Developments in the Australian Private Security Industry

Police necessarily retain the major role in enforcing the law after crimes have been committed and offenders have been apprehended. However, given that public sector policing draws heavily on equipment and personnel services supplied by private providers, and that public police officers have many offenders handed over to them by the private sector, private security could be considered ‘the primary protective resource’ (Pastor 2003, p. 44). Despite this, there is very little information publicly available on the range, size and scope of security industries in Australia and there is no comprehensive study of the growth of these industries, the functions of their different components, how they relate to each other and the effectiveness of different regulatory strategies. This paper reports on current aspects of the security industry in Australia as part of a wider study of these issues more generally

Access to Safe Justice in Australian Courts: Some Reflections upon Intelligence, Design and Process

There have been great strides taken in Australia recently to make our courts safer, principally through an emphasis on risk management. After all, governments have a responsibility to protect those who work in, or who visit, court precincts. A greater understanding of how court safety can be enhanced by managing people, curial processes and the court environment requires assessing the physical mechanisms of risk management alongside a ‘needs-focus’ of stakeholders’ safety considerations. At the same time there must be a focus on enabling participation and well-being in justice processes. By examining the way in which courts now operate around Australia and the developments in security intelligence, court design and processes, this paper seeks to outline how access to safe justice is possible

Defining Identity Crimes

The objective of this paper is to report on the definitions of the terms used and in use across different regions for identity crime, namely, identity fraud, identity theft, and identity deception. The purpose is to clarify the meaning of the terms used with a view to gaining a consensus amongst the various stakeholders. This consensus is essential to enable further research. Without consensus measurement and comparisons are meaningless. Our study of identity fraud has an industry-driven research agenda. A grounded theory research methodology is used when interviewing government agencies and private organisation participants. Interviews sought to better understand current information and communications technology (ICT) practitioners’ security and privacy issues with respect to identity fraud perpetrator attacks. We found there to be consensus among stakeholders for the meaning of identity fraud and identity theft but less agreement for identity deception

The dock on trial: courtroom design and the presumption of innocence

This article examines the place of the criminal dock in courtroom design. Challenges to the use of the dock have been based upon the inability of the defendants to hear effectively, to communicate with counsel, to maintain their dignity, and to benefit from the presumption of innocence. Increasingly courts are incorporating secure docks, where defendants are partially or completely surrounded by glass (or in some countries, metal bars). To what extent do these changes and modifications undermine the right to the presumption of innocence? We present the results of an experimental mock jury study that was designed to test whether the placement of the accused influences jurors’ perceptions. We find that jurors are more likely to convict defendants when they are located in a traditional dock or a secure dock, compared to sitting next to their counsel at the bar table. We conclude by discussing the implications for trial procedures, counsel communications, and courtroom design

The ‘three-pillars model of regulation’: a fusion of governance models for private security

The growth in size, role and authority of private security has triggered a variety of regulatory reactions. These have stimulated a growing academic debate on preferred regulatory models. This paper summarizes the key existing models of regulation. It then provides a critique of the observations of Loader and White (Regul Gov 11(2):166–184, 2017) on the existing models. It critically examines their proposed model and outlines how we believe that private security regulation can be enhanced by setting out ‘three-pillars’ of effective regulation. The literature and research points towards the need for a regulatory pillar that enhances the wider private security sector, a distributive pillar that addresses security inequality and lastly a responsibility pillar designed to align the private security industry with the public interest

Ten “Big Bangs” in Theory and Practice that Have Made a Difference to Australian Policing in the Last Three Decades

This paper discusses what could be considered the top ten innovations that have occurred in policing in the last thirty years. The intent is to focus attention on how practice could be further inspired by additional innovation. The innovations are discussed here as “Big Bangs” as a way of drawing attention to the significant impact they have had on policing, in the same way that the cosmological Big Bang was an important watershed event in the universe’s existence. These ten policing innovations ushered in, it is argued, a new mindset, pattern or trend, and they affected Australian policing profoundly; although many had their roots in other settings long before Australian policy-makers implemented them