Armed SWAT-like security at Belconnen Mall

Ive seen him in the car park. I thought he looked nice. I guessed his job is to shoot people.

Mr Waffle said :

dph said :

@LSWCHP By any chance, do you wear a tin foil hat?

Considering only last week we had that whole “fake police pulling a car over and robbing them”, I wouldn’t think it’s too much of a stretch… the average “law-abiding Australian” is so submissive to authority that dressing up like this could probably get you anywhere.

Yes indeed.

I’ve worked in Fyshwick for over 20 years, and I’ve seen the uniformed armoured car guys doing cash runs at the banks hundreds of times. They’re low key, professional looking people who work in teams. They wear easily recognised uniforms and carry .38 S&W revolvers. This guy didn’t look like them

I also have two mates who do armed security work, including concealed firearm carry on occasions. This guy didn’t look like them either

I don’t need to be wearing my tinfoil hat to say that this guy presented a very surprising image amongst a crowd of shoppers on Sunday morning. And it’s not because I’m frightened of guns. I own more guns than you could poke a stick at and I am would many people would incorrectly categorise as a gun nut, so no problem there. It was the combination of a strangely dressed guy with interesting body language carrying a gun towards me, my wife and one of my boys in a mall full of shoppers on Sunday morning. I thought that was worth paying a lot of attention to.

I’ve seen a guy (can only assume the same one) around a few times in Jamo, and Belco. Each time he has been one of the usual three man team servicing or refilling an ATM. While every other ATM guard I’ve ever seen wears pretty traditional dress, this guy appeared to be compensating for something….

Clearly not regulation dress for any of the big companies. Wether he is subcontracting or what, he clearly has some paramilitary fantasies. I’ve met people like that before, and when they are carrying a gun they scare me.

I think LSWCHP was right to be a bit concerned. If this guy does security work, he clearly needs to display a bit more information about it when he is in a public place, to avoid this kind of alarm.

Frankly he sounds like a bit of a wanker who gets off on his security role and enjoys strutting around everywhere he can, looking intimidating.

dph said :

@LSWCHP By any chance, do you wear a tin foil hat?

Considering only last week we had that whole “fake police pulling a car over and robbing them”, I wouldn’t think it’s too much of a stretch… the average “law-abiding Australian” is so submissive to authority that dressing up like this could probably get you anywhere.

Brooklynite said :

My initial thought is that it was an employee of one of the various cash in transit companies. They still make collections on weekends, and they also refill ATMs around the mall.

He could have been the vanguard/sternguard for the team making the collection/drop?

Excellent use of the word “vanguard”, in more ways than one.

@LSWCHP By any chance, do you wear a tin foil hat?

I saw what sounds like the exact same guy in Woden three weeks ago. He was driving a small black hatchback (Hyundai Getz I think) which he parked outside the corner of Woden Plaza near Woden Town Square.

He strolled from his vehicle into the square where he met up with a couple of tradies who were beside a work van parked outside Katmandu. What caught my eye was the very cheap looking black t-shirt with “Security” written in white letters on the back… and the fact he was carrying a semi-automatic very prominently. He also had an ID card hanging off his belt. He wasn’t carrying any cash in transit gear or escorting anyone, so why the gun?

I’ve seen private security around the place before with guns, some solo and some in teams from well known companies like Chubb, but they tend to wear more professional looking uniforms and have revolvers.

My first though was there’s two banks nearby, could this be a bank job about to go down?

Anyway the two tradies started laughing and one even said out loud words to the effect “look, there’s the man with the gun” to him in a jovial/mocking tone. He laughed and replied with something I couldn’t hear, they seemed to know one another.

Anyway really dodgy look. Even if it’s legit, not sure I’d trust some bloke like that. You see the Chubb guys and they have a certain precision to there routine, you have some confidence that if something goes haywire they know what to do. Not sure I’d want to be around when Robocop gets in a panic.

Can someone explain to me what the issue is here? You saw a security guard…OK – You seem like a sheltered person. Armed guards are not unusual.

Right both times.

I called the mall management, and the guy I spoke to said he’d had another report about this bloke, so he’d got his security people to investigate. The guy was guarding an ATM cash transit worker.

So all was OK in this case, but it leaves me thinking about the social engineering implications of what happened. A guy carrying a gun in civilian clothes would have the cops around in seconds. The same guy in paramilitary clothes with “Security” written on the shirt is automatically assumed to be righteous and doesn’t get a second glance from most people.

I know a couple of blokes who do armed security work, so I’ll have a chat to them about it.

Brooklynite said :

My initial thought is that it was an employee of one of the various cash in transit companies. They still make collections on weekends, and they also refill ATMs around the mall.

He could have been the vanguard/sternguard for the team making the collection/drop?

Yep, I’ve seen dudes in that sort of gear by the ATM in the food court refilling ’em. Made me jump too. Have they replaced that ATM since the explosion?

My initial thought is that it was an employee of one of the various cash in transit companies. They still make collections on weekends, and they also refill ATMs around the mall.

He could have been the vanguard/sternguard for the team making the collection/drop?