Private Policing

Security concerns have led to the creation of a separate private security industry and, in the United States for example, the private police now outnumber the public ones. The implications of a privatized police force are troubling for many and for those people we have provided a bibliography that will lead to the arguments about the subject which range across many disciplines. That bibliography is appended below. For those in business who are more interested in the opportunities than the implications we provide suggestions about where data about the various aspects of the security industry can be found.

    We were prompted to do this because of the growing interest and because, in the Spring of 2006, there have been many articles in the news about a Canadian company in the security services industry- Garda World Security Corp.. As we write this, for example, an article has just appeared in The Globe and Mail: "Garda on Prowl for U.S. Firms to Acquire," by Frederic Tomesco, May 24, 2006, p.B8.  Provided below is some information about Garda and the peer firms in the sector. For two other useful articles about the industry see: "Personal Protection: Neighbourhoods, Schools and Individuals are Paying for Private Security Services to Feel Safe in Edgy Times," Deirdre McMurdy, Financial Post, Oct. 23, 2006, p.IN1 and "Terrorbusters, Inc.: The Rise of the Homeland Security-Industrial Complex," Louis Uchitelle and John Markoff, The New York Times, Oct. 17, 2004, p.B1.

    The market for private security services in the U. S. is reported to have been around $39 billion in 2005. The 3 leading providers of those services were Securitas (Sweden), Tyco (Bermuda) and Group 4 Securicor (UK). Information about the companies in the sector is not too difficult to find. A good start on the industry side is provided by Freedonia (from which the information immediately above was taken). See: Freedonia Focus on Private Security Services, April 2006. The highlights of this report are available to Western students and faculty and the full report can be purchased from Freedonia for $4300 (US).

    Additional market research is available to you. See, for example, the lengthy study published by SBI on the related subject: "Alarms, Alarm Systems, and Alarm Services," which is provided to you through our subscription to MarketResearch.com Academic. This particular report was published in 2002 and at that time the market for alarms and alarm services was estimated at $17 billion. The 200+ page report provides considerable background since the 1980s and the 10 leading companies are profiled. Section 9 also touches on the "Canadian Market Situation". 

    These suggestions will lead you to additional business-related sources and the bibliography will direct you to the more theoretical ones. For other resources, consult with library staff.

To begin your search for information about policing in Canada, we suggest: Re-Imagining Policing in Canada, ed. by  Dennis Cooley (DBW-  HV8157. R45 2005. See especially: "Beyond Public-Private: Towards a New Typology of Policing," by S. Rigakos.

Bayley, David H. 1988. "Community Policing". pp.225-38 in Community Policing: Rhetoric or Reality?, ed. by Jack R. Greene and Stephen D. Mastroski.

Bayley, David H., and Clifford D. Shearing. 1996. "The Future of Policing." Law and Society Review 30: 585-606.

Becker, Theodore. 1974. "The place of private police in society: An area of research for the social sciences." Social Problems 21.

Campbell, Gayle, and Bryan Reingod. 1994. "Private security and public policing in Canada." Juristat 14.

Chan, Janet. 1996. "Changing police culture." British Journal of Criminology 36: 109-34.

Currie, Dawn, Walter S. DeKeseredy, and Brian D. MacLean. 1992. " Reconstituting social order and social control: Police acocuntability in Canada." Rethinking the Administration of Justice, ed. Dawn Currie and Brian D. MacLean.

Currie, Elliot. 1997a. "Markett Society and Social Disorder." pp.37-42. Thinking Critically about Crime. ed. Brian D. MacLean and Dragan Milovanovic.

Currie, Elliot. 1997b. "Market, crime and community: Toward a mid-range theory of post-industrial violence." Theoretical Criminology 1: 147-72.

Dandeker, C. 1990. City of Quartz: Excavating the Future of Los Angeles.

Erickson, Bonnie H. 1993. People Working in the Toronto Private Contract Security Industry.

Ericson, Richard V., Kevin D. Haggerty, and Kevin D. Carriere. 1993. "Community policing as communications policing." pp.37-70. Community Policing : Comparative Aspects of Community Oriented Police Work. ed. Dieter Dolling and Thomas Feltes.

Ewick, Patricia. 1993. "Corporate Cures: The commodification of social control." Studies in Law, Politics and Society. 13: 137-57

Forcese, Dennis P. 1992. Policing Canadian Society.

Freedman, M.B., and Philip C. Stenning. 1977. Private Security, Police, and the Law in Canada.

Garland, David. 1996. "The limits of the sovereign state: Strategies of crime control in comtemporary society." British Journal of Criminology. 36: 445-71

Goldstein, Herman. 1990. Problem-Oriented Policing.

Gordon, P. 1987. "Community Policing: Towards the local police state?" pp.121-44. Law, Order and the Authoritarian State. ed. Phil Scraton.

Greene, Jack. 1997. "Policing through the prism of business and industry." pp. 8-10. Measuring What Matters. ed. Jeremy Travis.

Greene, J.R., T.M. Seamon, and P.R. Levy. 1995. "Merging public and private security for collective benefit: Philadelphia's Center City district." American Journal of the Police. 14: 3-20.

Hollway, Wendy, and Tony Jefferson. 1997. "The risk society in an age of anxiety: Situating fear of crime." British Journal of Sociology. 48: 255-66.

Johnston, Les. 1992. The Rebirth of Private Policing.

Johnston, Les. 1996. "What is Vigilantism?" British Journal of Criminology. 36: 220-36.

Johnston, Les. 2000. Policing Britain: Risk, Security and Governance.

Jones, Trevor, and Tim Newburn. 1998. Private Security and Public Policing.

Jones, Trevor, and Tim Newburn. 1995. "How big is the private security sector?" Policing and Society 5:221-232.

Kakalik, J., and S. Wildhorn. 1971. Private Police in the United States.

Kempa, Michael, Ryan Carrier, Jennifer Wood, and Clifford Shearing. 1999. "Reflections on the evolving concept of 'private policing.'" European Journal of Criminal Policy and Research 7: 197-224.

Klare, M.T. 1975. "Rent-a-cop: The private security in the U.S." pp. 104-14. The Iron Fist and the Velvet Glove: An Analysis of the U.S. Police ed. L. Cooper, E. Currie, J. Frappier, T. Platt, B. Ryan, R. Schauffler, J. Scruggs, and L. Trujillo.

Lea, John, and Jock YOung. 1984. What Is to Be Done about Law and Order?

Lee, M. 1991. "Across the public-private divide? Private Policing, grey intelligence and civil actions in local drugs control." European Journal of Crime, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice. 3: 381-94.

Lister, Stuart, Dick Hobbs, Steve Hall, and Simon Winlow. 2000. "Violence in the night-time economy; Bouncers: The reporting, recordding and prosecution of assaults," Policing and Society 10: 383-402.

Loader, Ian. 1999. "Consumer culture and the commodification of policing and security." Sociology 33: 373-92.

Maki, Dennis. 1988. The Market for Employment, Personnel and Security.

Manning, Peter K., 1997. Police Work: The Social Organization of Policing, 2nd.

Marx, Gary T. 1987. "The interweaving of public and private police in undercover work." pp. 172-93. Private Policing. ed. Clifford D. Shearing and Philip C. Stenning.

McCormick, Kevin R. E. , and Livy A. Visano. 1992. "Policing and understanding: Cultural controls and contesting contexts." pp. xi-xiii. Understanding Policing. Ed. Kevin R.E. McCormick and Livy A. Visano.

McMullan, John L. 1996. "Policing, lawlessness, and disorder in historical perspective." pp. 111-40. Post-Critical Criminology. ed. Thomas O'Reilly-Fleming.

Miccuci, Anthony J. 1995. "Changing of the guard: The transformation of private security." Journal of Security Administration 18: 21-45.

Murphy, Chris. 1988. "Community problems, problem communities, and community policing in Toronto." Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 25: 392-410.

Normandeau, Andre, and Barry Leighton. 1990. A Vision of the Future of Policing in Canada: Police-Challenge 2000

O'Leary, D. 1994. "Reflections on police privatization." FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin 63: 21-5

O'Toole, G. 1978. The Private Sector: Private Spies, Rent-a-Cops, and the Police-Industrial Complex.

Palango, Paul. 1998. "On the mean streets: As the police cut back, private cops are moving in." pp.10-14. Mclean's.

Pancake, D. 1983. "The new professionals: Cooperation between police departments and private security." The Police Chief 50: 34-6.

Peterson, H. I. 1983. "Private Security v. public law enforcement." The Police Chief 50: 26-7.

Reichman, Nancy. 1986. "Managing crime risks: Toward an insurance based model of social control." Research in Law, Deviance and Social Control. 8: 151-72.

Rigakos, George S., and David Greener. 2000. "Bubbles of governance: Private Policing and the Law in Canada." Canadian Journal of Law and Society. 15: 145-85.

Sarre, R. 1994. "Legal powers of private police and security providers." pp. 259-80. Private Prisons and Police: Recent Australian Trends. ed. Paul Moyle.

Shearing, Clifford D. 1992. "The relations between public and private policing." pp. 399-434. Modern Policing. ed. Michael Tonry and Norval Morris.

Shearing, Clifford D. 1993. "Policing: Relationships between public and private." pp. 203-27. Alternative Policing Styles: Cross-Cultural Perspectives. ed. Mark Findlay and Zvekic Ugljesa.

Shearing, Clifford D. 1997. "Unrecognized origins of the new policing: Linkages between private and public policing." pp. 219-30. Business and Crime Prevention. ed. Marcus Felson and Ronald V. Clarke.

Shearing, Clifford D., Margaret B. Farnell, and Philip C. Stenning. 1980. Contract Security in Ontario.

Shearing, Clifford D., and Phillip C. Stenning. 1982a. Private Security and Justice: The Challenge of the 80's.

- 1982b. "Snowflakes or good pinches?- Private security's contribution to modern policing." pp. 96-110. Maintenance of Order in Society. ed. Rita Donelan.

- 1983. "Private security: Implications for social control." Social Problems 30: 498-505.

- 1987a. "Reframing policing." pp.9-18. Private Policing. ed. Clifford D. Shearing and Philip C. Stenning.

Shearing, Clifford D., Philip C. Stenning, and Susan M. Addario. 1985a. "Corporate perceptions of private security." Canadian Police College Journal 9: 367-90.

-1985b. "Police perceptions of private security." Canadian Police College Journal 9:127-53.

-1985c. "Public perceptions of private security." Canadian Police College Journal 9: 225-53.

South, Nigel. 1984. "Private Security, the division of policing labor and the commercial compromise of the state." Research in Law, Deviance and Social Control. 6: 171-98.

- 1987. "Law, profit, and 'private persons:' Private and public policing in English History." pp. 72-109. Private Policing. ed. Clifford D. Shearing and Philip C. Stenning.

Spitzer, Steven. 1981. "The political economy of policing." pp. 314-41. Crime and Capitalism: Readings in Marxist Criminology. ed. David F. Greenberg.

Weiss, Robert. 1978. "The emergence and transformation of private detective industrial policing in the United States, 1850-1940." Crime and Social Justice 9: 35-48.