NCJ Number
181289
Journal
African Security Review Volume: 8 Issue: 5 Dated: 1999 Pages: 65-75
Date Published
1999
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the role of the private sector in crime prevention in South Africa.
Abstract
The maintenance and expansion of all aspects of a criminal justice system has become too costly even for wealthier states. The private sector has developed the expertise and capacity to provide specialized services more cost-effectively than the state. In South Africa, the growth of the private security industry has been most marked in the field of policing and crime control, because: (1) Private policing is more flexible and efficient and can be more readily adjusted to changing levels of consumer demand; (2) The public questions the ability of the police to protect them from crime; (3) The high crime rate and the use of police officers in administrative functions stretches the visible presence of the police so thin that it fails to deter crime significantly; (4) The country’s urban areas contain a sophisticated industrial, commercial and residential market for security; and (5) There has been an increase in “mass private property,” privately owned property to which the public has a right of access and use, and which the public police cannot always protect. The article suggests a number of additional areas suited for the presence and activities of private security. Figures, notes