The Politics of Private Security CrimePreventionandSecurityManagement SeriesEditor:MartinGill Titlesinclude: MarkButton DOINGSECURITY CriticalReflectionsandanAgendaforChange BobHoogenboom THEGOVERNANCEOFPOLICINGANDSECURITY Ironies,MythsandParadoxes KateMoss SECURITYANDLIBERTY RestrictionbyStealth AdamWhite THEPOLITICSOFPRIVATESECURITY Regulation,ReformandRe-Legitimation Forthcoming: JoshuaBamfield SHOPPINGANDCRIME PaulEkblom THE5ISFRAMEWORKFORCRIMEPREVENTIONANDCOMMUNITYSAFETY CrimePreventionandSecurityManagement SeriesStandingOrderISBN978–0–230–01355–1hardback 978–0–230–01356–8paperback (outsideNorthAmericaonly) You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to usattheaddressbelowwithyournameandaddress,thetitleoftheseriesand theISBNquotedabove. Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke,HampshireRG216XS,England The Politics of Private Security Regulation, Reform and Re-Legitimation Adam White UniversityofYork,UK ©AdamWhite2010 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2010 978-0-230-24294-4 Allrightsreserved.Noreproduction,copyortransmissionofthis publicationmaybemadewithoutwrittenpermission. Noportionofthispublicationmaybereproduced,copiedortransmitted savewithwrittenpermissionorinaccordancewiththeprovisionsofthe Copyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988,orunderthetermsofanylicence permittinglimitedcopyingissuedbytheCopyrightLicensingAgency, SaffronHouse,6-10KirbyStreet,LondonEC1N8TS. Anypersonwhodoesanyunauthorizedactinrelationtothispublication maybeliabletocriminalprosecutionandcivilclaimsfordamages. Theauthorhasassertedhisrighttobeidentified astheauthorofthisworkinaccordancewiththeCopyright, DesignsandPatentsAct1988. Firstpublished2010by PALGRAVEMACMILLAN PalgraveMacmillanintheUKisanimprintofMacmillanPublishersLimited, registeredinEngland,companynumber785998,ofHoundmills,Basingstoke, HampshireRG216XS. PalgraveMacmillanintheUSisadivisionofStMartin’sPressLLC, 175FifthAvenue,NewYork,NY10010. PalgraveMacmillanistheglobalacademicimprintoftheabovecompanies andhascompaniesandrepresentativesthroughouttheworld. Palgrave®andMacmillan®areregisteredtrademarksintheUnitedStates, theUnitedKingdom,Europeandothercountries. ISBN 978-1-349-31810-0 ISBN 978-0-230-29929-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230299290 Thisbookisprintedonpapersuitableforrecyclingandmadefromfully managedandsustainedforestsources.Logging,pulpingandmanufacturing processesareexpectedtoconformtotheenvironmentalregulationsofthe countryoforigin. AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData White,Adam,1981– Thepoliticsofprivatesecurity:regulation,reformand re-legitimation/AdamWhite. p. cm. Includesbibliographicalreferences. 1. Privatesecurityservices—GreatBritain. 2. Police, Private—GreatBritain. I. Title. HV8291.G7W452010 363.28(cid:2)90941—dc22 2010027590 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 For Hannah Contents Acknowledgements viii SeriesEditor’sPreface ix Part I TheoryandContext 1 Introduction 3 2 Structure,AgencyandSecurity 21 Part II ThePoliticsofPrivateSecurityinBritain 3 EmergingAgendas(1945–59) 41 4 TheRegulationDebate(1960–9) 60 5 ParliamentaryPressure(1969–79) 80 6 TheNeoliberalExperiments(1979–96) 102 7 NewLabour,NewLegitimacy(1997–2001) 121 8 TheEraofRegulation(2001–10) 141 Part III ComparisonsandConclusions 9 TowardsaNewSocial-ScientificUnderstanding 167 Notes 185 Bibliography 187 Index 198 vii Acknowledgements Thisbookhasbeenfiveyearsinthemaking.OverthistimeIhavebeen helped along the way by many, many people and I would like to take this opportunity to mention a few of them. I would first like to thank Martin Smith, who has been a constant source of support and inspi- ration. I am also indebted to Craig Berry, Matthew Flinders, Richard Hayton, Mike Kenny, Mike Neu, Ben Richardson and many others at the University of Sheffield with whom I have had the great fortune to discuss various aspects of my research. Rob Collins and Sarah Cooke havealsoplayedanimportantroleingettingmyresearchideasoffthe ground and I am very grateful to them. Outside of Sheffield, I would especially like to thank Joel Migdal and Tim Newburn, both of whom havebeeninfluentialinshapingmyarguments.Manythanksalsogoto MarkButtonandImogenHayat,eachofwhomhashelpedmetomove variousaspectsofmyresearchforwardatimportantmoments.Iwould liketothankMartinGillforbeinganextremelysupportive,enthusiastic and insightful series editor. I would also like to thank Philippa Grand, JonLloydandOliviaMiddletonfortheirfirstclassassistanceandinput during the publication process. I owe a big thank you to Budd, Steve and Porter, whose sofa beds have been an integral part of my tran- sientresearchlifeawayfromSheffield.Iwouldalsoliketoacknowledge the generous financial support I have received over the past five years. ThishasincludedanESRC1+3doctoralstudentship,anESRCresearch grant,aSecurityIndustryAuthorityresearchcontractandascholarship fromtheWorldwideUniversitiesNetwork.Lastly Iwouldlike tothank myfamily.Myparentshavealwaysbeenverysupportiveofmyacademic careerandIwouldliketosincerelythankthemfortheirenthusiasmand advice. I would like to thank my dog, Noel, for keeping me company throughthenumerousall-nighterswhichhavebeenpartofthewriting process (and for sensibly chewing some of my more problematic pas- sages to pieces). And finally I would to thank my wife, Hannah, who has been beside me at all times, always making me happy and always believinginme–thisbookisdedicatedtoyou. viii Series Editor’s Preface Todate,thehistoryofprivatesecurityhastypicallybeendiscussedasa sideshowtothehistoryofthepolice.Whereithasbeendiscussedthere has,asAdamWhiteshows,beenmoreofanemphasisontheeconomics ofprivatesecurityattheexpenseofaccountsofthepoliticalcontextin which private security has developed. This book is different; it focuses on the politics of the security sector, charting its development and its uneasy relationship with policing organs of the state from 1945 to the presentday.Itdifferentiatesitselffromalmostallothertextsinfocusing onwhatAdamcallsthe‘politicaleconomyofprivatesecurity’. In marking new ground, Adam sets out the need for new concepts. Theseincludethe‘reform’agenda,whichhasbeengearedtowardsdefin- ingaroleforprivatesecuritythatensuresthatitactsintheinterestsof the‘publicgood’,andthe‘re-legitimation’agenda,whichispremisedon makingprivatesecuritycredible.ForAdam,theroleof‘regulation’–the roadtowhichheanalysesingreatdetail–combinesthereformagenda ofthestatewiththere-legitimationagendaofthesecurityindustry.Itis this political context that affords new insights into changing percep- tions of private security, both from outside agencies such as the police (whohavelongremainedsceptical)andtheHomeOffice,aswellasthe industry’sviewofitself. Adam traces the vicissitudes of private security through the political contexts of different eras, showing how each shaped the road to regu- lation, and ultimately the form of regulation that emerged. He argues that the type of regulation that was incorporated into law and then intopractice(throughtheSecurityIndustryAuthority[SIA])wasalways destined to fall short of meeting the expectations of the main political players. This was in part due to political expediency, but also because the SIA made unrealistic claims that it would transform the industry, something it was not set up to do and that was in any case beyond its remit. Adam’s analysis enables us to understand the evolution of private security, its relationship with the state and its route to being seen as a(more)crediblepartnerforthepolice.As aconsequencewearemore fullyabletoaddress,asAdamdoesforus,keyissuessuchashowprivate security companies have become so prominent, what motivates them, ix x SeriesEditor’sPreface what their relationship with the state now is, how they can be con- trolled, and what the future will hold for security companies and for securityprovisioninsociety. Forallthoseinterestedinthepoliticalcontextofhowdecisionsabout private security have shaped its destiny, its strengths and weaknesses, this text will become essential reading. Moreover, Adam has laid the foundationforthinkingaboutprivatesecuritythroughnewlensesand in so doing offers new possibilities not only for future researchers, but alsoforcurrentpolicymakerschargedwiththenarroweraimofimprov- ingprivatesecurityregulationandthebroaderaimoffacilitatingamore informeddebateabouthowpolicingcanbebetterunderstoodandren- deredmoreeffective. MARTINGILL