The Public Accountability of Private Police: Lessons from New York, Johannesburg, and Mexico City

Davis, Robert C.; Ortiz, Christopher W.; Dadush, Sarah; Irish, Jenny; Alvarado, Arturo; Davis, Diane E.

doi:10.1080/10439460308029

Cited by 24 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…This final section sets out fifteen core "best practice" guidelines for government control of the security industry. They have been developed in order to address the problems and issues outlined above, with a focus on strategies most likely to benefit the widest range of stakeholders (see, for example, Button, Park and Lee, 2006;Button and George, 2006;Davis, et al, 2003;George and Button, 1997;Hyde, 2003;Lister, et al, 2001;Prenzler and Hayes, 1999). In some cases the principles are based on impact research (e.g., Prenzler and Hayes, 1999).…”

Section: Key Principles Of Good Security Industry Regulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing a Risk Profile and Model Regulatory System for the Security Industry

Prenzler

Sarre

2008

Secur J

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This is a theory and policy paper that examines the security industry in order to develop a model form of regulation with cross-jurisdictional application. It begins by outlining the need for regulation based on a risk profile for conduct and standards of work. Different types of regulation are then reviewed -including civil and criminal law, market forces and self-regulation -elaborating on previous evaluations. The focus is then placed on the need to refine modern systems of government regulation through licensing. The core of these systems involves mandated entry-level competencies (via prescribed training) and disqualifying offences (via criminal history checks). These requirements and many other elements of regulation are, however, currently applied in highly variable ways. The paper emphasises the need for consistent standards and the inclusion of a range of "advanced" regulatory strategies for improved monitoring and professional development. It concludes by proposing a comprehensive model of what has come to be known as "smart regulation" that seeks to balance the needs and interests of the different groups holding a stake in security.

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Section: Key Principles Of Good Security Industry Regulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing a Risk Profile and Model Regulatory System for the Security Industry

Prenzler

Sarre

2008

Secur J

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“…Theoretically speaking, only the best companies will survive in a market with a varied choice of actors. Private security firms that maintain low professional standards or harm the client will eventually be forced out of business (Swanton, 1993, Davis et al, 2003. The accountability of these companies should, thus, not be underestimated, because, in order to survive, they must constantly work on the development of a positive, reliable and professional image (Livingstone and Hart, 2003: 161;Loader, 1997).…”

Section: The Flipside Of the Coinmentioning

confidence: 99%

Occupational Culture in Policing Reviewed: A Comparison of Values in the Public and Private Police

Loyens

2009

International Journal of Public Administration

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Recent years have seen an increasing privatization of the security sector, leading to an intermingling of private and public policing and a possible 'value-shift' for the overall security policy. Systematic comparative research between police and private security values is, however, still lacking. This article intends to help filling this void by giving an overview of literature on values and occupational culture in both sectors. We conclude that culture is mostly approached in a one-sided, stereotypical and negative way. Our recommendation is to integrate the occupational culture research in the broader academic tradition that focuses on organizational culture and climate.

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“…For example, private police working for community clients often build a general sense of civic solidarity, especially if they self-define their aims as protecting larger values in society, as occurred in South Africa after the end of apartheid rule, 3 or as is now current among private police and citizen security patrols in Mexico City who see themselves on the fault lines of "war" against criminal forces who threaten to destroy the nation (Davis et al 2003).…”

Section: Urban Violence As Challenge To the State's Monopoly Of Coercmentioning

confidence: 99%

Irregular armed forces, shifting patterns of commitment, and fragmented sovereignty in the developing world

Davis

2010

Theor Soc

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Historically, the study of state formation has involved a focus on the urban and national conditions under which states monopolize the means of coercion, generate legitimacy, and marshal sufficient economic resources to wage war against enemies while sustaining citizen allegiance through the extension of social programs, new forms of national solidarity, and citizenship. In Charles Tilly's large body of work, these themes loomed large, and they have re-emerged in slightly reformulated ways in an unfinished manuscript that reflected on the relationship between capital and coercion in which he also integrated the element of commitment-or networks of trust-into the study of state formation. This article develops these same ideas but in new directions, casting them in light of contemporary rather than historical developments. Taking as its point of departure the accelerating rates of criminal violence and citizen insecurity in cities of the developing world, this essay suggests that random and targeted violence increasingly perpetrated by "irregular" armed forces pose a direct challenge to state legitimacy and national sovereignty. Through examination of urban and transnational non-state armed actors who use violence to accumulate capital and secure economic dominion, and whose activities reveal alternative networks of commitment, power, authority, and even self-governance, this essay identifies contemporary parallels with the pre-modern period studied by Charles Tilly, arguing that current patterns challenge prevailing national-state forms of sovereignty. Drawing evidence primarily from Mexico and other middle income developing countries that face growing insecurity and armed violence, the article examines the new "spatialities" of irregular armed force, how they form the basis for alternative networks of coercion, allegiance, and reciprocity Theor Soc (

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The Public Accountability of Private Police: Lessons from New York, Johannesburg, and Mexico City

Cited by 24 publications

References 6 publications

Developing a Risk Profile and Model Regulatory System for the Security Industry

Developing a Risk Profile and Model Regulatory System for the Security Industry

Occupational Culture in Policing Reviewed: A Comparison of Values in the Public and Private Police

Irregular armed forces, shifting patterns of commitment, and fragmented sovereignty in the developing world

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