Police said 78 of these 86 agencies 'chose not to take part' in the voluntary survey that aims to give customers a feel of the quality of service they will get from such firms.

The other eight were newly licensed and could not be graded during the 12-month assessment period from July last year, said the police's Security Industry Regulatory Department, which carried out the survey.

The security agencies provide unarmed guards to places such as shopping centres, condominiums, as well as key installations like Changi Airport.

Among the items police auditors scrutinised were quality of manpower, ability to plan and manage operations, as well as leadership qualities.

The agencies were given four grades, from A meaning 'Excellent', to D meaning 'Unsatisfactory'. Only 7 per cent of agencies were ranked 'Excellent', by scoring 80 per cent or more in the grading.

At the bottom of the heap were 31 agencies, or 11 per cent of the industry, which were deemed 'Unsatisfactory' for chalking up 50 per cent or less.

The silver lining: The number of agencies rated B or 'Good' doubled to 76, compared to the results of last year's pilot survey.

A police spokesman said the grading exercise, which will be done annually, is 'designed to motivate the agencies to strive to improve their standards, thereby raising the level of professionalism in this industry'.

Put simply, the grades aim to tell consumers the 'differentiated quality of security guard agencies'.

Dr Teo Ho Pin, chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Home Affairs and Law, called for a 'soft touch' in assessing the industry.

He said introducing a compulsory audit, as is the case with accounting agencies, might incur additional costs for small security companies. The security industry was still very new, and companies catered to different tiers of security, he said. 'At the end of the day, the client must be the one who calls the shots. Agencies should see being audited as a plus as it allows them to market their services better.'

Dr Teo explained that the passing of the Private Security Industry Bill in Parliament in August would lead to higher standards and weed out 'fly-by-night operators'.

The Bill will require security officers and private investigators to be licensed. This will enable the licensing authority to conduct necessary background checks and prevent 'undesirable elements' from operating as security officers or private investigators.

In the latest audit, Certis Cisco, the largest provider of unarmed guards, earned a 'B' for the second year running. But a company spokesman said that grades aside, Certis Cisco 'is the preferred security provider chosen by more customers than any other security service providers in Singapore'.

Earning an 'A' grade was Aetos Security Management and its subsidiary, Aetos Security Consultants.

Mr Kelvin Tan, president of Aetos Security Management, credited the 'hard work and diligence' of his 1,000-plus security staff for the good grade.

'It's like a treadmill, we can't stop our good practices,' he said. 'It's always easier for people to move from C or B to A than to maintain high standards.'

The full list of the grading results is available online at http://www.spf.gov.sg/licence/frameset-PI.html

dboey@sph.com.sg