'He simply doesn't deserve to lose his job'

The boss of a Rotorua security guard who attacked a rival officer with an illegal baton at a callout says his worker deserves to keep his job.
But the other security firm at the centre of the unusual case says the offending guard should lose his security licence.
Watchdog Security patrolman Graeme Eldon Klitscher pulled out a weapon and struck Transguard security officer Michael Noble when they both attended a burglary alarm callout.
Klitscher, 53 of Rotorua, was this week found guilty of one charge of assault and one of assault with a weapon after a defended hearing before Judge Arthur Tompkins in the Rotorua District Court.
He pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of an offensive weapon before the hearing.
He was sentenced to 75 hours community work.
A decision has yet to be made about whether Mr Klitscher will get to keep his security licence but his employer, Watchdog Security managing director Brett Wilson, wants to keep him on.
"While I do not condone unnecessary force, the company will stand by Mr Klitscher who is an honest and conscientious employee.
"You don't hang staff out to dry for one small error of judgment when they genuinely believed they were doing the right thing at the time."
New Zealand Security Officers Association acting president Bryce Winstone said when a conviction against a security officer is made, the case gets forwarded to the registrar of private investigators and security guards at the Auckland District Court.
However, he said sometimes it didn't make it to the registrar and the officer would get to keep their practising licence until they renewed it.
Mr Winstone said security guards had to renew their licences every year in March and if the case didn't get forwarded to the registrar, he would still have to reapply and go to a hearing before the registrar at that time.
"He'll have to put a case to a registrar as to why he shouldn't lose his licence," Mr Winstone said.

Mr Wilson, who has managed both Mr Klitscher and Mr Noble at separate times, said Mr Klitscher had his full support and his colleagues also backed him 100 per cent.
"He's got the support of his work mates and we would like to keep him on if possible.'
He agreed Mr Klitscher over-reacted but believed the whole thing had been blown out of proportion.
"I personally think it was a storm in a tea cup," Mr Wilson said.
"He's [Mr Klitscher] honest and he does what he honestly thinks is best in the situation. His motivations are right," he said.
Mr Wilson said Mr Klitscher was not aware another security firm was allowed to be on site and didn't think his staff member was any more to blame than the other.

Meanwhile, Transguard spokesman David Hooper said that the company fully backed Mr Noble and described the incident as "an unfortunate situation" they were "not impressed with".
He said security guards were not allowed to carry weapons and didn't think Mr Klitscher should be allowed to keep his security guard's licence. Mr Hooper said Mr Noble was still working for Transguard as a security officer.
He declined to comment to The Daily Post as he wanted to forget about the whole thing and get on with his life, Mr Hooper said.