Abstract
The professionalisation of the private security industry (PSI) can be beneficial and costly and these need to be measured against undertaking any professionalisation initiatives, since they can provide some degree of quality control to some businesses working in the field but can also impose hindrances and negative experiences to those wishing to enter the industry. The purpose of this study was to explore the following question: What are the experiences on hindrances to professionalisation of the PSI by Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority [PSiRA] in South Africa? Following a qualitative research approach, this study employed the exploratory research design. The judgemental sampling technique was adopted to select a sample of 40 participants from Gauteng (GP), KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and Western Cape (WC) provinces. The findings highlighted that the majority of the participants agreed that the professionalisation of the PSI through PSiRA is facing many positive and negative experiences and hindrances, particularly in the private security training space where corruption and criminality are rife. This study recommends that, to overcome the noted hindrances, PSiRA needs to update the training curriculum, empower and train more inspectors and build relationships with industry stakeholders.
Highlights
Introduction and Background Theprivate security industry (PSI) presents governments with a useful resource, which, if properly professionalised, can monumentally contribute positively to economic growth, reduce crime at the state, local, business and on a personal level, as well as assist state police in policing, (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC] 2014)
All efforts will be centred on cleaning up the PSI profession and to close the perceived gaps in the accountability of Private Security Companies (PSCs) and security officers (Mahesh & Gurinskaya, 2018)
Professionalisation can be beneficial or costly, it needs to be weighed before undertaking any professionalisation initiatives, since it can provide some degree of quality control to some businesses working in the field but imposes barriers to those wishing to enter the field (National Research Council of the National Academies, 2013)
Summary
PSI presents governments with a useful resource, which, if properly professionalised, can monumentally contribute positively to economic growth, reduce crime at the state, local, business and on a personal level, as well as assist state police in policing, (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC] 2014). All efforts will be centred on cleaning up the PSI profession and to close the perceived gaps in the accountability of Private Security Companies (PSCs) and security officers (Mahesh & Gurinskaya, 2018). Bringing both good and bad practices into the public arena in a transparent manner can be an oversight mechanism to enhance compliance and encourage greater professionalisation in the PSI (UNODC, 2014)
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