Regulation of the private security industry

Abstract

The regulation of the private security industry has been an issue of debate for a number of years in South Africa, as well as in the rest of the world. The debate mainly centers around issues such as the need for regulation in this Industry and the objectives of regulation. This thesis argues that regulation is of utmost importance in this Industry and furthermore, that the objective ofregulation should be to set standards in the Industry. If this is the case, the protection of the public interest will be a natural result of regulating the standards. In addition, this thesis argues for the inclusion of the private investigator into the scope of regulation and suggests that this sector should ultimately be regulated through the means of separate legislation. This thesis furthermore provides two models for the regulation of the private security industry in South Africa. These models are described as the Semi-Integrated Wide Model (SIWM) and the Fully Integrated Wide Model (FIWM). These two models provide Government with the option of regulating the Industry without alienating the latter. Government will still have the ultimate responsibility for regulation, but will allow the Industry to be central in setting standards and requirements. In this way, the Industry will not regulate itself and Government will have the ultimate responsibility of protecting the interests of the public and the State