By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 6, 2011 (IPS) - A booming private security industry - triggered mostly by terrorist threats, domestic insurgencies and drug wars - deploys some 20 million armed personnel worldwide: twice the number of police officers, according to the annual 2011 Small Arms Survey released here.
Outside of war zones in Asia and Africa, the Latin American region has the highest ratio of arms per employee: about 10 times higher than in Western Europe.
Keith Krause, director of the Small Arms Survey Programme, says in prisons, at airports, along borders, and on the street, security provision is increasingly in the hands of private actors.
"The key question to which we don’t know the answer is whether these evolving arrangements are enhancing or impairing security," he adds.
In some countries, the survey points out, the 20 million figure represents a doubling or even a tripling of the number of private security workers over the past 10-20 years.
Government outsourcing of many security functions appears to be driving the boom, among other factors. Still, despite the rapid growth of the sector, private security personnel hold far fewer firearms than do state security forces, according to the survey.
A review of data for 70 countries reveals they hold.................Read the full article in the War Room
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 6, 2011 (IPS) - A booming private security industry - triggered mostly by terrorist threats, domestic insurgencies and drug wars - deploys some 20 million armed personnel worldwide: twice the number of police officers, according to the annual 2011 Small Arms Survey released here.
Outside of war zones in Asia and Africa, the Latin American region has the highest ratio of arms per employee: about 10 times higher than in Western Europe.
Keith Krause, director of the Small Arms Survey Programme, says in prisons, at airports, along borders, and on the street, security provision is increasingly in the hands of private actors.
"The key question to which we don’t know the answer is whether these evolving arrangements are enhancing or impairing security," he adds.
In some countries, the survey points out, the 20 million figure represents a doubling or even a tripling of the number of private security workers over the past 10-20 years.
Government outsourcing of many security functions appears to be driving the boom, among other factors. Still, despite the rapid growth of the sector, private security personnel hold far fewer firearms than do state security forces, according to the survey.
A review of data for 70 countries reveals they hold.................Read the full article in the War Room
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