Trends in Civil and Criminal Liability in the Private Security Industry Essay

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…

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…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…