Successful security

Successful security is measured by the events that do not occur.

The primary goal in security is always to prevent losses. In the private sector, we predict outcomes, prevent problems and measure success in dollars and cents. Customer service begins and ends with enabling the client to do their own work without their having to be too aware of mine. Visible patrols are an active deterrent. Technology from architecture and engineering to biometrics returns value for the investment.

Disparities in hard numbers derive from the time frames of the data gathering. The industry is growing steadily, certainly arithmetically. Many guard companies are privately owned and do not report their income to private pollsters. Some estimates include passive devices such as cameras, while others only tally the guards who monitor them. Payrolls and staffs vary with the coming and going of contracts and competitive bidding makes some of that a zero-sum game. I worked one site where the customer got a competitive bid and changed guard companies. We all changed uniforms and got small raises. How the accountants at three companies recorded that might be interesting to explore.

• • Worldwide, private-security company revenues have been estimated at $100 billion by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The institute, which studies issues involving worldwide security, estimates the industry income will double by 2010.

  • The Fredonia Group, a business research company based in Ohio, projects the international growth rate at 7.7 percent annually through 2008.

  • The nation's security companies employ 1.5 million people and spend $52 billion per year, compared with public police agencies that have 600,000 workers and spend $30 billion, according to James Pastor, author of The Privatization of Police in America.

  • (From "Private security guards play key roles post-9/11," by Dennis Wagner, The Arizona Republic, Jan. 22, 2006 12:00 AM)

  • … security companies in the United States number over ten thousand, with estimated annual revenues exceeding $15 billion.

  • Conservative employment estimates for the United States suggest that there are about 67,000 registered private investigators, over 27,600 in-house store detectives,371,300 security officers, and 95,800 managers and staff representing in total well over 500,000 personnel.

  • The 1999 Contract Security Industry data reveal that there are over 719,000 contract guards. Employment of guards is expected to grow faster than the average growth for other industries. The Law Library -- Copyright © 2007 Net Industriies.