First Response manager Paul Staples (left) and Alert Group manager Rob Van Heiningen with Alert taxi driver Warren Gilchrist (in mirror). Photo / Dean Purcell

First Response manager Paul Staples (left) and Alert Group manager Rob Van Heiningen with Alert taxi driver Warren Gilchrist (in mirror). Photo / Dean Purcell

Taxi drivers are being trained as security guards to cut response times to burglar alarms at suburban homes and commercial properties.

The plan has divided the security industry. Some say the idea is innovative, but others are worried about the potential safety risk.

First Response New Zealand - a joint venture between security veteran Paul Staples and Alert Taxis - promises to have a driver at the site of a possible break-in within 15 minutes of the burglar alarm being triggered.

Alarm-monitoring firms contract the new company to send the nearest security-trained driver, rather than the traditional security guard, to the scene.

Once there, the driver will search the property and advise whether a burglary has occurred.

If the property has been broken into, the driver will act as "eyes and ears" and protect the crime scene until police arrive, said Mr Staples, who has worked in the security industry for more than 20 years.

"When the alarm goes off, homeowners want to know whether it's a genuine break or a false alarm as quickly as possible.

"Taxis are everywhere, around every corner. You couldn't get the police or a traditional security guard to turn up that fast."

If First Response was slower than 15 minutes, the $65 call-out fee would be waived.

Mr Staples said cabs carrying passengers would not be sent to check alarms.

More than 100 Alert Taxi drivers had been trained as security guards to a Level 2 Qualifications Authority accreditation and were licensed, he said.

The dual taxi driver-security guard idea has provoked a mixed reaction.

NZ Security Association chairman Peter Freeman said security professionals need to be properly trained to handle high-risk situations, and had to be focused on the job.

Serious risks would be involved if an organisation whose prime role was to pick up and deliver passengers from A to B began attending alarm callouts.

"We would be very concerned as to what a taxi driver attending a burglary would be able to do if confronted by an offender," Mr Freeman said.

"The offender would not recognise the taxi driver as anything but a taxi driver, and the presence of the driver, his car and his cash takings would be more likely to add complications to a volatile situation."