Private Security Guards Research Articles

The patchwork shape of reassurance policing in England and Wales

This article presents an overview and assessment of recent reforms that have contributed to a pluralisation and fragmentation of policing in England and Wales. It considers the emergence of new forms of visible policing both within and beyond the public police. These include the growth of private security guards and patrols, local auxiliaries such as neighbourhood wardens and the introduction of second tier police personnel in the shape of the new police community support officers. To varying degrees plural forms of policing seek to offer public reassurance through visible patrols. The article goes on to explore the complex nature of relations between the “extended police family” and the different modes of governance they suggest. It concludes with a consideration of the future shape of reassurance policing.

Dangerous Pursuits: Hunter Associations (Donzo Ton) and National Politics in Côte D'Ivoire

AbstractThis article examines the resurgence of hunter associations (donzo ton) in Côte d'Ivoire during the 1990s in the context of game depletion, rising crime rates, and a dysfunctional state. Initiated hunters (donzow) are widely respected by the general public for their mystical powers and potent amulets which protect them from malevolent forces in the natural and social worlds. The donzow's success in reducing crime in northern rural areas led to an expansion of the dozon ton to the national level, as donzow were increasingly employed as private security guards in the country's major cities. The government and political parties also employed donzow to complement the police and gendarmes in maintaining order during the 1995 presidential elections. The attempt by politicians to manipulate the donzo ton during re-election campaigns was frustrated by the decentralised structure of the hunters' organisation and the diversity of its membership. Fearing that the donzo ton would become a politically destabilising force, successive governments have attempted to restrict its activities to the northern savanna region. The policy of containing the donzo ton to its so-called ‘original cultural hearth’ is discussed in the framework of the national cultural identity ideology of ivoirité and its xenophobic political manifestations around the 2000 presidential elections.

People Watching People Watchers: 'The Law Enforcement Company' for watching over those who come to see and be seen on the 'Urban Beach'

This article presents my own personal narrative, in the existemology of a new but mostly deserted 'urban beach' right at downtown Toronto's epicenter. The new public space called 'Dundas Square', designed as 'Times Square North', forms Toronto's new civic center, around an urban beach theme with waterplay fountains, that rise and fall continuously, to create a beautiful and restful atmosphere of pounding surf. The space is policed by Intelligarde-International, which describes itself as 'The Law Enforcement Company'. The use of private security guards in an allegedly public space creates some unique problems in accountability and reciprocity in visibility. Unlike the lifeguards of a traditional beach, who are themselves young, playful, and part of the swimming community, Intelligarde alienates itself from the community through an authoritarian desire to be free of accountability. Citizens who go to the urbeach to see and be seen, can be thought of as 'people watching people'. But unlike lifeguards at a traditional beach, who often help novice swimmers be comfortable in the water, Intelligardes are 'people watching people watchers' from a distance. The problem of private security in public space is twofold: (1) a private 'law enforcement company' is not subject to the same checks and balances as public lifeguards; (2) the double entendre of the words 'private security' is fulfilled. Not only is law enforcement of life in the public square privatized, but also the security guards enjoy a privacy (i.e. lack of accountability) that their 'citizens' (the surveilled) do not. This article describes my attempts at using "Times Square North" for its intended purpose, and the resulting problems that point to a need for participatory equiveillance.

La rue, espace réservé : voituriers et vigiles dans les nouvelles zones de loisirs à Beyrouth

New actors are emerging as new leisure areas develop in post-war Beirut. Car parkers look after the vehicles of customers of bars and restaurants while private security guards protect the newly rebuild CBD. Besides their official functions, these actors seem to exercise a permanent controlling influence over public spaces. Their simple presence on the streets provides a permanent reminder of the kind of population which comes to these areas as well as the social rules that this population is expected to abide by. This continued presence of private actors in charge of public spaces is not new in Beirut ; on the contrary/ it reflects policies of social control apparent before and during the war. However, by adapting these measures to the contemporary urban leasure context, Beirut seems to demonstrate its willingness to modernise. Security norms found increasingly in world cities are applied efficiently, going beyond the social demand for security and creating an important social and cultural segregation.

No Need To Be Italian: ECJ Hands Down Third Case Related To Nationality Requirements For Private Security Guards

No Need To Be Italian: ECJ Hands Down Third Case Related To Nationality Requirements For Private Security Guards

The crime control industry and the management of the surplus population

This essay examines what we are calling the ‘crime control industry’ and how the growth of such an industry relates to growing inequality and the need to ‘manage’ or ‘contain’ the ‘surplus population.’ Profits are a major moving force in this process, rather than the goal of reducing crime and suffering. An important component of this industry is the ‘prison industrial complex,’ one of the fastest growing industries in the U.S. Also included is a rapidly growing private security industry that includes private police and security guards, along with a growing supply of technology to aid in the ‘war on crime.’ Other components include drug testing companies, gated communities, and a booming gun industry. We conclude by outlining possible explanations for the growth of this industry.

Train in vain: A statutory analysis of security guard training requirements

How does one become a security guard? What sort of training is mandated for those seeking to be a security guard? There are currently over 10,000 security companies in the United States, employing 1.8 million guards. Security guards already outnumber police by almost three to one, and this discrepancy is expected to continue to grow. Every state requires police officers to undergo rigorous training. Security guards perform many of the same functions as police officers, and may even carry weapons. The question arises: to what extent do states regulate the training of armed and unarmed private security guards? This paper examines state statutory requirements for security guard training. The provisions of all fifty states are compared and evaluated. Our focus is on state regulations regarding the training of security guards. We are interested in determining what threshold requirements the states have seen fit to establish for training security guards, and whether these threshold requirements provide adequate protection for the public.

In Remembrance of Justice Wiley W. Manuel

We mourn a remarkable man. Wiley Manuel was a gifted lawyer and judge whose judicial contributions to California law are readily available to the scrutinizing reader of the California Reports, 19771980. These well-crafted opinions bear the unmistakable Manuel hallmarks-the precise expression of fact and issue, the balanced and probing analysis, the careful marshalling of applicable precedent, and the steady emphasis on common sense and realism that matched his sense of compassion, fairness, and equity. Although his lengthy experience in state service gave him a singular mastery of administrative law, upon which we drew generously, the eighty-eight opinions that he wrote for the court within an all too brief period of less than four years ranged across a wide legal spectrum, civil and criminal, substantive and procedural. In 1978, in People v. Corey ' he defined for California law the legal status of private security guards, which he amplified the following year in People v. Zelinski2 and in Cervantez v. . C. Penney Co. 3 Who can understand the current California law of real estate financing without a careful study of his exposition in Wellenkamp v. Bank of America?4 In similar fashion, he explored and described the reciprocal powers of California's Governor and Lieutenant Governor in Brown v. Curb. His clarity of analysis, sometimes in dissent, illuminated the important area of attorney-client relationships, prompting a professional rule change.6 His recent vigorous dissents in the court's consideration of set-off principles within a tort context7 and of the constitutionality of local family residence zoning ordinances8 reveal both a resourceful mind and a deft hand.