The Northern Ireland Security Guard Service (NISGS) is a civilian organisation of the Ministry of Defence that provides armed security at military establishments in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. It was founded in 1998 following the

Good Friday Agreement The Good Friday Agreement (GFA), or Belfast Agreement ( ga, Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta or ; Ulster-Scots: or ), is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April 1998 that ended most of the violence of The Troubles, a political conflict in No ...

and is a unionised, non-industrial civilian security guard organisation under the authority of the General Officer Commanding (Northern Ireland), who holds ultimate responsibility for the operation of the organisation. The NISGS works alongside the unarmed

Ministry of Defence Guard Service The Ministry of Defence Guard Service (MGS) is part of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation of the Ministry of Defence, it provides Defence establishments across the United Kingdom with guarding and patrol services and was established as a re ...

(MGS).MOD Guard Service
, GOV.UK. Retrieved 8 November 2015. In the rest of the United Kingdom, armed security is the responsibility of the

Military Provost Guard Service The Military Provost Guard Service (MPGS) is responsible for maintaining physical security at British Armed Forces locations throughout Great Britain. It is one of three constituent units of the Adjutant General's Corps Provost Branch (the other ...

, made up of service personnel.

Civilian security officer

An NISGS Civilian Security Officer (CSO) is attested by a

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

as a special constable whilst on duty within Ministry of Defence property. They hold similar powers to that of a

police constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...

based on the Emergency Laws (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1947. A CSO has the powers of

arrest An arrest is the act of apprehending and taking a person into custody (legal protection or control), usually because the person has been suspected of or observed committing a crime. After being taken into custody, the person can be questi ...

under the

Police and Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 The Police and Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 is a statutory instrument of the United Kingdom which instituted a legislative framework for the powers of police officers in Northern Ireland similar to the framework for the powe ...

(PACE).MOD (A) Northern Ireland Guard Service
As of 2021 NISGS Civilian Security Officers (CSOs) are no longer attested as special constables under a formal review by 38 Irish Brigade known as NISGS Optimization Project. NISGS CSOs continue to be authorised to be armed without SC status in accordance with the CDS Arming Directive.

Massereene Barracks incident

In 2009 CSOs at Massereene Barracks were criticised for not opening fire during an incident in which two British soldiers were killed when the barracks was attacked by members of the

Irish republican Irish republicanism ( ga, poblachtánachas Éireannach) is the political movement for the unity and independence of Ireland under a republic. Irish republicans view British rule in any part of Ireland as inherently illegitimate. The develop ...

paramilitary A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carr ...

group, the

Real IRA The Real Irish Republican Army, or Real IRA (RIRA), is a dissident Irish republican paramilitary group that aims to bring about a United Ireland. It formed in 1997 following a split in the Provisional IRA by dissident members, who rejected the ...

who were armed with

AKM The AKM () is an assault rifle designed by Soviet small arms designer Mikhail Kalashnikov in 1959. It is the most ubiquitous rifle of the Kalashnikov rifles. It was developed as a replacement to the AK-47 introduced a decade prior. Introduc ...

automatic rifles. However the actions of the CSOs were praised by Brigadier George Norton, the Army's most senior soldier in Northern Ireland at the time. Following the incident plans were made to retrain and rearm CSOs belonging to NISGS.

Uniform and equipment

NISGS CSOs wear a black coloured

combat uniform A combat uniform, also called field uniform, battledress or military fatigues, is a casual type of uniform used by military, police, fire and other public uniformed services for everyday fieldwork and combat duty purposes, as opposed to dress ...

, which includes trousers and smock and navy beret as well as black combat boots. The uniform looks very similar to that of army EOD personnel but with the notable differences being the NISGS capbadge and rankslides. The NISGS uniform is currently under review as of late 2021, the review will see the removal of the military style beret and replaced with a modern looking police style baseball cap. The principal reason for NISGS' creation after the Good Friday Agreement was to place the guarding of MOD premises in the Province on a primarily civilian footing with military backup, as in mainland UK. It was felt that establishing the

(MPGS) in the Province would still be seen as an overtly "military" force. Because

the Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...

is exempt from the provisions of the

Firearms Acts Firearms Act is a stock short title used for legislation in Canada, Hong Kong, Jamaica, and the United Kingdom. This list includes not only Firearms Acts as such, but legislation of different names governing firearms and also other weapons. List ...

crown servant The term "Crown servant" is used to denote a "person employed by the Crown". Although the term is not consistently defined, generally speaking the term encompasses all executive officials and their staffs, civil servants, police, judicial officia ...

s may carry firearms in the course of their duties if duly authorised to do so. Conversely, the MOD Guard Service are not authorised to carry firearms in Northern Ireland, as well as in Great Britain where the

provides armed guarding. In addition to the Crown firearms exemption, attesting NISGS CSOs as Special Constables allows them to be armed on the same basis as

PSNI The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI; ga, Seirbhís Póilíneachta Thuaisceart Éireann; Ulster-Scots: ') is the police force that serves Northern Ireland. It is the successor to the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) after it was reform ...

Police Officers Part Time, the equivalent of mainland Special Constables. As of Feb 2021 CSOs of the Northern Ireland Security Guard Service are no longer sworn in as Special Constables and all prior members of the security guard service have had their SC (Special Constable) status removed under a formal review from 38X Bde known as the NISGS Optimization Project.

Firearms

Prior to the Masseerene Barracks incident NISGS CSOs were armed with the venerable L9A1 9mm

Browning Hi-Power The Browning Hi-Power is a single-action, semi-automatic pistol available in the 9×19mm Parabellum and .40 S&W calibers. It was based on a design by American firearms inventor John Browning, and completed by Dieudonné Saive at FN Herstal. ...

single-action automatic pistol, primarily and deliberately for self-defence. Following that incident and the recognition that the very short accurate range generally achievable with any pistol even under ideal conditions was a factor in not returning fire in that incident, NISGS CSOs were quickly re-armed with the L85A2 Individual Weapon. This is a 5.56 mm calibre

selective fire Selective fire is the capability of a weapon to be adjusted to fire in semi-automatic, fully automatic, and/or burst mode. The modes are chosen by means of a selector switch, which varies depending on the weapon's design. Some selective-fire we ...

assault rifle, generally referred to as the 'SA80', and was the current standard UK military issue personal weapon at the time. These were readily available from MOD stocks as an interim solution but were accepted to be overly powerful for the NISGS armed guarding role because of the long lethal range (up to ) and short-range over-penetration of the ammunition, and the availability of fully automatic fire. In early 2012 an agreement was reached between MOD and PSNI to acquire surplus

Heckler & Koch MP5 The Heckler & Koch MP5 (german: Maschinenpistole 5) is a 9x19mm Parabellum submachine gun, developed in the 1960s by a team of engineers from the German small arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch. There are over 100 variants and clones of the MP5, ...

9mm

submachine gun A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine-fed, automatic carbine designed to fire handgun cartridges. The term "submachine gun" was coined by John T. Thompson, the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, to describe its design concept as an autom ...

s from PSNI to re-arm NISGS CSOs. These weapons with their less powerful and shorter-lethal-range 9mm Parabellum pistol ammunition, provides NISGS with a more appropriate firearm for their role.

References

External links