A. You have just taken over your new position as an Assistant Chief of Security in a country which is prone to natural disasters, including earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and mud-slides. The UN presence in the country employs about 800 staff, both nationals and expatriate. It includes a number of agencies who have offices and project sites in remote rural areas as well as main offices in the capital. Your supervisor has asked you to develop a plan to prepare for such events, with the main aim being to avoid any loss of life amongst UN staff and their families. Your plan should include contingency preparations and response in the event of a disaster actually occurring. He has asked you to provide him with a brief outline of what your plan will cover before you start on the detailed work. Requirement: prepare a note for your supervisor outlining your proposed plan.
B. You are in charge of security at a large UN compound which houses the offices of several different UN organizations. Many of these offices need to be accessible to visitors, including senior government officials, diplomats from embassies, and activists of local community groups. The compound is also entered every day by some 150 local workers who are employed in the canteens, as cleaners and maintenance staff, or by contracting firms who carry out repairs and office modifications. The Director of Administration informs you that an unacceptable quantity of office equipment and personal belongings has been disappearing from offices over the last few weeks. He says that the senior management are requesting you to take action to control the situation. You would like to meet with the senior management and propose a number of options for them to consider. Describe the options which you would present to the senior managers, giving the advantages and disadvantages of each.
C. You are a Field Security Adviser for an international agency which has a large field office in the capital of country X. Country X is experiencing unstable political conditions caused by tensions that exist between its majority political group and its minority political groups. Sometimes these tensions result in violence, however inter- group riots rarely happen suddenly or without warning. They are the product of tensions that accumulate over a period of time.
The major projects carried out by your agency in Country X are all designed to benefit the most deprived inhabitants of the worst slum areas in the capital. The projects include education and sports for street children, income generation schemes to alleviate the high unemployment situation, soup kitchens for the destitute, and health, sanitation and clean water projects to reduce the spread of disease. These slum areas are fertile recruiting grounds for the extremist elements of all political factions (most of which are based on ethnicity, rather than ideology). Your concern is intensified because the field office employs many local personnel representing rival groups.
Although your agency has deservedly been praised for what it has achieved in these areas, there have also been occasions when perceived injustices in the distribution of assistance has led to angry demonstrations against your colleagues, and even, on two occasions in the last six months, attempts to enter and occupy the field office. These two attempts were fortunately prevented by a robust response from the local police (too robust according to some human rights activists), however the economic situation has led to delays in paying the salaries of government employees, including the police.
Tensions have risen further in anticipation of a re-run of the parliamentary elections which have been negotiated by international mediators following allegations of widespread fraud. In addition to the possibility of street violence, there have been rumours that some factions are setting up militias, recruiting from the most alienated young men in the slums, in order to carry out acts of greater violence.
Your agency senior management team has been discussing whether to continue with some, all or none of the projects in the slums over the election period, and has asked you to provide a security risk assessment to help them to make decisions.
Describe how you would go about carrying out the security risk assessment. How would you collect and assess information? What factors would you take into consideration, or give the greatest emphasis to? How would you assess the risk of certain events taking place? How would you develop recommendations for reducing the risks to staff to acceptable levels? What choices need to be made by the senior managers?
1. What is the primary purpose of keeping statistics on the location, nature and frequency of security/safety incidents?
2. Officer conduct at the scene of a demonstration or crowd disturbance is often an important factor in restoring order. List three of the most important rules that you would establish for security officers to deal with a disturbance of this nature.
3. List the advantages and disadvantages of using electronic monitoring devices to secure the perimeter of premises.
4. As a general rule, when a subordinate makes an error he or she should be quickly and publicly corrected so that others can learn from the mistake.
a. Do you agree with this approach? If so, explain why.
b. If not, explain how you would handle the situation.
5. Assuming a 40 hour work week, 8 hour shifts, 6 official holidays, 5 days of sick leave, 10 days of annual leave, and an average annual salary of $13,000:
a. How many security officers would be required to establish and maintain a permanent 24-hour a day guard post?
b. What would be the salary cost of establishing such a post?
6. There has been an accident with a gas cooker in the office canteen kitchen and a number of kitchen staff have been injured, two apparently seriously. You arrive at the canteen to find scenes of panic and chaos, with nobody in charge, some hysterical screaming, and some materials still on fire. How would you handle the situation? What are your priorities?
7. You are in a duty station where the local media has recently reported a number of assaults, both sexual and robbery, against women returning from work. The staff welfare officer asks you to give a presentation to female colleagues on what they can do to avoid becoming victims. Outline your talk.
8. List 10 priority areas that should be covered in training a new security officer. Briefly describe which training method should be used for each area listed.
Examination Sample: General Paper (P2)