Generally, no. A crowd controller is not a police officer and holding a Queensland security provider licence does not give you the general powers available to police under the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000 (PPRA). However, there is an interesting exception that demonstrates the important relationship between police and private security. The PPRA contains a specific provision titled “Assistance in exercising powers”. It allows a police officer, where assistance is reasonably required to perform a police function, to seek the help of another person. The police officer may authorise that assistant to take stated actions and exercise stated powers that the police officer is authorised to exercise. There are important limitations – the assistant cannot be authorised under this provision to arrest someone or demand a person's name and address.

Security providers therefore do not ordinarily have police powers simply because they are licensed in security, but there can be circumstances where police lawfully call upon them to assist and authorise particular actions or powers for that purpose. Security providers also play an important first-response role in our community.

BARS students learn responsibilities including preserving crime scenes, responding to serious incidents and understanding security responsibilities associated with terrorism and crowded places. So the answer remains no – crowd controllers are not police officers. However, professional security providers frequently work alongside police and emergency services and can play an important supporting role in maintaining public safety.