ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the development, growth and significance of private policing in a wider context. It suggests that the rebirth of private policing is associated with – and, in effect, demands – a change in the conceptual framework with which policing is analysed. It addresses the conceptual context of private policing and examines its theoretical context by considering various explanations for the post-war growth of commercial security. The chapter offers some ‘final thoughts’ on how these arguments impact on the governance of policing. Explanations for the growth of commercial security take a variety of different forms, the most basic of which seek to identify key factors precipitating expansion. In Britain – a country lacking statutory regulation over commercial security – there has been lengthy debate about how to establish the controls which might render private police accountable to the public. One of the most serious shortcomings of the sociology of policing has been its tendency to conflate policing with police.
