Raising the bar: Professionalism and service delivery standards within New Zealand’s contract private security industry

Abstract

The remarkable growth of private security has re-shaped New Zealand’s policing landscape. However, despite its growth, little is known about its professional standards and service delivery or indeed the licencing system designed to ‘police’ and improve them. Notwithstanding the burgeoning security governance literature, there is a limited amount of research that captures practitioner perceptions of their own industry. This article makes an important contribution to that limited research by presenting the findings of two New Zealand-focused studies that together throw much needed light onto an industry on which so many New Zealanders now rely. Drawing on the perceptions and practical experience of those at the front-line of service delivery, the first provides a first-hand ‘insider’ view of industry standards and professionalism. The second examined industry standards through an analysis of all 2011 security licence applications and approvals. In combination the studies highlight the challenges faced by the new regulatory framework in raising standards and reducing risk.