This paper is concerned with arguably the most pervasive body of watchers in society, private security personnel. Set in the context of the rapid post-war expansion of both mass private property and private security, the contention of the paper is that the inter-dependency between these two industries is key to understanding the significance of surveillance as a form of governance in privatised urban spaces. Drawing on an empirical study of private security in three settings: a cultural centre, a shopping centre and a retail and leisure complex, it is argued that surveillance practices represented much more than an approach to policing and crime prevention in these venues, and were central to broader management strategies for the three centres. These surveillance practices also became the basis for collaborative working with the police. In the conclusion, a number of concerns are raised with respect to the policing aspects of surveillance, in relation to both commercial and public policing objectives and the human rights and civil liberties being eroded along the way.

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This paper considers the challenges and opportunities that exist in England and Wales for the use of\ud private prosecutions for Fraud. It considers the need for sanctions against fraudsters: looks at the prosecution\ud landscape as it has evolved, especially during the 21st century: considers the legal basis for private\ud prosecution and gives a brief history of its extent. The advantages and disadvantages associated with\ud private prosecution are considered and recommendations made on the changes needed before there could\ud be significant developments in the use of private prosecutions

In many Western democratic societies the primacy of the police has begun to diminish with a proliferation of alternative service providers, particularly within the private security sector. This raises questions about how such bodies can best be mobilized and integrated within policing. This paper reports findings from three ethnographic case studies of private security teams operating within areas of semi‐public space, to advance understanding of their nature and operations. It shows how the character of security work is determined by vastly differing structural arrangements to those of the police, but by a similar heterogeneity of function. While private security is seen to have a valid place within the ‘extended police family’, it is depicted as a low status sector whose authority in undertaking policing derives from the autonomy of other more powerful players. Future ethnographies, it is therefore argued, need to focus on the corporate users that govern its activities.

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