Private Security Sector Research Articles

10.5937/zrpfns48-6791 = Some controversy about law on private security

The Republic of Serbia is one of the last countries that legally regulate the private security sector, which is a new conceptual system of the national security system. Since the law is expected to solve many issues and dilemmas, and bring order to the area, which by some accounts is a very profitable branch of economy. Expectations were that by the end to regulate issues such as: 1) the need for institutionalization of partnership between the public and private sectors for mutual benefit, 2) the need of expressing mutual interest to establish the desired condition of security in the entire society and 3) the need to define the mechanisms and authority to achieve mentioned above. Based on this, legal framework of private security should explicitly provide: 1) a new role of the private sector, 2) communication and data exchange between the public and private sector, 3) mandatory notification about prepared or committed criminal acts on which there is information, 4) cooperation in the tasks of necessarily protected facilities, 4) cooperation in crisis situations including natural disasters, traffic accidents, strikes, sabotage, terrorist attacks, etc., 5) cooperate in the selection and training of staff and 6) cooperation in planning activities and project design of security. This paper presents a critical review of some theoretical and professional controversies in the solutions provided by law, for the purpose of answering whether it is achieving the purpose of passing of such a legal act.

Senior police officers' perspectives on private security: sceptics, pragmatists and embracers

The police have traditionally been sceptical about working with some groups, and the private security sector is foremost amongst them. Arguments that there are too many negatives associated with a service that is accountable to only those who can pay can be balanced by its potential to offer more cost-effective ways of policing, not least in an austere economic climate. This article reports on interviews with police leaders about attitudes towards working with, and outsourcing functions to the private security sector. Amongst police leaders, both supportive and cautious attitudes were identified and three ‘ideal types’ of views emerged: sceptics, pragmatists and embracers.

Security at the 2012 London Olympics: Spectators’ perceptions of London as a safe city

The build-up to the 2012 Olympics was fraught with problems and attracted considerable negative publicity in both the British and international press. One key component of this involved security at the Games, with the inability of G4S, the private security firm awarded the contract for Games security, to fulfil its obligations, resulting in a major shift in security provision in the weeks leading up to the Games. Our research on spectators’ perceptions of safety and security in London during the Games attains particular significance in this context. However, while previous studies have suggested a heightened crime and disorder problem associated with tourism and at mass public events, the findings here demonstrate that visitors to the Olympics saw London, and the Olympic venues, as safe, in terms of both crime and terrorism, with positive consequences for their future plans to revisit London. The evidence suggests that Olympic security was a success for the government and the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG), despite the negative publicity attached to G4S and the private security sector more generally.

Informal security nodes and force capital

Nodal governance theory continues to have a significant impact upon contemporary understandings of the governance of security. Scholars such as Clifford Shearing and Benoit Dupont have used this theory to explain how various state and private sector security organisations interact and form networks of protection. However, security producing entities from the informal sector remain largely undefined. The purpose of this article is to address this theoretical gap and explore how informal security nodes (ISNs) operate in areas, and amongst populations, that are inadequately serviced by other, more formal security structures. Further developing the Bourdieuian metaphor of capital, this article will also introduce the concept of force capital and seek to explain its utility with regard to the operation of security nodes. Finally, a case study of ISN interaction in the South African informal settlement of Zandspruit will be presented and discussed with relevance to these novel theoretical developments.

The corporate security professional: A hybrid agent between corporate and national security

In our age of globalization and complex threat environments, every business is called upon to manage security. This tendency is reflected in the fact that a wide range of businesses increasingly think about security in broad terms and strive to translate national security concerns into corporate speech. This article argues that the profession of the security manager has become central for understanding how the relationship between national and corporate security is currently negotiated. The national security background of most private sector security managers makes the corporate security professional inside the company a powerful hybrid agent. By zooming in on the profession and the practice of national security inside companies, the article raises questions about where to draw the line between corporate security and national security along with the political consequences of the constitution of such boundaries.

Exploring PSC–military relations: Swedish officers and the private security sector in peace operations

The increasing reliance on private security companies (PSCs) in and around international peace operations has created new public–private constellations, influencing both military and civilian efforts, sometimes generating problematic relationships and even violence between public and private actors, as well as unclear divisions of labour, authority and responsibility. To explain how and why these problems occur, mapping out the understandings that these different actors have of each other in different contexts is of key importance. Through an analysis of Swedish officers’ views of private security actors, this paper aims to contribute to our understanding of the complex relationships between civilian authorities, state militaries and commercial security actors. Particularly, the article will shed new light on ‘PSC–military’ relations and the ways in which the private security sector functions as both a competitor and a career option for former or active service personnel. The article draws on a study commissioned by the Swedish Armed Forces and is empirically based on in-depth interviews and a survey of Swedish officers’ attitudes to PSCs.

Knowledge as a Competitive Advantage in Private Security: A Study In a Company in Santa Catarina, Brazil

Os benefícios da gestão do conhecimento em empresas atuantes em mercados competitivos são conhecidos. A empresa líder no segmento de segurança privada no setor empresarial de Santa Catarina serviu como base para pesquisa quanto à adoção da gestão do conhecimento. A pesquisa foi exploratória, com método qualitativo. Os resultados permitiram constatar a viabilidade da gestão do conhecimento nas empresas do setor. Os investimentos no capital intelectual, mais especificamente no capital humano, são percebidos como necessários, sendo que o processo de gestão do conhecimento não se encontra formalizado nas organizações de segurança privada catarinenses. Itens importantes para implantação deste processo, como o início da participação em comunidades de prática; a organização, o tratamento e a retenção das informações da organização de maneira estratégica e a preocupação com a comunicação entre os seus colaboradores estão sendo considerados.

Military Privatization and the Remasculinization of the State: Making the Link Between the Outsourcing of Military Security and Gendered State Transformations

This article examines the gendered implications of military privatization and argues that the outsourcing of military functions to the private sector excludes women from newly developing private military labour markets, impedes gender equality policies and reconstructs masculinist gender ideologies. This process constitutes a remasculinization of the state, in the course of which the nexus between state-sanctioned violence and masculinity is being reaffirmed. Recent research has introduced the concept of masculinity to the study of the private security sector. Building upon these approaches, the article integrates feminist theories of the state into the research field and evaluates their potential contributions to the analysis of military privatization. In an exemplary case study of the US military sector, this privatization is embedded within debates on the neo-liberal restructuring of the state and addressed as a gendered process through which the boundaries between the public and the private are being redrawn. The implications of these transformations are investigated at the levels of gender-specific labour division, gender policy and gender ideologies.

Economic espionage in the light of the new international economic order

This paper, in a short manner, aims to show the problem of one segment of the modern international economic order. This problem is reflected by the activities of economic espionage, which, with the development of industrial production, has become a kind of economic lifestyle. For the purpose of economic prosperity, as well as political influence, information of all kinds is collected, every part of this information is assessed and separately treated. Also, schools for economic espionage have been established in oder to improve training, but also measures for protection from such activities have been undertaken. Legal protection at the state level has proven to be insufficient, and the protection of the private sector security, in various forms, is increasingly coming to the fore.

Evaluating private security sector market perceptions in Finland

The role and significance of private security services have grown in many countries, since traditional tasks of security authorities are being outsourced. The goal of this study is to empirically evaluate the perceptions of the private security market in Finland. As a result, we identified three different future scenarios for the Finnish private security market, including (1) international success via innovations, (2) success via domestic markets, and (3) pessimistic success vision. It appeared that 75 per cent of respondents saw the future of the Finnish private security market as positive, while respondents with managerial job position were more optimistic than workers. Moreover, the importance of a high-quality national-level educational system was emphasised. The market is assumed to be characterised by the dominance of large companies, while the attitude towards multi-service activities is divided by the respondents. Owing to homogeneous service offerings, the industry is expected to face strong price competition. There are also some doubts regarding the private sector's ability to handle new duties transferred from the public sector. Finally, technology will be a new business enabler, yet it will attract new rivals from other industries and challenge traditional actors in the security sector field.

PREVIOUS OPERATIONS OF SECURING AND PROTECTING OF PERSONS

This paper discusses the need for risk analysis and methods for successful execution of the protection of public figures, especially figures that are on the high state, military, political and police functions, as well as those who have large financial resources and capital. This is one attempt to model what has to be done in technical terms, especially in the preventive work, in order to avoid (minimize) threats towards the protected person. Security jobs are part of the professional activities of security and protection of persons, and as such are essentially the same for public and private security sector.

Control of the private security sector in foreign countries

All modern states today have organized and regulated system of security that includes different role of private security sector which is defined and limited by law. The law represents the basis and limits the activities of all social subjects including the private security sector. Today, legal regulation of private security industry has gone very far in modern democratic societies. So-called model of control through the contract with the business model is abandoned and approach to the model of control by the state is accepted. The new model has almost the same elements used by the state when it comes to controlling the public sector or the police. Analyses indicate that issues related to the control of the private security can be legally regulated in a manner that is typically European, but also have an entirely different approach and variety of combinations that regulate the functioning of private security sector respecting national characteristics. The paper represents the main principles of control of private security abroad with special emphasis on the possible role of international law.

Emergency preparedness as public pedagogy: the absent–presence of race in ‘Preparing for Emergencies’

Emergency preparedness can be considered to be a form of lifelong learning and public pedagogy with implications for race equality. The paper is based on an ESRC project ‘Preparedness pedagogies and race: an interdisciplinary approach’ considering the policy process around the construction of the ‘Preparing for Emergencies’ (PFE) campaign. This campaign which appeared as a leaflet (distributed to every household in the UK) and as a television campaign was a belated response to preparedness by the UK government post-9/11. The results in the paper are based on 20 interviews and two focus groups conducted in 2009–2010. Interviews were conducted with a previous home secretary, members of the cabinet office, private sector security consultants, civil servants and emergency planning committees. Using a Critical Race Theory (CRT) informed methodology we find that both for white and BME (Black and Minority Ethnic) respondents in our focus groups ‘race’ and racialised ascriptions are important to their interpretation of PFE. For white respondents PFE is seen to be most relevant in urban areas at risk of crime and terrorism whereas BME respondents considered that they were potentially pathologised by PFE as potential terrorists. In policy interviews we find that a series of signifiers around race are used to consider the need for responsibilisation within PFE. In conclusion we consider that examining preparedness through the lens of public pedagogy extends theoretical and empirical work on securitisation particularly in terms of considering the responses of various audiences. We also argue for further engagement with CRT in security, and more generally lifelong learning, research.

Professional Securities Analysts Meet Professors Of Financial Analysis: A Pilot Study Of Financial Statement Assessment Differences

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">This multivariate behavioral research investigates whether the financial assessments made by professors of financial analysis differ from those made by private sector financial analysts. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Professors of financial analysis and professional private sector securities analysts were put into separate groups for the study.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Members of the two groups were asked by way of a mailed survey to analyze multi-year comparative financial statements of a business enterprise using variables related to liquidity, long term debt, cash flow, dividend prospects, profitability, and overall financial condition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The study found a significant statistical difference in assessment results of the analysts and the professors. These results indicate that general purpose financial statements convey different information to the two user groups.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The paper describes the data collection process, statistical analysis, and results of the research as well as limitations and a call for additional research.</span></span></span></p>

Some aspects of the responsibility of state for actions in private war campaigns

This paper discusses the circumstances under which the misconduct of private security sector might engage the responsibility of their state sponsors under international law. From an international law perspective, stastes cannot evade responsibility merely by hiring a private actor to carry out certain functions. The conduct of private security companies is, under certain circumstances, attributed to the state, making that state responsible for any violation of international law committed by private security companies personnel. Even where no such attribution exists, the state might still be responsible for lack of due diligence to adequately regulate and control PMC conduct.

Risk calculation and precautionary uncertainty: two configurations within crime assessment

This paper explores two configurations of thinking about crime amongst law enforcement agencies and private sector security managers: 'risk calculation' (concerned with everyday, calculable probabilities and impacts and their management) and 'precautionary uncertainty' (concerned with events that might be incapacitating, yet are not calculable by probability assessments). The paper explores their respective constituent concepts and fields of application in crime assessment, drawing upon qualitative research-in-progress in Belgium. Risk calculation, as applied to crime, starts with past data on routines that link perpetrators with targets that lack capable guardians. Precautionary uncertainty focuses on potential impacts that are highly disabling and potentially wide-spreading (contagion, knock-on effects), asking how such impacts can be contained and recovered from. Risk and uncertainty are shown to be related to 'rational-instrumental' and 'deliberative-constitutive' approaches as developed by Fisher's work in the field of law, which offers a meta-narrative in relation to which they can be positioned. Finally, the paper asks if these two crime assessment methods should be seen as distinct or as merging. On the basis of criteria of conceptual sharpness, openness to public debate and justiciability, the authors champion the maintenance of a clear distinction between risk and uncertainty.

Corruption in the Courts: the Achilles' heel of Nigeria's regulatory framework?

The exponential growth in the size of the private security sector (PSS) in Africa has helped give the issue of its regulation new importance. Yet the ongoing debates over what laws should be passed and by whom tend to ignore the more basic and arguably urgent question of whether African states' justice systems are sufficiently robust to give this legislation meaning. The aim of this paper is to cast some much needed light on this topic by drawing lessons from Nigeria's current experiences. By tracing the development of its PSS code and examining instances of malpractice in its justice system, the article argues that its regulatory framework is fundamentally compromised by corruption.

The privatization of security in Turkey: Reconsidering the state, the concept of “governmentality” and Neoliberalism

AbstractThe privatization of security services, which implies the dispersal of the legitimate right to use force, has been traditionally understood as operating at the expense of state sovereignty. The increasing privatization of security services around the world and the substantial growth of the private security sector in Turkey create the need to reassess the nature of this privatization. Drawing upon the work of Michel Foucault and other scholars of governmentality, as well as our own field research, we try to make such an assessment, without falling back on the traditional state-market (state-society) duality. Research shows that the Turkish private security sector, reported as being tied to both the exigencies of the state and the rules of the market, has an amorphic nature marked by intricate relationships, formal and informal, with public law enforcement agencies. We argue that the sector's privatization, although defended by some as a way to grant accountability and transparency to security services, is neither a remedy for those gaps, nor does it imply a straightforward decline of the state; rather, it is proof that the idea of an autonomous, unitary “state” should be revised and a sign that a different and intricate network of state apparatus and private experts continue to govern our lives in ways unique to neoliberalism.

Post‐conflict private policing: experiences from several former Yugoslav countries

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the development of the private security sector in several former Yugoslav countries that have gone through difficult post‐conflict reconstruction including the field of security.Design/methodology/approach – The paper takes a qualitative approach to data collection that includes interviews with experts in the field of private security from several ex‐Yugoslav countries.Findings – While much effort is invested in the rebuilding of new, democratic public police forces in post‐conflict societies, little attention is usually paid to non‐state providers of security, for example, private security industry. Private security could, potentially, be both a crucial additional stabilising factor in assuring security in post‐conflict environments and a cause of instability if it lacks legislative control, professionalism and ethical guidance. Hence, both the state and the police should support the private security industry in helping it to achieve legitimacy and, where...

Awareness of HIV Status in South Africa: A National Household Survey vs. a Private Security Sector Survey

Awareness of HIV Status in South Africa: A National Household Survey vs. a Private Security Sector Survey