Privatisation and Regulation of Domestic Security, 2009

The objective of this research was to explore and evaluate the changing governance landscape in the British security sector. Recent decades have witnessed the pluralisation of security systems in advanced democratic countries across the globe. There has been a widespread shift from a ‘monopoly’ system in which state institutions such as the police assume exclusive responsibility for domestic security provision, to a ‘networked’ system in which both state and non-state institutions are engaged in the delivery of this core function. This shift has been especially evident in Britain where state institutions have increasingly been joined by private security companies (PSCs) within the ‘extended policing family’. <br> <br> Importantly, this trend has resulted in two pressing governance problems for the British state: i) through what mechanisms can the state coordinate PSC activities?; ii) how can the state ensure that the PSC activities fall in line with the public good? In 2001, the state responded to these problems by creating a security regulator, the Security Industry Authority (SIA), charged with the responsibility of reforming the private security industry. <br> <br> The data available from the UK Data Archive comprise responses to selected questions of an online questionnaire which was emailed to 7,000 individuals working within the private security industry. The questionnaire asked a variety of questions concerning the effectiveness of the SIA.<br> <br> Further information can be found on the <a href ="http://www.shef.ac.uk/politics/research/projects.html" title ="Current and recently completed funded research projects">Department of Politics, University of Sheffield</a> research web page and the <a href="http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/esrcinfocentre/viewawardpage.aspx?awardnumber=RES-000-22-3062" title ="ESRC Award">ESRC Award</a> web page.<br>