ASSESS THE VIEW THAT REFORMING THE REGULATION OF PRIVATE SECURITY Essay

ASSESS THE VIEW THAT REFORMING THE REGULATION OF PRIVATE SECURITY INDUSTRY IS USELESS, WHAT IS REQUIRED IS DEREGULATION - Essay Example This paper will explain why this measure is counterproductive both for the public and for the industry. The SIA was created under the Private Security Industry Act 2001. The law provides two mandates for the agency: 1) the licensing, regulation, monitoring, inspection of private security workers and organisations; and, 2) the management of the Approved Contractor Scheme, a voluntary assessment mechanism designed to evaluate the quality and performance of private security suppliers (PSIA 2001) Art 1(2). The statute was enacted in response to the widespread criminality in Britain in the early 2000 involving contract security guards, bouncers, among other workers for security firms (Travis 2012). With the passage of the law and the creation of the SIA, the private security industry employees require license to practice or operate. A criminal background check is also mandatory for such license. This is the same for organisations. Stringent checks, evaluation, monitoring and assessment mechanisms are in place, making it possible to deter criminality involving people or groups belonging to the industry. For supporters of the regulation, the law and the mandate of the SIA are even considered insufficient. For example, many believed that the system is too narrow since it excludes many sectors in the security industry like security systems installers and in-house guards (Jones, 2006, p.43). There are those who also point out that the law lacks teeth because of the voluntary nature of the regulation wherein private security firms are not mandated to follow regulation or be subjected to SIA control in several aspects of their operations. The arguments brought forward by these criticisms reveal how the law and the SIA are important and are even lacking in many respects. It underpins the fundamental argument that this governmental