Private Security Industry Puzzle by Julie Berg
Private Security Industry Puzzle by Julie Berg
17 September 2013
Yello-Bibbed private security guards ambling down a busy public road. Cash-intransit guards tensely clutching their firearms while refilling an ATM in a shopping mall. Armed response vehicles cruising through dark suburban streets. Sponsorship logos of local private security companies displayed at public schools and parks.
Private security has become entrenched in our security landscapes - admittedly more in some spaces more than others. Yet, apart from recent debates about, or prompted by, the Private Security Industry Regulation Amendment Bill, very little attention is given to private security in comparison to, say, the South African Police Service.