CALSAGA meets with new BSIS Chief

On Tuesday, March 16, CALSAGA President Roy Rahn and members of CALSAGA staff met with new BSIS Chief Jeffrey Mason and Deputy Chief Connie Trujillo.  In February, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Mr. Mason to fill the void left by former BSIS Chief Paul Johnson who retired in January 2009.  Connie Trujillo, who was serving as Acting Chief since Johnson’s retirement, has returned to her role as Deputy Chief. 

The purpose of the meeting was to introduce ourselves to Mr. Mason, congratulate him on his appointment and to provide him background information about our industry and organization.  CALSAGA has a long-standing history of developing strong working relationships with Bureau Chief’s and are confident that synergy will continue with Chief Mason. 

To read a full bio of Chief Mason, click here.

One of the most exciting pieces of news from our meeting was that effective March 12, BSIS has been given approval to allocate a certain number of staff members to work on Fridays, despite the state’s ongoing “Furlough Friday” program, for the sole purpose of processing guard card applications. 

CALSAGA is excited about this latest development, and are hopeful that it will help cleanup any backlog of applicants waiting to get licensed.  Chief Mason understands the need to get security officers licensed in a timely fashioned and said he would work with us to ensure this happens. 

We also discussed the possibility of CALSAGA developing a program exclusive to members that would allow CALSAGA to communicate with BSIS’ license revoke/suspend database to provide members daily reports of any employee of theirs who has had their license revoked or suspended. 

Currently, PPOs have to check this database one security officer at a time, which can be an administrative nightmare.  This database query would streamline the process and save PPOs time and money, not to mention improving overall public and consumer safety.  Chief Mason seemed very receptive to the idea and said he would follow back up with us soon.

CALSAGA also briefed Chief Mason and Deputy Chief Trujillo on our legislative priorities for 2010 to ensure their input was reflected in our agenda.  As you know, CALSAGA has introduced two bills this year – AB 2128 by Assemblyman Gaines (R-Roseville), which would require all PPOs to have a minimum $1,000,000 general liability policy and may also be expanded to encompass clean up language for the Private Security Services Act; and SB 1312 by Senator Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria), which would allow PPOs the option of registering firearms in their company name rather than in their individual officers’ names. 

Chief Mason will evaluate these proposals and give us his feedback and asked that we keep him updated as both bills move through the legislative process. 

Overall, it was a very productive first meeting with Chief Mason.  We hope to have him speak at a CALSAGA event soon so members can meet him.