Allied Security plans to improve service amidst complaints

Allied Security has been cited for over 170 infractions and "performance deficiencies" in the six months it has provided residential security for the University, according to a letter sent to Residential Living Director Gigi Simeone today by Security Services Director Christopher Algard. There were eight incidents of guards sleeping, 26 of guards away from their posts, and 41 reports of guards showing up late for work, the memo states. In addition, guards were cited 17 times for not checking IDs, 83 times for "deficient job knowledge," and twice for placing unauthorized phone calls. "There has been an increased level of problems with the number of people dozing off after 3 a.m.," University Police Commissioner John Kuprevich said last week. "We saw a long period of time of minimal violations. It has just been the last few weeks that we've had more instances happening." During the first 30 days of Allied's contract with the University, four guards were fired for sleeping on the job. Algard also said in the letter that "in many cases, but not all, we have been watching critically for something to go wrong rather than to go right. The reasons may be the history that led to the changing of the guard contractors in the summer of '94. I believe some people want Allied to fail." The letter also states: "Allied is the outsider contractor and receives most of the attention when something goes wrong." In August, Allied replaced McGinn Security Services, which came under fire after guards were caught sleeping on duty and it was discovered that the firm had hired minors. In an interview last week, Algard said that he would "hate to see any comparisons" between Allied and McGinn. Algard added that Residential Living's full-time employees and student workers commit many of the same violations as the Allied guards. Kuprevich said the Division of Public Safety and Allied have been working together to resolve the problems and he is "very pleased with [Allied's] immediate response." But in a memorandum obtained by The Daily Pennsylvanian from a source in High Rise North, Simeone said she was "concerned" about the quality of service Allied is providing. In a separate memo sent by Simeone a day earlier, she states that she is "feeling more and more that Allied management does not respond satisfactorily to our customer complaints." The memo is addressed to Security Services Director Chris Algard and carbon-copied to Manager of Safety and Security for Residential Living Joe Kirk as well as Kuprevich. Simeone said the complaints, "all of which are legitimate, are sometimes totally ignored." She also recommended that Algard be "very aggressive with Allied about their training programs, supervisory processes, quality assurance programs?all of which they 'sold' us as part of the bid process." But in an interview with the DP last week Simeone expressed none of these concerns, instead citing a Residential Living telephone survey of 50 random students, in which 84 percent of those called said Allied's performance was "good or excellent." The survey, conducted in November, also reported that 94 percent of those surveyed said the midnight to 8 a.m. -- or "graveyard" shift -- was also "good or excellent." Simeone said she was aware of the recent sleeping incidents, adding that she considers guards falling asleep a major security problem. Algard said after the new incidents of sleeping guards came to light, Public Safety requested that Allied develop an "action plan" to investigate ways to "reengineer the job itself." The restructuring will include changing temperature conditions at indoor security posts and providing additional work for guards during the periods of decreased overnight activity. In response to the recent problems with guards sleeping on duty, Allied has doubled the number of supervisors on the "graveyard" shift as well as increased the number of nightly checks supervisors perform on the guard posts. Allied Account Facilitator Bernard Urquhart declined to comment.

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