On the Practices of Private Security Officers: Canadian Security Officers' Reflections on Training and Legitimacy

The author presents an ethnomethodological study of private security, in which he conducted interviews with numerous private security personnel working in Canadian shopping malls and office buildings with the aim of specifying their training, their day-to-day activities on the job, and their own con...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Manzo, John (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2011
In: Social justice
Year: 2011, Volume: 38, Issue: 1/2, Pages: 107-127
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
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Keywords:
Police Accountability
Social science research methods
Social science research
Security personnel
Private security services
Ethnomethodology
Private police
Training
Description
Summary:The author presents an ethnomethodological study of private security, in which he conducted interviews with numerous private security personnel working in Canadian shopping malls and office buildings with the aim of specifying their training, their day-to-day activities on the job, and their own conceptualizations of their work. Comments from several of the interviews are included. The author notes that the expansion of the private security industry has been the subject of critiques by many social scientists on topics including the commodification of public spaces and the lack of the kinds of accountability structures that exist for official police personnel. He argues that such abstract critiques must be informed by concrete information about the work of private security personnel.
ISSN:2327-641X