Homework Responses Wk 8 & 4

The deadly shootings in Atlanta and Boulder this week are a stark reminder that, even in the greatest country on earth, our safety and the safety of our families and our property is never guaranteed. And just last year, violent protests around the country caused billions of dollars in property damage in response to failures in public law enforcement and the growing media fear-mongering leading up to the presidential election. Cancel culture and the open and accepted distain for political discourse on college campuses poses a real threat to small business owners and CEO’s of large corporations alike. And the media and politicians (on both sides) showing support for political violence continues to put lives at risk.

 

The lesson brings up a few valid points to consider when discussing the future of private and public sector protective services. The first is the need to do more with less. This has and will always be an issue in the private sector. Security is expensive and for-profit organizations concerned with productivity often place security on the back burner because security programs are not typically profit centers. This is further complicated by trends of convergence in corporate security. As the tech and security sector continues to blend logical and physical security systems, protective professionals are forced to have a much broader understanding of the overall field to be successful.

 

Another issue I see coming in the near future is government regulation. The lesson asks, “[w]ould you want to entrust your safety or the safety of your family to someone who may have had only apply for the position and not demonstrate or prove that they are even capable of helping you cross the street let alone protect your life?” (APUS, 2020). This is a really good question and one I think many outside the industry don’t fully understand. In the last few years spent studying security management, I have seen instructors repeatedly pose the question to students: what can be done to improve performance in the public and private sector? And the overwhelming response is always more government regulation. This thinking is problematic. Here’s why: the lesson states that protective professionals should “only commit to providing protection after the proper threat and risk assessments are done and the team is capable and ready of handling the assignment” (APUS, 2020), a sentiment that is echoed in Article IV of the American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS) Code of Ethics which states “[a] member shall be competent in discharging professional responsibilities” (Nemeth, 2011).

 

These ethical statements also carry the weight of law in the form of civil and legal liability. The shooting of civilians at Nassir Square in Iraq by Blackwater protective security contractors caused a major backlash in the form of new regulations. At first it seems like a good idea – the government sets minimum standards of employment and training and that protects everyone. However, the response is often just the opposite. Where before, high-threat protective security companies were exposed to liability for hiring unqualified or untrained individuals, today, government mandated minimums insulate these companies from risk by transferring all responsibility to the government because they set the standards of employment. Over regulation essential replaces ethical standards (and free market forces) with benign checklists that leave no room for improvement in for-profit industries. And the issue is not specific to the private sector. Public law enforcement has recently come under fire for poor performance, yet decades of labor laws favoring police unions has resulted in substandard conduct and made it more difficult to reprimand bad actors. I’m interested to hear everyone’s thoughts on this topic because I think it effects the entire industry and at the rate we are going, I only see it getting worse.

 

References

APUS. (2020). W8: The Role of Protective Services in Today's World. SCMT396. Retrieved from https://myclassroom.apus.edu/d2l/home/27059

Nemeth, C. (2011). Private Security and The Law-4th Edition (4th ed.). Retrieved from Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.