Durban - Security companies may have their wings clipped as the Ministry of Police looks to redraw the line between the state and the private security sector which, it says, has become blurred.
The Green Paper on Policing, which was drawn up by the Civilian Secretariat for Police, and is open for public comment, has called for “strong checks and balances” on the private security industry.
“The private security industry is increasingly performing functions which used to be the sole preserve of the police,” the document says.
“This has, and will continue to have, a serious influence on the functioning of the criminal justice system as a whole.
“While it is true that private security does and can fill certain vacuums, it can never replace the public police.”
However, security companies have taken issue with the claims that they are taking on the role of the police and that their involvement in fighting crime is negatively affecting criminal justice.
Gary Tintinger, the KZN vice-chairman of the Security Association of South Africa and marketing manager of Blue Security, said he did not know what functions the police believed private security had taken over.
He said it had not replaced the police, but offered an additional service to local police stations, which were often under-resourced.
“Blue Security and every security company that operates stringently within the parameters of the laws impacting safety and security – such as the Criminal Procedures Act and the Firearms Control Act – enhance the work of the criminal justice system.”
Tintinger added that the focus should rather be on strengthening the role of the private security industry.
The Green Paper also says that apart from the private security industry being profit-driven, it is concerning that private security takes “power away from the state and does not distribute it more equally throughout society”.
Other concerns are that private security shifts responsibility for social control and order away from the state and that the industry is less constrained by statutory limitations, which makes it more likely than the police to infringe on the rights of the people.
However, Johan Burger, a senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, said this was “absolute nonsense” because private security did not have the powers to overstep its mandate.
“There seem to be tensions and I do not know why, but there seems to be some kind of political interference… So now they conjure up images of well-armed security companies roaming the streets ready to pounce at any time.”
But Burger added that it was important for regulation of the industry to be improved, with operators registered and legitimised.
Alison Bull, spokeswoman for Chubb Security, said that Chubb protected and serviced paying clients.
“Our duty is not to protect the man in the street,” she said. “That is the function of the police.
“We are not involved in traditional policing, therefore no checks and balances need to be put into place.”
The public is urged to comment on the Green Paper by July 24. Correspondence can be sent to the Civilian Secretariat for Police, Private Bag X922, Pretoria, 0001.
The Mercury