Police and Commercial Security
| Author | Frank Elmes |
| Published date | 01 January 1971 |
| Date | 01 January 1971 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X7104400109 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
FRANK
ELMES
POLI£E
AND
£OMMER£IAL
SE£UBITY
Increased losses by fire, theft and vandalism have led to an
astonishing growth in the numbers of people employed in industry
'and
commerce to keep down losses to sustainable proportions. There
is nothing sinister about the growth of "security". Basic aims of
security employees are the same as those of the police
and
of the
public generally. Civilised living can only be preserved by compli-
cated checks and balances. Individual freedom is reduced by oppres-
sive, unnecessary laws and by heavy-handed security methods; a
quite large number of people are obsessed by this particular threat
to freedom. Individual liberty, however, is often much more ad-
versely affected by the selfish action of thieves, vandals and others
who refuse to live by the rules. Rules and controls there must be,
the great
but
unrealised hope is
that
the numbers of people careful
to avoid offending or injuring others will grow to the point where
both
rules and enforcement dwindle to insignificance. Any disagree-
ment or point of conflict between police and those in commercial
security is confined to methods.
It
cannot be wrong in any circum-
stances to prevent crime.
A great myth has been established that man-power is the key to
police and security problems. This flies in the face of all the figures,
not only in this country but throughout the western world. In the
past ten or twelve years the numbers of British police officers rose
by 33,000, to which must be added an extra 11,000to 12,000helpers,
including Traffic Wardens. This does not take account of such
increases as there may have been in numbers of port, railway,
government establishment and armed services police.
Mr.
John
Wilson, deputy chairman of IPSA (The Industrial Police
and Security Association) has estimated that there are 50,000
employees engaged in security in addition to the big security firms
which sell security as others sell goods. No reliable estimate of
increases is available
but
security probably gained at least 30,000
personnel in the same period police gained 44,000. Manpower has
been aided by quite vast sums expended on bolts, locks, safes, bars,
alarms and communications. Is it possible for facts to spell
out
more
plainly that
MANPOWER
ALONE IS
NOT
ENOUGH?
Professionalism alone is not enough either. Gadgets and know-
how increase. Crime prevention has developed as a separate skill.
The gathering of information, intelligence, is more systematic
than
ever before. Team work in all aspects of policing has been improved
enormously. Yet fire and crime continue to outrun the constable.
Police as a result of their changing methods and swelling professional
January /971 55
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