Privat resurs eller offentlig verksamhet? En rättssociologisk studie om bevakningsbranschens framväxt

Sammanfattning: This paper examines the different attitudes that the police and private security officers in Sweden have towards a proposed change of legislation, recommended by The Swedish Police Authority. This proposal suggests that some functions and powers of the police would instead be given to the private security guard employed in the private security sector. It also examines the collaboration between the public policing agency and the private security industry in Sweden, framed here in this thesis as plural policing. Robert K. Merton’s theory of manifest and latent functions and dysfunctions was applied to situate and theoretically frame the results. Plural policing was found to be a prominent and expanding phenomena in Sweden. Generally, most of the interviewed police and security personnel demonstrated positive attitudes toward the proposed change of legislation, if handled correctly. Currently, the education and admission requirements for the private security personnel were not perceived to have a high enough standard, for the proposed new functions of the private security personnel. Instead, both professions indicated that the system needs to improve the way in which private security personnel are hired and educated. It was also found that some powers that private security personnel (Swedish: väktare) have, are not thought to be sufficient for these professionals to be able to serve the purposes expected of them. Instead, the study presented here shows that these security guards occasionally rely on citizen’s lack of knowledge of the law in order to exercise those powers which, they are not otherwise eligible for.