Friday’s shooting has shocked and shaken the public and those in the armoured guard industry. Now, one guard is speaking out, and calling for tougher screening before and after someone is hired.
This is a wake-up call according to one armoured guard. Fearing repercussions, she’s asked not to be identified.
“You have a trust and a bond with your crew that you’re working with,” the armoured guard says. “Now, knowing this could have been prevented had they had more in-depth screening within the industry, I truly feel he would not have passed or been hired. Now everybody is guarded up against anybody new. It’s frightening.”
This worker says screening should happen before and after a guard is hired.
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“I didn’t even have an interview. It was over the phone then; come on in, you’re hired,” she recalls.
G4S says its employees go through criminal checks, behavioural tests, and reference checks. However, some social media marketing experts feel companies should be digging even deeper.
“The more puzzle pieces I’m able to put together the better the picture of you I now have right,” explains Ray Bilodeau, a …
Bilodeau adds G4S is not to blame for Friday’s shooting. Still, he says social media sites could help identify red flags. Travis Baumgartner has a Facebook page, a profile on a dating website, and a Twitter account. Some of his posts reveal a darker side.
“We can’t use this moment in time to look back in hindsight and say you should have done this or done that, no,” says Bilodeau. “Let’s look forward and say what can we learn from this.”
The Provincial Privacy Act outlaws employers from searching social media sites, unless the employee gives permission.
However, people who carry a gun and transport money for a living, say anything and everything should be done to protect workers.
“A lot of people over the years have been fighting for changes and its sadly taken a tragedy to happen.”
With files from Kendra Slugoski
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