In August, the International Foundation for Protection Officers, in conjunction with Security Magazine, announced the inaugural Bill Zalud Memorial Award for Professional Excellence, an award that recognizes one security professional or an organization for professional excellence or outstanding service in the security profession.

Now the nominations have been cast, the selection team has voted and with that, a winner has emerged: Amalgamated Security Services.

Amalgamated's Facebook page describes the company thus: "Established in 1983 and incorporated in 1986, Amalgamated Security Services Limited is a reputable company that provides a variety of security services."

The company provides a wide array of security services in Trinidad, Tobago, Grenada, Guyana, Barbados and St. Lucia.

About Bill Zalud

"Bill Zalud, an IFPO Board Member for many years and an outstanding security professional, was a strong advocate for the need to offer educational opportunities to our industry would applaud your efforts," IFPO Sandi Davies wrote in a letter to Amalgamated.

The award bears Bill's name because of his deep dedication  to the security industry, covering and shaping it for more than three decades.

Bill's knowledge of the industry, his readers, the advertisers of the publications and their services have brought great value to his contributions. Bill strived to serve the industry with professional excellence.

A very attractive plaque is being prepared and will be shipped to Amalgamated, in hopes it will be proudly displayed in their offices.

In addition, Amalgamated is entitled to a 3-year IFPO Corporate Membership and all the membership benefits that coincide with it.

Investing in its employees

On its application for the award, Amalgamated detailed its dedication to continuing education for its employees, including IFPO courses.

"To date, ASSL can boast that 160 of our employees are IFPO certified with varying certifications to include SSMP, CSSM, CPO and CPOI. We ultimately aim to encourage and nurture employees into building a career in security, to become qualified security professionals. In 2016/2017 our organization launched an in-house Security Supervisor Training Program (SSTP) and upon successful completion, all candidates were enrolled in the SSMP and CSSM programs. Of the 15 candidates enrolled in the SSMP, all were successful and 14 of those candidates went on to do the CSSM program, again, with 100% success."

"It does not end there, recently, the organization constructed and developed an e-learning platform whereby employees can pursue courses ranging from leadership, etiquette, customer service, health & safety, information technology, soft skills and much more. On inception into the organization, employees are being introduced to this platform and encouraged to pursue these courses which will enhance their opportunity for growth and transition up the ranks. All professional certifications and academia pursued by an employee attributes to his/her likelihood for promotion through the ranks from a Security Officer to an Executive level."

Congratulations to Amalgamated Security Services Limited!