Commercial Trend

Policing and society ? the trends toward commercialisation – are the topics of this paper by Nissan Moradoff.

Recent years have seen a marked growth in business for the security industry. This has occurred against a backdrop of an ever-increasing trend of crime over the past 60 years. (Home Office, 1996, 1999). Hand in hand with these developments and as a reaction to the increase in crime there has been a shift in policing patterns. Political pressures have forced successive governments to increase the number of police officers in an attempt to be seen to be doing something to combat crime. This has proved financially draining on the treasury and has not halted the rise in crime. The ineffectiveness of the civil police force in tackling crime has led to a reassessment of police management techniques resulting in major structural changes to their management and operational configuration. (Livingstone, 1998). Consequently, the job of ‘Policing’ in the wider sense has expanded with the private security sector augmenting the traditional role of the police.
 
Police priorities
 
To magnify the problem there have also been other pressures within the police force itself that have impacted upon its effectiveness. Police behaviour toward racial minorities and the labelling of the police force as ‘institutionally racist’ by Lord MacPherson in the Lawrence report (BPA, 1999) has been a factor in affecting the morale of officers. More recently economic reasons have been an influencing factor with skyrocketing property prices around the UK making it difficult for police officers to find affordable accommodation forcing many to leave the force. With the ongoing problems within the police force and the prioritisation of crime response, there seems to be a growing use of the private security sector to ‘fill the gaps’. This process of ‘privatisation’ has meant that a reassessment of the role of security officers will have to be made. The upgrading of powers for security officers to bring them to parity with those of police officers may not be too far off. Naturally these moves raise problems, including those of a legal and ethical dimension.
 
Policing concepts
 
This paper will therefore look at the main concepts behind policing, its relationship to social order and the development of specialised police institutions in ‘modern’ and ‘post-modern’ societies. It will consider the emerging trends that are affecting policing and police forces including globalisation of economic and financial structures and the ‘commoditisation’ of security. The impact of the processes leading to ‘peripheralisation’, a de-centring of core activities leading to a distancing of governmental or corporate control and erosion of sovereignty will be examined. Socio-politico-economic shifts from industrial era ‘hierarchical structures’ to the ‘risk society’ will be analysed. The effects of ‘commercialisation’ of state police structures and movement toward ‘risk communities’ policing will be discussed. The increasing overlaps between private and state police entities will be considered as will the ongoing debate of the powers of security officers. Legal and ethical dimensions of increasing private security officer’s powers to those of the state police will be discussed. An attempt will also be made to offer suggestions about the potential future trends in policing, both public and commercial.
 
Some theory
 
The concept of ‘policing’ in present post-modern societies is based on the idea of social control, described by Reiner as "police fetishism": the ideological assumption that the police are a prerequisite of social order’", (Reiner, 1997:1003). Therefore, according to this view ‘Policing’ may be considered a process of social control and a universal requirement that may exist in any social order whilst ‘Police’ is the actual body that executes these processes. Alternative and opposing views are put forward by Weber that relate to market relationships in capitalistic systems and the ‘critical’ paradigms offered by Marx and Engels and Quinney’s assertion of law as a tool of class oppression (Hall & Scraton, 1990). These concepts suggest a coercive view of the law in imposing social control, "The police have assiduously defended the interests of the ruling class ever since their inception". (Farrell, 1992:77). Indeed, Marx and Engels assert that the law is used by the exploitative ‘bourgeois ideology’ of capitalism as "an instrument of class domination". (Hall & Scraton, 1990:462) which, to Engels, justified crime as a ‘social war’ against capitalist exploitation. The idea of a linkage to class or hierarchical systems is one supported by Robinson et al. (1994) i.e. "specialised forces develop hand-in-hand with the development of social inequality and hierarchy". (Reiner, 1997:1006).
 
"A society dominated by a ruling class needs a coercive instrument to maintain its control over basic resources and over a labour force necessary to produce the surplus product to support and sustain the ruling class".
Robinson et al. (1994:3), In: Johnston, (2000:6)
 
Present day [modern] police forces such as those in the UK and USA have been associated with the "Anglo-American model", as a response to crime and disorder arising from industrialisation and urbanisation in capitalistic economic states. (Johnston, 2000). Historically the British style developed as a result of the weakening of traditional local mechanisms in the 19th Century. With backing from the property owning classes a force was created which Storch refers to as a "Lever of urban discipline, ‘ a bureaucracy of official morality". (Storch, 1990). The British police force has since evolved into a force with an image of a uniquely non-militaristic slant, although an altogether different brand; a more aggressive and coercive armed force was used in the colonial regions.
 
Stimulus to change
 
Changes to the organisational and structural makeup of the British police force began in earnest under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher and continued under a series of Tory governments. These changes were brought about for a variety of home-grown reasons such as racial rioting resulting from what Lea and Young (1993:172) call "military policing". Further powerful stimuli for change were emanating from the restructuring of the world economic order; accelerated with the collapse of Communism and the integration of former Eastern Bloc countries into the capitalist markets. The internationalisation of corporations and globalisation of world financial markets, "Globalising capitalism", Waters (1995), has led to an erosion in the influence and control of sovereign states. The issue of sovereignty has been further undermined by the clamour for regional pacts such as the European Union. This has occurred against a backdrop of post cold war fragmentation particularly due to nationalistic sentiment in many European countries. This contradiction of processes has added to the uncertainty and complexity of the changes occurring.
 
Consumer society
 
Coupled with this there has been an organisational restructuring, a movement away from standardisation ‘ Fordism, (Johnston, [2000], Hall & Jacques, [1989]) to a post-fordist ideology offering customer orientated work cultures which has spread from the private to the public sector, including the police. Integral with these changes has occurred what Johnston terms "the commodification of security" in a mass consumption capitalistic society. These processes of global restructuring have impacted on governmental police policy, with ‘commodification’ being seen by some as a natural consequence of these combined forces of global economic, organisational and societal shifts, where "’security’ has itself become a commodity", Morgan & Newburn, (1997:108). The changing world order toward ‘postmodernity’, one of fragmentation and decentralisation appears to be well advanced with a shift toward a community based diversification of society. It would appear that a situation of continuing fragmentation, organisational and managerial change, displacement of functions at the core with ‘peripheralisation’ of core functions and a distancing of governmental and corporate control will continue. Despite the contradictions and paradoxes in these processes, a "hollowing out", (Rhodes, 1994) there appears to be no slowing down in their adoption by state or commercial policy makers.
 
‘Prison-industrial complex’
 
Besides the socio-economic and socio-political shifts other major changes are taking place. With the growth of technology there has also been a growth in pure risks, i.e. those risks where the outcomes are losses or no change. This has occurred due to a paradox where improvements in technology have increased the problems of vulnerability, as noted by Beck, (1999:4.25). Consequently, attempts to control or limit these risks and even to manage the uninsurable consequences of disaster have increased overall costs to businesses. This has spilled over into general society creating movement toward the ‘risk society’, arguably replacing the industrial age ‘class or hierarchical society’ and producing shifts in strategy to manage these risks and dangers. (Bennett, 2001). The adoption of the ‘risk society’ model has already created a significant shift toward the utilisation of the private security sector to take on roles that were once the bastion of the central state police or similar government agents. Increasingly magistrates’ court security, prisoner escort services, detention centres and prisons are all being contracted out to the commercial security sector, (SCSPO, 2000), referred to by some analysts as the "prison-industrial complex". (Morgan & Newburn, 1997) This trend seems set to continue and even accelerate as transnational corporations move in to these new growth areas for profit generation. Governments eager to be seen to be acting to reduce crime and businesses hungry to improve profits by reducing losses have embraced such strategies.
 
Greying of areas
 
With such forces for change at play what is becoming increasingly clear is that the role of the state police and private security organisations increasingly overlap with a greying of the areas between their operational activities. There is also a blurring of the boundaries between the usual perception of the state police protecting the public whereas the private security sector guards the private individual against crime. With the fiscal squeeze on local authorities becoming more acute, many have turned to the commercial security sector for the provision of security work formerly undertaken by state police. Additionally, a growth in privately owned areas open to the public such as shopping centres has created a process of ‘decreasing congruence between private property and private space’, Morgan and Newburn, (1997) blurring the edges between private and public policing. Numerous ‘hybrid’ policing entities have come to the fore such as investigative and regulatory bodies working for central and local governments further ‘greying’ the boundaries. Examples include Wandsworth and Brent councils and Sedgefield local authority (Morgan & Newburn, 1997:70-71), which have been active in using other agencies for policing functions, including the environmental health department, Health and Safety Executive, British Transport Police, post office investigations department and the use of parks constabularies in providing security services to local centres such as libraries as well as parks. (Johnston, 2000:133-4).
 
Many questions are raised by the use of private security in such areas in the UK. Limited to only citizens’ powers of arrest, there are those advocating the extension of police powers to private security operatives. It can be argued that in English law a situation exists where an ordinary citizen has many of the powers that a police officer possesses.
 
"Within the English system a police officer is described as a citizen in uniform with special powers conferred on him or her with which to perform their official duties in society’on balance many fundamental powers held by the police within this country are also possessed by the ordinary citizen".
(SCSPO Module 5:164)
 
The difference lies in certain additional powers that police officers have. The present feeling seems to be that these powers are sufficient to enable private security to perform their duties. Where additional powers are required, such as court security personnel, they have been extended. Certainly the feeling within the security industry’s main representative bodies is that additional powers are not required. International Professional Security Association (IPSA) International chairman David Mackie states,
 
"To give full powers including warrantable arrest would not be a good thing for the security industry. The role of the security officer is to augment the police and IPSA would not want to see that role supplanted. We would therefore not like to contemplate it". (Personal communication, IPSA, January 2001)
 
The British Security Industry Association (BSIA) through their chairman David Fletcher, has indicated similar views: "We don’t need extra powers. We don’t wish them [security officers] to be armed with truncheons. They are there to reinforce the [state] police role in crime prevention". (BSIA, 2001).
 
These feelings within the industry may be prevalent but the incorporation of commercial security into public police roles with increased legal powers (possibly full state police powers) does raise many issues. Accountability and justice are pivotal concerns in the debate of policing. Public police are clearly accountable in a democratic state, but to whom is the private security sector answerable’ It would appear only to those who employ them. This has been called a "democratic deficit" by Beck and Willis, (1995:125). In the UK the problems associated with the manned guarding sector are well known and documented and as Gill suggests "there is room for raising standards". (Gill, 1998:223) In particular, problems with vetting have allowed criminals to be employed as security officers. Fears of security guards acting outside the law, poor training and management, lack of regulation, low wages and morale leading to high staff turnover all contribute to a poor image. Indeed, Beck and Willis state, "There are anxieties that private security patrols may increase the fear of crime". Beck & Willis, (1995:128). The issue of training is an important factor, one that the private sector has been slow to address. It takes two years to train a public police officer; private security officers a few weeks or even less. This lower level of training can, according to Ian MacDonald, (2000) acting head at Bramshill police training centre, increase risks both to the officers and to the public.
 
SIA set-up
 
In such a climate extending the use of private security officers and possibly increasing their powers may not necessarily be helpful in raising public confidence and could do further harm to the industry and undermine official authority. The setting up of the Security Industry Authority (SIA) to licence security people could help in improving accountability. This issue of accountability has become increasingly important with the growth in municipal policing. Powers of parks police could be stretched to encompass large ‘open spaces’ such as council housing estate patrols and thus undermine the status of the public police authority. This would run counter to present public police policy on the role of private security services. A statement by a spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) reads as follows:
 
"We recognise that they [security officers] have a significant part to play in the community in helping local agencies work together to improve the quality of life. However, they must not become an alternative to the [state] police. For example, they should not have powers beyond those of an ordinary citizen; they should be accountable to local authorities and be properly regulated. Their funding should come from recognisable sources and not involve any reduction in [state] police budgets. It is also very important that their appearance including uniform should be distinct from that of the [state] police". (Personal communication, ACPO Press office, January 2001)
 
European models
 
As much as the public police do not like the encroachment of private security on their territory, the increase in crime and the public demand for a deterrent presence on the streets will dictate that their use will increase. European models such as those in the Netherlands and France have adopted to provide supplemental forces, which may act as a guide for the UK. Some, like the Dutch auxiliaries have been granted full public police powers whilst city guards have limited powers. Not all agree that such models would really work in the UK; English cultural diktats being at variance with those on the continent. However, community support officers or wardens are being promoted by the UK government as the way forward especially in carrying out routine street patrols and similar functions which were once the duty of state police. (Professional Security, 2002). This trend is likely to continue and become more widespread.
 
Two tiers
 
The provision of commercial security also raises the issue of justice and equity with the potential of creating a two tier police system; one for those who can afford it and one for the rest of the public, normally the less well off or the ‘underclass’ thus creating ‘unequal protection’ in society. Combined with this there are also fears that private security may become akin to ‘private armies’ or be used in an onerous way e.g. Liverpool city security force and their alleged links to Militant leader Derek Hatton, (Johnston, 2000:143) or be used as a form of vigilantism. Thus it is clear that matters of ethical and political conflict in the burgeoning use of private security will need to be debated further.
 
Military used
 
Another dimension to the legal, ethical and political considerations has been added by the use of military security personnel to fight crime. (Johnston, 2000:56-63) These persons do not have legal powers such as the state police even though they are engaging in ‘informal counter-crime’ strategies. This has been compared to ‘informal justice’ and raises similar questions about justice of those in the private security sector who may certainly be performing similar jobs including electronic surveillance such as CCTV.
 
Real crime
 
The continuing growth in crime and the fear of crime will pressurise the public police to improve performance, achievable only through an inevitable and continuing change in their operational and organisational structure. However some police forces have continued to weaken their case with the public by an overzealous pursuit of what are perceived to be petty crimes at the expense of ‘real crimes’. According to the Adam Smith Institute, (2001) ‘[state] police are chasing soft options and do not understand or follow the public’s agenda of tackling violence’ [or hard crime]. An example is the proliferation of speed cameras and their well publicised misuse by some police forces as a source of revenue generation. The institute suggests that these offences are easy to process and collect statistics for, involving mostly docile middle class motorists. Action against dangerous criminals would be less easy to show ‘good results’ on as well as being more difficult to execute. Such out of touch practices continue to harm the state police image and indeed some would argue that the fight against crime may be affected if traditionally supportive middle class supporters continue to be targeted. Inevitably this will mean more involvement of private security in policing functions and therefore a continuation of the major growth seen in recent years in the commercial security sector.
 
Louder calls
 
Furthermore, existing styles of maximal-reactive policing strategies that utilise a militaristic-bureaucratic state apparatus are now viewed as controversial and have created a public backlash. Socio-political, economic and global forces will further exert their influences as will the erosion of governmental sovereignty due to Europeanisation and its consequential bureaucratisation of national structures. The move toward ‘communities’ is leading to a policing of ‘risk communities’ as ‘post-modern’ society moves toward ‘the risk society’, creating a ‘commoditisation’ of security. This has caused a blurring of who is the public. The pattern of diversification suggests that there are many ‘public’s’, a variety of diverse communities all with their own sets of requirements creating an environment of ‘risk communities’ who will be able to purchase security as a commodity. This will be further driven by the unevenness of the free-market economy creating new class structures of those that ‘have’ and an underclass that will be excluded from the economic and social order, creating unstable social conditions. (Reiner, 1997). The calls to utilise more private security may well get louder. The merging between private and public property may be the direction for future policing with American models of ‘risk community policing’ such as Starrett city being considered where "private interests and community needs are combined in a positive crime prevention strategy". Walsh and Donovan (1989).
 
Warnings
 
Low standards of training, poor vetting procedures, low pay and morale, poor management and supervision, lack of legislation are all factors that warn against giving additional powers to the private sector. The scope for abuse is wide and may increase the risks to the public as well as to the security officers. (MacDonald, 2000). The need for legislation is a real one as is the need for accountability, justice and equity. There is certainly a potential problem with "unequal protection, when private security is provided solely in response to market forces". Beck & Willis, (1995:141) leading to a further class division of society and displacement of crime to those who cannot afford private security.
 
HRA caution
 
The introduction of recent European influenced legislation like the Data Protection Act 1998, the Human Rights Bill or Freedom of Information Act, (SCSPO, 2000) will perhaps nudge the private security sector to exercise more caution in their execution of duties. Legislation in the UK will go a long way toward alleviating some of the misgivings about the expansion of the commercial security sector. For the time being there will inevitably be caution from the state police in expanding the role of private security. This may well be ignored by the government which is more concerned about results and an alleviation of the public’s fear of crime.

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