Trends in Civil and Criminal Liability in the Private Security Industry

The private security industry will become generalists in the next century. The industry must be well versed in a number of disciplines. It must base its operations and decisions on demographic and economic trends, and rapid technological changes. Traditionally, the private security industry focused mainly on security and safety of its subjects. Although they continue to be a major focus of the industry, prevailing trends indicate that the industry requires extensive knowledge in other emerging critical areas to become successful. The additional areas include, but are not limited to law, computers and management (Dempsey, 2008).
Current and future private security companies require extensive knowledge of the law. Legislations governing the industry have either been passed by various states or in the processed of being passed. Furthermore, several federal laws indirectly or directly affect management of the private security industry. For instance, legislation on denying employers polygraph use in pre-employment screening and drug testing have significantly affected the security industry. Future trends indicate that the industry requires extensive knowledge on civil and criminal liability laws. The industry leadership must be cognizant of employees’, employers’ and clients’ legal rights, including the likely implications of violating those rights (Encyclopedia of Security Management, 1993).
Legal liability issues are likely to arise in areas such as sexual harassment, drug testing and client/employee injury. Furthermore, use of contract security forces requires the industry management to properly understand security requirements, legal liabilities and standards of job performance with regards to contractual law. Increasing cases of workplace violence and theft calls for proper knowledge of criminal law. For instance, private security officers usually respond to violent incidents faster than law enforcement officers. The industry also requires extensive knowledge on laws and regulations governing the environment due to increased focus on environmental protection and resulting handling of hazardous materials, including storage and disposal. When handling employee and civil safety during an incident involving hazardous materials and after, extensive knowledge of Occupational Safety and Health Administration requirements becomes necessary. Otherwise, the industry risks facing government fines, civil law suits and criminal charges (Dempsey, 2008).
The electronics industry is constantly growing and changing, and computers have become an integral part of it. This trend is expected to continue into the future. Therefore, it becomes important for the industry management to gain knowledge on networking agreements, computer languages and operations and techniques of telecommunications. They also require computer programming, data processing and computer security knowledge. They should learn how to interpret data generated using computers. There is increasing computer fraud and theft cases, including cyberthreats and attacks, a trend expected to continue into the future. And, the private security industry is bound to face these challenges into the future (Nemeth, 2018).
Furthermore, national and international economic competition has heightened the need for computer security. For instance, theft of breakthroughs in research and development can cause the developing company to become bankrupt and result in significant loss of income. If the competition is the first to market a newly developed technology or product, the developing company is bound to make great losses due to the theft. During the best times, companies can make serious losses due to lost computer time and theft of money electronically. The industry must also learn to handle changing workforce demographics into the future (Nemeth, 2011).
The private security industry also continues to become complex, meaning the management require broad, advanced education to gain the skills necessary to cope with the complexities. Industry management will also become important staff in the industry’s future planning and operations. They must understand employees and union regulations, including how to motivate workers. Moreover, they are the renaissance workers of the industry’s future. And, as generalists, they will possess the right knowledge and skills in different fields including safety, security, law, business management and computers (Nemeth, 2018).
Works Cited
Dempsey, John S. Introduction to Private Security. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth, 2008. Print.
Encyclopedia of Security Management: Techniques & Technology. Place of publication not identified: Elsevier Science, Inc, 1993. Print.
Nemeth, C.P. (2018), Private Security: An Introduction to Principles and Practices, CRC Press
Nemeth, Charles. Private Security and the Law. , 2011. Internet resource.