International Journal on Criminology Volume 4, Number 2, Winter 2016 | Page 117

International Journal on Criminology - Winter 2016, Volume 4, Number 2
Private Security on a Global Level
Alain Bauer A and Cédric Paulin B
Discussing “private security on a global level” presents a huge challenge. It
is possible to think that the subject has already been analyzed and dissected
numerous times, or that in fact very little has been published on the subject,
certainly in France or in French.
The subject has mainly been studied through the military and security prism,
with regard to the privatization of armed forces and to the use of private military
companies. A considerable number of articles, reports, and seminars exist on the
subject, but few on the subject of the international aspects of private domestic security. 1
Global private security, as envisaged for this conference, is the “domestic”
private security of the 193 states of the United Nations. That is the prism employed
for this intervention.
I. What Are the Sources of Knowledge Concerning Global Private Security?
There are of course national sources of information—regulations, reports, and
scientific literature. In accurate, these sources, nonetheless, present a problem in their
quantity, as it would be necessary to examine 193 different cases. Faced with this
difficulty, two secondary international sources are particularly useful—the United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime at the global level and the Confederation of
European Security Services at the European level. These two bodies, one public and
the other private, provide qualitative and/or quantitative data that make it possible to
describe and analyze global private security. Thus, these two sources show that the
idea of comparison is legitimate and has already been “dreamed of”—global private
security is not a virgin subject, but a subject ready to be revealed.
At the global level, the UNODC has produced documentation aimed at
expanding on the “Report on the Meeting of the Expert Group on Civilian Private
Security Services Held in Vienna from 12 to 14 October 2011”. 2 This report was
the result of resolution 18/2 entitled “Civilian Private Security Services: Their Role,
Oversight and Contribution to Crime Prevention and Community Safety” adopted
A
Professor of Criminology at the Conservatoire nationale des arts et métiers and at Fudan University (Shanghai),
New York and Beijing
B
Chief of Staff, National Council of Private Security Affairs
1
One example is an issue of Sécurité & Stratégie, the journal of the Club of Directors of Security (CDSE), which
published a dossier entitled “La sécurité privée dans le monde” in 2013.
2
UNODC, “Report on the Meeting of the Expert Group on Civilian Private Security Services Held in Vienna
from 12 to 14 October 2011,” UNODC/CCPCJ/EG.5/2011/2, October 28, 2011, 16p. https://www.unodc.org/
documents/justice-and-prison-reform/Expert-group-meeting-Bangkok/IEGMCivilianPrivateSecurity/English_
V11868142.pdf.
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