Sustainability in the security industry

ISJ hears from Eng. Arif Aljanahi CSyP,  Head of Security Engineering Dept., SIRA.

SIRA is generally regarded as a legislative and service authority working in the private security sector in Dubai.

SIRA seeks to achieve its vision of “Security Leadership for Sustainable Protection” by organising the security industry sector in Dubai, implementing an organisational and preventive framework and providing efficient control over the security service providers to ensure the provision of the best security services for users.

Therefore, SIRA provides the security services according to the international safety and security standards applicable in the security systems, services and guards.

The developments witnessed by the world recently as a result of the pandemic highlighted the importance of achieving sustainability as a foundation for national and international security plans and strategies over the upcoming decades.

Stemming from such belief, the concept of sustainability serves as the main pillar to ensure the continuity of safety and security in the Emirate to maintain the highest security levels in the world, in order to place Dubai among security-developed countries.

The importance of sustainability emerges from its ability to meet the needs of all concerned categories in the Emirate, to follow up on the latest global changes and to lay down the preemptive scenarios and plans to combat, pace up with and adapt to the future changes from a political, economic, social, environmental and technological perspective by predicting the future and revolutionary innovation in light of the fast-paced technological progress.

In this respect, it may be safely said that developing the legislation, policies, laws and regulations is a primary step to achieving sustainability being the backbone of organisations in implementing the practices of organisational agility and quickly and immediately responding to any changes inside or outside organisational environments – for seizing up opportunities and for changing the work mechanisms and internal resources to cope with the same.

Upon shedding light on the organisation from this perspective, it may be found that SIRA’s main works and services are mainly based upon innovation, AI and the use of smart applications.

That’s why SIRA is keen to lead in analysing the external environment, studying risks and looking for the technologies through its experts and professionals to enhance its internal potential and respond with services that keep up with the advanced technological revolution.

Nonetheless, there are a number of success factors that need to be taken into consideration when poring over the subject of sustainability, especially in the security sector.

SIRA needs to have an insightful eye on the innovative changes in other sectors and their effect on the sustainability of business and services provided in their current form to the security sector.

For example, SIRA needs to follow up on the future of the infrastructure of the Emirate and the wave of innovative technology that the entire world is talking about in the transportation sector; especially the changes that humanity would witness regarding the transformation from using manually-driven vehicles to the use of autonomous vehicles.

Accordingly, sustainability is one of the basic pillars for SIRA’s path on the way of developing its activities, facilitating its business and expanding its scope for the next fifty years until the UAE Centennial 2071, based on the achievements made over the past years while continuing to steadily enhance its efforts and to firmly push forward in all the economic, environmental, social, technological and organisational aspects which affect the course of social business, in order to promote its services and achieve sustainability and social responsibility through the development of a preventive control system that would boost efficiency, meet requirements and root the State’s international role in maintaining security and limiting crime.