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Back to the filesSECURITY FILE 001 - THE FIRST NIGHT
SECURITY FILE 001 - THE FIRST NIGHT
Location: Refugee Camp
Shift: Night
Incident: Indoor smoking violation
My first shift as a security guard started at one of the most infamous refugee reception centres in the country.
Not exactly the quiet introduction to security work I had imagined.
After the initial briefing, I was paired with an experienced colleague. Together, we headed out to patrol the grounds.
Calling it a terrain didn't really do it justice. The place was enormous, almost like a small village, with around 1,500 residents living across the site. Buildings, walkways, parking areas and endless corners that I had never seen before.
I was expecting action.
Instead, we sat down.
And waited.
And waited some more.
Two hours passed without anything happening.
I remember thinking, Is this what being a security guard is?
I had somehow convinced myself that my first night would be one long sequence of incidents, confrontations and adrenaline. Instead, I was sitting around wondering if anything was ever going to happen.
Then an alarm went off.
Finally.
We headed toward the location and quickly discovered that something was wrong. A resident's room was filled with smoke.
When we opened the door, we found eight people inside, all smoking.
Smoking inside the accommodation was strictly prohibited. Our job was straightforward: identify the residents involved, record their card numbers and report the violation so the appropriate penalty could be issued.
Simple.
Except the residents weren't interested in cooperating.
They knew what would happen if this wasn't their first offence. Repeated violations could result in them losing their allowance, so they had plenty of motivation to keep their identification cards out of our hands.
Nobody wanted to give us their card.
We requested backup.
A few minutes later, two more security teams arrived.
The atmosphere changed immediately.
Four security guards entering a small room full of eight people had a very different effect from two guards trying to convince everyone to cooperate.
We went in.
The residents finally handed over their cards.
Incident resolved.
For me, however, the interesting part had only just begun.
I stood there, on my very first night as a security guard, surrounded by eight residents who had been caught breaking the rules and clearly had no intention of making our job easy.
It was strange.
The situation was unfamiliar, but at the same time, something about it felt strangely familiar.
And more importantly, I liked it.
I had always been an adrenaline seeker. The tension, the uncertainty, not knowing what would happen when you walked through that door, I found myself enjoying it.
Two hours of waiting had suddenly made sense.
I wasn't going to spend my shifts sitting around waiting for something to happen.
Something was going to happen.
And this was only my first night.
