disciplinary outcomes by the Registrar of Security Services (RSS) — unlike other jurisdictions, including Ontario.

The calls for transparency come following high-profile cases of security guards using excessive force in B.C. in recent years, including one being convicted of manslaughter in April after putting a mentally ill man in a headlock, and another pleading guilty to assault after breaking a man’s arm in 2016.

Harrison said he requested the security guard data after a friend told him they witnessed a security guard at a Victoria grocery store restraining someone by pushing their face into the sidewalk.

There are two pieces of legislation governing the security industry in B.C. — the Security Services Act and Security Services Regulation.

The act primarily governs the conduct of security companies, while the regulation covers individual security guards’ conduct. The FOI data shows 67 per cent of the complaints made from 2021 to 2023 pertained to the regulation.

However, no further breakdown is available.

More than 100 complaints per year, on average, have been made to the RSS since 2007, according to the FOI data, covering a range of allegations from companies employing unlicensed workers to excessive use of force by guards.

But the FOI statistics requested by Harrison show that, within that time, around two-thirds of the complaints made against security guards and companies in B.C. resulted in “no sanction.”

Harrison says that signals there’s a problem.

“The statistics are showing that your complaints are likely to be dismissed or result in no discipline,” he said. “The question would be, is this process working? Is this serving the people, necessarily?”

The number of complaints that pertain to use of force were not provided in the FOI data.

The province said in an emailed response to CBC News that of the 50 complaints against security guards that required investigation by the province’s Security Programs Division (SPD) last year, 15 of them involved allegations of use of unnecessary force.

It did not provide further details.

Many people ‘not aware of their rights’

Siobhan Barker, an equity, diversity and disability justice consultant in Vancouver, said a lack of awareness about the provincial regulator could be leading to people being disenfranchised.

“It really is [an issue] of people becoming aware of their rights,” they told CBC News. “So many individuals are not aware of their rights and therefore are unaware when their rights are being violated.”

“I think [due to] the lack of awareness of the overarching body that pertains to security guards, [they] perhaps get empowered to enact greater levels of physical contact and violence than is regulated or intended,” they added.

Siobhan Barker, a consultant on issues of diversity and inclusion, says a lack of awareness of oversight regulation for security guards in B.C. is effectively disenfranchising people. (Siobhan Barker)

Barker was involved in a human rights complaint against a Burnaby, B.C., casino, where they allege they were racially profiled by security guards in 2020.

They said they only became aware of the regulatory body when CBC News contacted them for an interview.

“To know that there’s actually recourse, to know that there’s actually mechanisms in place that can assist in these situations, that’s something that definitely needs to be more broadly circulated,” Barker said of the complaints process in B.C.

While B.C. maintains a list of licensed security companies in the province, Ontario’s security industry regulator has posted annual reports of how many complaints it has received and broad categories detailing disciplinary outcomes it has issued — similar to the dataset received by Harrison.

Harrison suggests B.C. goes a step further and publicly breaks down which types of complaints result in sanctions, the progress of various complaints and whether certain security guards are being held accountable for their actions.

Scrutiny of industry increasing, instructor says

Kristin Greffard, owner and lead instructor at Sheepdog Self Protection, teaches advanced security training, which is required in B.C. in order to get a security licence.

Greffard said her instructors are told to screen potential applicants and flag them if it seems they might have intent to hurt or disrespect members of the public.

She acknowledged that scrutiny of the profession has been increasing — as it has been for law enforcement and bylaw officers in recent years.

“It is without a doubt that there will likely be more oversight of security guards as the years move forward, as there has [been] with police,” she said, pointing to bodies like the Independent Investigations Office and the Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner.

The Independent Investigations Office is one of the regulatory bodies involved in regulating police in B.C. (Ben Nelms/CBC)

A spokesperson for B.C.’s Public Safety Ministry told CBC News that complaints against security guards in B.C. are not posted publicly due to privacy legislation.

They said incoming changes to the province’s Police Act would not affect the oversight of security guards.

“Security workers are civilian workers and not police. They do not have special rights or authorities beyond those of any citizen in B.C.,” the spokesperson wrote.

“Concerns regarding serious use-of-force incidents can also be brought to police, who can determine whether a criminal investigation is appropriate,” they added.