Complementary to the public version, private security has in the space of 30 years become an essential player in the economy. The many and varied missions it has to carry out have admittedly boosted its progress, but this rapidly growing sector is today at a crossroads. Hedged in by unauthorised competition and legal insecurity, it has got to work out, together with its partners–the State and customers–the conditions under which it can develop and guarantee its future.
Private Security Companies: Myth and Reality
In a centralised and authoritative country like France, the private security sector is viewed by the State and a part of the general population with the greatest suspicion. This observation is paradoxical: private security is a profession which has improved considerably during the last 30 years, and has tried to become more ethical and professional, to fight against a lamentable image, but which nevertheless seems incapable of improving the perception in which it is held. To what or to whom do we owe this negative image? Let us investigate the truth about modern private security companies, their position, their problems, but also their stereotypes.
It is necessary from the outset to state that the definition of private security has been purposely ‘narrowed’ to focus on the human surveillance sector, because that is truly the heart of the debate about the image of private security.
The subject will be dealt with from two principal points of view:
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