Private Security: Scams, Harm, Scandals, Crimes, Failures and Crisis (Global Recap)

Public awareness and concern is growing in relation to a seemingly random, unrelated string of 'private security' failures and scandals. But what if the failures, harm and crisis are not as isolated as first appears but rather representative of a systemic culture and practice within 'private security' around the globe?

The below list offers just a small peek inside the world of private security scams, harm, scandals, crimes, failures and crisis.

By no means exhaustive, these events and recorded incidents are just those publicly disclosed and reported by news and media outlets. Behind the scenes conceals the full extent and 'cost' of failure, harm and crisis.

It is worth noting that most of these events where paid for with public money for private security or control of the public/community at large.

Subsequently, the list reads more like a 'rogue's gallery' than provision of public/private health, safety, security and risk management services.

Ironically, many individuals and security providers believe they operate 'in the shadow' yet academics, researchers, governments, NGO's and intelligence/policing agencies are shining lights into these dark recesses with increasing legal, punitive and criminal convictions resulting.

In a series of bold allegations, the security guard told Nine he believes the workers were actually “spreading the virus” instead of controlling it.

These allegations follow claims from other whistleblowers that guards were given only “five minutes” training and some had sex with infected guests while they were in quarantine. - News.com, 2 Jul 20

To put it plainly, the Victorian government used an industry with a long history of non-compliance with minimum standards for a critical public safety job. It is not difficult to enter the industry. It does not take much capital to start a business and the workforce is relatively low-skilled. As a result, a large number of security businesses compete for security contracts and there is strong competition on labour costs. - The Conversation, 8 Jul 20

They will be given only about one day's training in the principles of contract tracing - The Independent, 5 May 20

"An as yet to be released security industry review has found nationally a “culture of noncompliance and endemic failure to apply workplace laws” to create a public health risk including exploitation and “modern slavery” and profit-based “pacts of dishonesty” between employers and exploited employees."

- Daily Telegraph, 1 Aug 20

"The inquest also heard from multiple former United Resources Group employees who said their managers tolerated a culture of drinking despite the contract with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade requiring being “dry”.

Australian Federal Police found Mr Betts’ death was self-inflicted, but could not determine if the cause was suicide or misadventure." - 8 Jun 20

He was working as a private security guard in the Baghdad embassy at the time.

Mr Ryan found Mr Betts' death could have been prevented if standard operating procedures regarding alcohol and weapons in place at the time had been complied with and enforced.

Mr Ryan found the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade staff were likely "deliberately kept in the dark by URG" about internal issues.

"It placed the safety of URG contractors at risk, as well as the safety of the Australian Embassy staff they were paid to protect." - Nine News, 8 Jun 20

The recent revelation in Australia that a contract worth AUS$423 million was awarded to a relatively untried private security company, as part of a closed-tender process that appears to have been a one-horse-race, stormed onto the political agenda in the last week. Labor Senator Murray Watt was incredulous, asking “How on earth (did) this tiny unknown company with no track record ever get $423 million in contracts from the Australian taxpayer?”, War on the Rocks, 28 Feb 2019

The CEO of one company and an employee of the other company also engaged in serious corrupt conduct by providing benefits to the University’s security operations manager, including a pinball machine and luxury hotel accommodation, as an inducement or reward for him using his position at the University to favour their interests. The manager also engaged in serious corrupt conduct for accepting, or agreeing to accept, the gifts as an inducement or reward for favouring those interests. - Independent Crime Commission Against Corruption, 26 May 20

Serco and its fellow outsourcing group G4S were stripped of their contracts for tagging criminals to track their movements in the UK in late 2013. Both firms were found in July 2013 to have billed the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) for tagging people who were either dead, back in jail, or had left the country. - The Guardian, 4 Jul 19

G4S agrees to repay ￡109m for overcharging on tagging contracts

That pitch has been effective. The London-based company entered the U.S. marketplace in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks and, by its height in 2014, had grown into the third largest private employer in the world, behind only Walmart and Foxconn. Its American operation, headquartered in Jupiter, Florida, has collected billions of dollars in private and public contracts to guard hospitals and banks, airports and gated communities. G4S guards drive prisoner transport vans and stand watch over sports fans, college students and grocery shoppers. USA Today, 4 Nov 20

For decades, G4S executives, managers and guards have failed to secure the company’s vast arsenal despite repeated warnings from federal regulators that its missing guns have been used in murders and other violent crimes, a USA TODAY/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigation found. - USA Today, 27 Mar 20

The last thing ministers currently need is another too big to fail outsourcing company going pop. - The Independent, 3 Jul 2019

Spanish security firm Prosegur confirmed today that it has been hit by a ransomware attack. The company — which employs 170,000 staff globally and runs six security operations centres (SOCs) among other services — said it has been hit by the Ryuk malware and is working to contain the incident. - Computer Business Review, 28 Nov 2019

An investigation by The Sunday Age into MA Services Group, a Melbourne company which also holds contracts with critical infrastructure projects and national retail companies, has exposed a fast-growing security empire built on seemingly unsustainable quotes, opaque employment arrangements and a complex web of companies used to manage payroll and WorkCover liabilities. - Brisbane Times, 14 Dec 2019

5 INVESTIGATES first reported the Super Bowl Host Committee fired Entertainment Protection Group (EPG) after it found the company had at least one convicted felon working security at Super Bowl-related events. State records from 2015 later revealed EPG failed to conduct background checks on roughly 85% of its employees., KSTP, 26 Dec 2019

On 16 December 2019, the SFO charged Nicholas Woods, former Finance Director of Serco Home Affairs, and Simon Marshall, former Operations Director of Field Services within Serco, with fraud by false representation and false accounting in relation to representations made to the Ministry of Justice between 2011 and 2013. Nicholas Woods was additionally charged with false accounting in relation to the 2011 statutory accounts of Serco Geografix Ltd. - Serious Fraud Office, 29 Jul 19

There are no national standards or specific licensing requirements dictating who can or can’t start an active shooter training company, he said, which is part of the problem. “People are claiming to be subject-matter experts because they feel they are, or have written a book,” he said., Huffington Post, 14 Dec 19

The statement of claim – a redacted form of which Guardian Australia has seen – claimed that Wilson Security knew or ought to have known that its employees “engaged in inappropriate sexual behaviour and/or sexual misconduct in the course of their duties [or] whilst they were permitted to be at the [detention centre]”, or that they permitted other inappropriate sexual behaviour and/or misconduct to go unreported or unpunished. - The Guardian, 25 Nov 19

More than 300 Western Australian customers will be issued refunds by Wilson Security after it was found the company had charged for private security patrols that weren't carried out over the course of six years.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said 320 customers hired Wilson Security and paid them to conduct internal security searches at their premises between July 2011 and September 2017., WA Today, 30 May 2018

The Australian government and its offshore detention contractors will pay more than $70m in compensation to nearly 2,000 refugees and asylum seekers for illegally detaining them in dangerous and damaging conditions on Manus Island…The breakdown of money to be paid by the Australian government, G4S, and Broadspectrum has not been made public, but it is possible that some of the settlement could be paid by Wilson Security, which was sued by Broadspectrum and brought into the class action as a secondary defendant…[During] riots [on Manus Island in] February 2014…more than 70 detainees were seriously injured…refugees were shot by police, were stabbed and had their throats slits when the camp was overrun by rioters from outside. Iranian Reza Barati was murdered by security guards..., The Guardian, UK, 14 Jun 2017

The private security firm’s role in the riots, though shocking, comes as no surprise to anyone familiar with the history of abuse allegations that have been levelled at G4S and Serco in their detention operations abroad.

In the past six months alone, G4S and Serco have been embroiled in allegations of outrageous proportion.

In October 2013, South African authorities assumed control of a G4S-run prison, after it descended into violent chaos amid allegations of torture of inmates by G4S guards. The National, 6 Mar 2014

Some of Marvel Stadium’s controversial crowd controllers are among hundreds of security guards who have had their licences suspended as part of an alleged fraud that could affect top Melbourne venues and sporting events.

Victoria Police sent suspension letters last week to about 400 guards working across the security industry over allegations that “false, forged and/or fraudulently obtained documentation” was used to obtain their security licences., The Age, 26 Jun 20

The company, which holds a $423m contract for services on ManusIsland, has blamed breaches on an ‘inability to deploy expat personnel’

Documents produced to the Senate on Monday reveal that from May 2018 to April 2019 the contractor was forced to credit back $3.1m of its $423m contract value and faced an adverse assessment for a further $8.1m for the month of July 2018.

Asked about the final outcome for that month, the home affairs department referred Guardian Australia to a document showing Paladin was charged just $2.6m because the contract caps fines at 15% of monthly fees., The Guardian, 17 Sep 2019

But in the world of private security, enormous contracts are often awarded to companies through procurement processes with minimal due diligence. The history of contracting with private security companies reveals that, at the very least, Australian authorities should have exercised caution when approaching a PSC to provide services (even non-security services) in a politically sensitive environment such as Manus Island.

The history of large contracts being awarded to PSCs without serious reviews of the background and capacity of these companies is long and grim. But it is not a clandestine issue – the details are on the public record, and ought to be front and centre for those seeking to engage PSCs. There are worrying precedents for many aspects of the Paladin case., The Lowy Institute, 25 Feb 19

Many Canadians will know GardaWorld from airport security, the routine removal of shoes, belts, and “any gels or liquids.” Fewer will know that the Montreal-based company is also a global security provider with ambitions to expand in emerging markets in Africa and the Middle East. It already operates in some of the world’s most dangerous places, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Somalia. Passing through airport security at Pearson International, this might seem a story of Canadian entrepreneurship and success gone global. But not all GardaWorld operations look like Pearson, and not all its employees resemble those staffing the airport’s scanners. In Iraq, for example, they include former child soldiers from Sierra Leone. Centre for International Policy Studies, 28 Apr 20

KABUL, Afghanistan — The Afghan government said Thursday that it was shutting down the operations of one of the largest foreign security companies operating in the country after detaining two of its contractors on suspicion of gun smuggling., The New York Times, 5 jan 2012

Last week students at L’Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) disrupted a board meeting after learning administrators planned to sign a $50 million, seven-year, contract with security giant GardaWorld. Protesters are angry the administration has sought to expel student leaders and ramp up security at the politically active campus as they cut programs., Counter Punch, 7 Apr 2012

At least half the world’s population lives in countries where there are more private security workers than public police officers, according to a new Guardian analysis.

More than 40 countries – including the US, China, Canada, Australia and the UK – have more workers hired to protect specific people, places and things than police officers with a mandate to protect the public at large, according to the data. In Britain, 232,000 private guards were employed in 2015, compared with 151,000police.

The global market for private security services, which include private guarding, surveillance and armed transport, is now worth an estimated $180bn, and is projected to grow to $240bn by 2020. This far outweighs the total international aid budget to end global poverty ($140bn per year) – and the GDPs of more than 100 countries, including Hungary and Morocco.

Around the world, private security guards patrol shopping malls, elite gated communities and some public streets. They often wear uniforms that resemble police clothing and in some countries, including Spain and Italy, private guards carry handguns as well., Pulitzer Center, 12 May 2017

The 20 private military contractors (PMCs) who were evacuated from war-torn Libya aboard two Malta-leased RHIBs and to Valletta, were aviation experts getting ready to operate assault helicopters, MaltaToday has learnt. 

A full list of names in this newspaper’s possession clearly shows the men who arrived at the Valletta seaport on the Manta-1 rigid inflatable boat on 3 July were not oil and gas personnel, but PMCs with evident military experience., Malta Today, 26 May 20

As an ongoing series by the Center for Public Integrity shows, Pentagon dollars flowing into no-bid contracting has exploded over the past 10 years of war. But KBR's LogCap contract shows that sole-source contracts aren't the Pentagon's only way of limiting competition. There's also umbrella-type contracts, like LogCap, that allow the government to buy unspecified goods and services over long periods of time., Wired, 30 Aug 2011

The aim of this edited volume is to widen the existing debates on security privatization by looking at how and why an increasing number of private actors beyond private military and/or security companies (PMSCs) have come to perform various security related functions. While PMSCs produce security for profit, most other private sector actors make profit by selling goods and services that were originally not connected with security in the traditional understanding of the term. However, due to the continuous introduction of new legal and technical regulations by public authorities, many non-security related private businesses nowadays have to perform at least some security functions. Little research, however, has been done thus far, both in terms of security practices of non-security related private businesses and their impact on security governance. This introduction explains how this book contributes to closing this glaring gap by (1) extending the conceptual and theoretical arguments in the existing body of literature; and (2) offering a range of original case studies on the specific roles of non-security related private companies of all sizes, areas of businesses, and geographic origin., Springer, 1 Oct 2017

About 53,000 U.S. contractors were in the Middle East last year, compared with 35,000 U.S. troops, according to a study by Brown University. That ratio was 1 to 1 during the height of troop levels in Iraq in 2008. And since 2001, an estimated 8,000 contractors for U.S. companies have died on duty in the Middle East. That figure is 1,000 more than U.S. troops who have been killed., Stars and Stripes, 30 Jun 2020

Hundreds of mercenaries from Russia's shadowy Wagner Group are operating in Libya, a leaked UN report says., BBC News, 7 May 20

G4S, a global security provider with a broad footprint in the United States, has been plagued by a series of scandals in the U.S. and overseas. 

Only some have garnered media attention, regulatory sanction or threatened the company’s bottom line. Here are 10 prominent incidents....USA Today, 16 Dec 2019

Since the launch of its Belt & Road Initiative (BRI), China’s engagement with the African continent has been scrutinized through the state-to-state economic and military lens. However, the China-Africa economic and security dimension requires a more complex equation that has to take into account the private security sector variable. While the mainstream narrative focuses on the effective return on investments in the African BRI infrastructure projects, or the opening of new Chinese military bases, there is a growing role for China’s Private Security Companies (PSCs) that are operating on the continent., China Africa Real Story, 3 Dec 2019

Canada’s minister of foreign affairs has promised to review Ottawa’s purchasing of security equipment as details emerge of five contracts awarded to a controversial high-tech company that is connected to the highest levels of the Chinese Communist Party.

This week Ottawa posted details of the latest winning bid for Beijing-based Nuctech, in a deal to install X-ray scanning equipment and software to provide security for 170 Canadian embassies, consulates and high commissions worldwide. - Global News, 17 Jul 20

Hired guns are, as the cliché goes, the world’s second-oldest profession. For much of history, they were how wars were fought. But by the 19th century, nation-states with their own armies had emerged as the dominant model, and mercenaries were squeezed out of the picture. The few companies that remained tended to operate in the shadows.

All this changed after 9/11 and, in particular, with the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. The Pentagon needed to respond quickly to the chaos engulfing the country. The easiest and least politically costly way of freeing up more troops to fight was to hire contractors to do everything else—namely, protect diplomats, bases, and cargo. From 2003 to 2008, the United States spent a total of $5.3 billion on security firms in Iraq. New companies sprang up to profit from the opportunity, among them Sabre International Security., The Atlantic, 29 Jan 2019

This article explores the phenomenon of scandals as they unfold in the private security industry. We begin by outlining our theoretical understanding of scandals, before tracking the key phases of two recent events – one in Sweden, the other in Britain. Scandals, we suggest, are best viewed as moral tales which dramatize a host of societal norms and values about private security and criminal justice, prompting a great deal of normative conflict. The wider point we draw from the analysis is that when market actors enter the field of policing and criminal justice, they not only re-shape that field, they are also re-shaped by it. Private security cannot, in other words, escape the moral dilemmas and conflicts that inescapably attend practices of policing and punishment. Taylor and Francis Online, 14 Dec 2016

As alarming as this list and short insight may be, the fact remains that there are still good, competent, qualified security professionals around the world, doing good things, saving lives and protecting assets and people, regrettably, they remain the minority and their numbers dwindle by the day when overwhelmed and surrounded by the culture and actions of the above 'rogue's gallery'.

Tony Ridley

Enterprise Security Risk Management & Security Science