Meaning of providing security service
Open ↗18.—(1) For the purposes of this Act, a person is said to provide a security service if the person carries on any one or more of the following activities:(a)
installing, maintaining, repairing or servicing, by physical or electronic means —(i)
any security equipment in any premises or any vehicle, vessel, aircraft or other means of conveyance; or
(ii)
any mechanical, electronic, acoustic or other equipment that the person installing, maintaining, repairing or servicing the equipment purports to be equipment that is designed or adapted to provide or enhance security or for the protection or watching of any property;
(b)
designing, selling, importing or exporting —(i)
any security equipment (other than basic household or automotive security items at approved classes of retail outlets or intruder alarm systems); or
(ii)
any mechanical, electronic, acoustic or other equipment that the person installing, maintaining, repairing or servicing the equipment purports to be equipment that is designed or adapted to provide or enhance security or for the protection or watching of any property;
(c)
providing product advice in relation to security equipment, other than basic household or automotive security items at approved classes of retail outlets;[Act 29 of 2021 wef 01/05/2022]
(d)
[Deleted by Act 29 of 2021 wef 01/05/2022]
(e)
[Deleted by Act 29 of 2021 wef 01/05/2022]
(f)
selling any intelligent banknote neutralisation system;
(g)
employing an intelligent banknote neutralisation system in carrying out cash‑in‑transit services;
(h)
providing alarm surveillance services, or other surveillance, tracking or monitoring services using security equipment;
(i)
providing training or instruction in relation to any activity mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (h), including assessing another person’s training, instruction or competencies in relation to any such activity;
(j)
providing persons to carry on any activity mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (i);
(k)
any other activity, or class of activities, that is connected with security or the protection of persons or property, whether by physical or electronic means, and that is declared by the Minister by notification in the Gazette to be a security service for the purposes of this section.[6/2019]
(2) Despite subsection (1), a person does not provide a security service only because the person sells self-install security systems, that is, a security system designed so that it can be installed by an ordinary consumer.
(3) In this section, “intelligent banknote neutralisation system” means a security system which is designed to deter unauthorised access to currency notes by mutilating, destroying or permanently damaging the currency notes, such as by the application of a staining or degradation agent to the currency notes or otherwise.[6/2019]
Unlicensed security service provider prohibited
Open ↗19.—(1) A person must not —(a)
engage in the business of providing, for reward, any security service to other persons; or
(b)
advertise, or in any way hold out, that the person (who is in the business of providing any security service) provides for reward, or is willing to provide for reward, the security service,
except under and in accordance with a security service provider’s licence granted under this Act.
(2) A person who contravenes subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to both.
False alarms
Open ↗20.—(1) The licensing officer may charge according to a prescribed scale of charges for the attendance of any police officer at any premises in response to a call arising out of a false alarm.
(2) For the purposes of this section, a false alarm is the activation of an alarm system by reasons other than fire or intruders.
(3) The charge mentioned in subsection (1) is payable by a prescribed licensed security service provider in respect of each occasion any police officer attends at any premises in response to a call arising out of a false alarm at those premises where —(a)
the alarm system at those premises is installed or maintained by that licensed security service provider; and
(b)
the licensing officer is satisfied that the licensed security service provider had failed to take all reasonably practicable measures to verify whether the activation of the alarm system is a false alarm before making or causing the call to be made.
(4) A person who —(a)
intentionally gives a false alarm of fire or intruder; or
(b)
is reckless about whether it would cause a person to fear that there is a fire or an intruder, or cause an emergency service to respond to the alarm,
shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.
(5) A court convicting an offender of an offence of contravening subsection (4) may, in addition to or without imposing a penalty on the offender —(a)
assess the amount of any expenses needlessly incurred by the police or other emergency services as a result of the false alarm; and
(b)
order the offender to pay the amount so assessed to the Government or other statutory body by which or by whom the expenses were so incurred.
(6) In this section, “alarm system” means an intruder alarm system of the type prescribed, being a device or series of devices, including hardwired systems and systems interconnected with a radio frequency method such as cellular or private radio signals, which emit or transmit a remote or local audible, visual or electronic signal indicating an alarm condition, but does not include an alarm installed in a vehicle or a personal alarm attached to the body of an individual.
