Word: wackenhut
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While most national firms say they provide about eight hours of basic training (mostly showing films) for unarmed guards, Wackenhut, the third largest guard vendor, boasts that its minimum has been 16 hours since the 1970s. Yet two former executives who recently left the firm insist that the real figure was far lower. "Four hours was pretty much it," says Frank Bisogno, who ran Wackenhut's New York City office until he left in 1989. "If you were required by the customer, you would do more. But if the manager could avoid expending a nonbillable cost such as that...
...Kansas City the chief of police says he would like to contract with private firms to perform 22 tasks currently being done by the cops -- at an estimated 37% savings in cost. These tasks include transporting prisoners, assisting stranded motorists and guarding crime scenes. Similarly, to save money, armed Wackenhut guards have replaced sheriff's deputies on commuter trains in Miami and Palm Beach...
Walker worked for two years in the Norfolk branch of Wackenhut, a national firm providing industrial security services. While there he was sued for inflicting "emotional distress" by a wealthy Virginia Beach couple who claimed that Walker snooped around their home in varied disguises: as a birdwatcher wearing a green bag with eyeholes over his head and carrying a telescope; as a Boy Scout leader looking for a place to camp; as a Catholic priest. Next, Walker went into business for himself, digging up evidence in divorce cases and probing phony insurance claims. He also swept business offices for hidden...
Besides buying such standard gear as pistols and window grates, residents are purchasing attack dogs, alarms that scream out "Burglar! burglar!" and even armor-plated cars usually made for export to the war zones of Central America. George Wackenhut, who heads a giant Coral Gables-based security firm that bears his name, has watched his business in South Florida grow by 22% this year. "When I was growing up, a murder story used to be good for ten days in the papers," says Wackenhut, a onetime FBI agent. "Here a morning kill may not even make the afternoon news...
Former agents dominate the private security industry; Fidelifacts, Inc., and The Wackenhut Agency, two of the largest nationwide investigation and protection firms, are both headed and largely staffed by former agents. Vince Gillen, the private investigator for General Motors who sought damaging information on Ralph Nader, is a former agent...