Preface to Selling Security: the Private Policing of Public Space

Abstract

While private security is certainly no longer a subject that languishes on a forgotten scholarly back burner it remains surprisingly under researched. Despite its obvious importance to the governance of security, scholars continue to focus far more attention on the police than they do the various other agents and agencies that provide for security. Indeed this might have become worse in the post-September 11th environment, as states seek to respond more effectively to established threats that can no longer can be ignored, even though it should be obvious to everyone that if every it was important to mobilise and integrate a wide variety of resources to govern security now is the time to do it.