Private security is traditionally a highly fragmented industry with a national focus. However, with the arrival of multinational brands in the market such as Group 4 Securicor and Securitas, we are witnessing a rise of global private security. After providing the latest statistics on the growth of this industry in the Netherlands, the authors give examples of how private security is evolving throughout the world. Issues that are further addressed include the opportunities and challenges (multinational) private security companies present to the Netherlands.

In Denmark fire fighting is a responsibility of the local authorities, but since nearly a century communities have the possibility to outsource these duties to private companies. Falck is the dominant player on this private market. The same goes for other emergency services. The author describes the story of its founder Sophus Falck, the historical roots of Falck and how the company achieved the status of a reliable partner for the authorities. The legal basis for private firms in fire fighting is discussed as well as costs and quality of the services in an international perspective. The author concludes that Falck is a typical Danish phenomenon and the Danish model cannot be copied by other countries without restriction. At the same time the Danish experience learns that market competition may have a positive effect on the cost efficiency of fire fighting.

Dutch local governments increasingly decide to contract private security officers for surveillance and enforcement tasks in the public space. This article presents an analysis of the daily work of these private security officers. Local governments contract these private workers because they are faced with problems of social disorder and crime. Although the police should formally manage the work of these private security workers, in practice this task is hardly realized. These private workers are faced with four problems: their work is boring, they are uncertain about what they are expected to do, don’t know exactly what their formal powers are, and are unsatisfied about their lack of means for self-defence. Although they don’t differ in their work style from their public colleagues, their position as private worker and the flexible job they have, are hard to reconcile with what they are expected to do (like reassuring citizens).

The period of austerity which most of Europe is now experiencing is for the first time impacting on law and orders services, particularly the police service. This article gives an overview of the debate in England and Wales on the decision of the Coalition government to cut 20% to police spending and police numbers. An important instrument to reach this goal is the private outsourcing of tasks performed in the back office. The author discusses the public views on the performance and reliability of private security companies. Also the high rise of public police expenses are discussed against the background of declining crime levels.

For a long time the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI) was the sole provider of forensic services in the Netherlands. Since the beginning of this century, several other private forensic institutes have been established. These institutes partly deliver the same products and services as the NFI, including for the police and judicial authorities. This article discusses the results from a pilot project in which police and judicial authorities were given additional opportunities for furnishing assignments to private investigation agencies instead of the NFI. A budget of EUR 3.5 million was provided. Many respondents viewed the speed of the investigations and reports by private forensic institutes as a very positive aspect of outsourcing to these institutes. On four out of five aspects (transparency, clarity, bureaucracy and readability), the private institutes scored better than the NFI. The NFI scored better on ‘safety’. Despite the positive experiences with outsourcing, the Minister of Security and Justice decided not to follow up the pilot. Although the police and prosecution are free to use the services of the private institutes, it is unlikely that they’ll do so very often because the investigation costs will be at the expense of their budget. The bill for the services provided by the NFI however is sent to the ministry. Therefore the NFI can continue operating as a monopolist.

Private administration of justice is an online and offline reality. In this article the reality of online dispute resolution (ODR) is explored, using the example of eBay (60 million conflicts taken on each year). The issue of jurisdiction in online cases is clarified and an analysis is made of the causes of the propagation of ODR. Finally the new phenomenon of online dispute prevention (ODP) is examined. This leads to the conclusion that ODR started as an alternative form of dispute settlement, but more and more becomes a substitute for the public administration of justice.

This is a review of the book (dissertation) Orde in veiligheid. Een dynamisch perspectief (Order in security; a dynamic perspective) from the Dutch criminologist and philosopher Marc Schuilenburg. The reviewer characterises the book as ‘courageous’ because of its multidisciplinary approach of the phenomenon ‘public private partnerships’ (ppp’s) in security, its rupture with solidified thinking and its use of empirical studies to show what really happens in the workplace of ppp’s. The reviewer welcomes the application of concepts of the French philosophers Foucault, Deleuze and Tarde, but feels at the same time that the author could have done more to explain their thinking. Also he disagrees with the author about the role of the state in security governance, which is according to the reviewer much more dominant than suggested in this book.