A DCU student has made a formal complaint to campus security over an alleged assault by a member of Pulse Security, the firm that has provided security for the Old Bar since September 2008.

Padraig O’Connor, a third year computing student, purported that on the night of February 10, a member of bar security verbally assaulted him and then proceeded to burn his arm twice with a cigarette.

According to O’Connor, security had allegedly given him hassle earlier in the night when trying to get in to the bar. However, when he defended a student who he believed was being dealt with badly by another member of security, he claimed that it was at this point that one of the doormen came over and verbally assaulted him.

O’Connor’s grievance first came to the attention of students in a forum post on the boards.ie website. When contacted by the College View, the student said that he stood by what he wrote in the post.

He stated on the forum: “I can only ascertain that he was trying to provoke me into doing something that would cause him to have to remove me from the bar. I had no intention of giving him that satisfaction.

“The verbal assault continued. He used very violent and abusive language. He then realised he wasn’t raising me and proceeded to tell me what would happen to me if I met him off campus, to which I replied, out of pure anger: ‘can’t wait’.

“I then continued to ignore him. Finally after about ten minutes of this treatment, he realized it wasn’t working. The security person in question then turned to face me, looked into my eyes and said: ‘you’ll get what’s coming to you eventually’. He then proceeded to burn my arm twice with his cigarette,” he added.

O’Connor has made a formal written complaint to DCU Campus Security (the body that tenders the Old Bar’s security contract) regarding the alleged assault the night the incident occurred but has yet to make an official complaint to the Gardai.

He said: “As far as the Gardai are concerned, I would prefer if this could be taken care of without their involvement, but this is looking less and less likely at this stage and I may have to approach them with regard to the assault.”

DCU’s Security Superintendant Ray Wheatley told the College View that he is aware of a complaint that was made to him and is currently talking to Pulse about this matter.

He said: “Pulse are a reputable company, they are fully licensed and are members of the Security Institute of Ireland. They would certainly be one of the better security companies out there but we do constantly monitor the activities of these people and if there is an issue we will address it.”

He added: “If someone has a genuine complaint about any member of any of our staff we would advise them to come to us with it immediately. We will give it our full attention and carry out a full investigation and will have no difficulty dealing with it if there is an issue.”

Pulse Security are also the company responsible for UCD campus security since September 2008, and in recent months similar complaints regarding the company have been made by UCD students.

In the month of September alone, UCD Students’ Union received over 100 complaints regarding the security firm. UCD SU president Aodhan O Dea said that this number has since decreased.

He said: “At the beginning of the year we did have an overwhelming amount of complaints but this number has since dropped.

“This is probably due to the fact that they [Pulse] weren’t initially used to dealing with students and maybe their approach to dealing with them was a bit too heavy-handed at the beginning of the year. It was also the first month back where there was a lot more happening around campus with a lot more new students.”

Pulse Security employees are trained in security techniques by the International Bodyguard Association (IBA), an Irish private military company that specialises in special forces type training.

A testimonial for Pulse by IBA director general Jim Short reads: “I would have no hesitation in recommending Pulse Security Management as a close protection team. Their teams have undergone intensive training with the IBA and have obtained a very high standard.”

However last month UCD’s student newspaper, The Observer, published two stories regarding allegations against Pulse Security staff. One article claims that two students are to make formal complaints to the Gardai over what they claim was an assault by employees of Pulse Security outside the student club on Monday February 2.

It was also reported that the Literary and Historical Society are to lodge a complaint with Pulse after a homosexual couple was ordered to stop kissing at a function in the university’s Forum Bar. The male couple were apparently approached by a member of Pulse Security, who demanded that they stop being intimate.

Pulse Security Contract Manager Frank McBride told the College View that any complaints brought to them from the UCD Communications Department were found to be factually incorrect at the time of going to print.

McBride said: “As of yet we also have not received any official complaints regarding members of our staff at DCU.”

Speaking to the College View on the issue, DCUSU president Niall McClave said: “If anyone has a complaint to make about the security in the bar then they should do so as soon as possible after the incident. For an official complaint to be lodged it has to be done so in writing given to either myself or DCU Security.”