Private vs. Public: Security Risk Management
Ridley Tony
Experienced Leader in Risk, Security, Resilience, Safety, and Management Sciences | PhD Candidate, Researcher and Scholar
Distinctions between private and public security are not immediately apparent to most lay people, in addition to divisions between private/public security realms becoming increasingly obfuscated by roles, funding, responsibilities, powers and representation.
Moreover, private security representation is further diffused across academia, corporate and service providers.
This includes intelligence, research and qualifications.
Lastly, government outsourcing (neo liberal tendencies) increasingly translates to the provision of public security outcomes using private security actors, including private contractors directing and approving public security initiatives and expenditure
Before comparing two seeming like entities with an apparent shared goal, there is a fundamental requirement to understand each independent element first. Then, and only then, you may find them not so alike at all.
Differing principles underlying public and private provision of security (Prenzler and Sarre, 1998)
As depicted in the above visual, there are many polar opposites when it comes to public and private security, despite many forced overlaps and supplanting of one option for another.
"representatives of public security agencies in several Western countries have started to increasingly call upon private companies to participate in the management of various national security issues, with an overall political aim of considerably reducing security risk and making the entire society more resilient and resistant to all kinds of threats, natural disasters and man-made catastrophes" (Bures and Carrapico, 2018)
Public Security
Typically represented as:
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Private Security
Typically represented as:
Full disclosure and understanding should be provided to all stakeholders, including communities, before prioritising one security option over another.
This brief summary provides an initial term of reference for verification and discussion.
Moreover, motivations, remunerations, measurement and outcomes should be clearly articulated prior to commencement of works.
Especially where concealed preferences, power and control are distributed and imposed upon communities in the name of 'security'
Tony Ridley, MSc CSyP MSyl M.ISRM
Security, Risk & Management Sciences
References
Bures O. and Carrapico H. (2018). 'Private Security Beyond Private Military and Security Companies: Exploring Diversity Within Private–Public Collaborations and Its Consequences for Security Governance'. In: Bures O., Carrapico H. (eds) Security Privatization. Springer
Prenzler, T. and Sarre, R. (1998). 'Regulating Private Security in Australia', Trends and Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, (98) Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology.