The development of the manned guarding sector of the private security industry has led to speculations surrounding the privatisation of policing or the likelihood of the emergence of a multi-tiered policing service in Britain in the future. Despite a recent growth of interest and research on the private security industry in the UK, there has been little research studying the extent to which security officers are personally motivated towards their work. Drawing on some initial impressions from qualitative research currently being undertaken, this article aims to provide information about the perceptions and motivations of security officers. It is suggested here that the guards were not strongly attracted towards a public policing function and nor were they trained to be so.