Privatisation of Security

G4S was the largest private security employer in the world. Some operations of this company are oriented to banks, prisons, and airport security, but G4S also plays an important role in crisis and conflict zones around the world. One of the companies that have emerged after G4S Israel left the country due to a global pressure from the BDS movement is G1 Secure Solutions. It has a long record of scandals, failures and controversies – but keeps on winning new contracts (Corporate Watch). Allied Universal is the largest provider of security guards in the United States. In 2020, it acquired G4S, the resulting combined $18bn private security company will employ a global workforce of more than 800,000 people, more than the active military personnel of all but 5 countries in the world, just behind North Korea.*

Serco specialises in running services outsourced by governments and other public institutions, managing over 500 contracts worldwide. In 2014-16, Serco exited its failing private sector businesses. Running prisons and detention centres is one area where profits are still strong. Serco runs all Australia’s onshore detention centres, as well as Yarl’s Wood detention centre in the UK, where the company has been accused of an extensive cover-up over sexual abuse of immigrants. In July 2019, a fine of £19.2m was imposed on Serco for fraud and false accounting over its electronic tagging service for the Ministry of Justice. (Corporate Watch)

The Canadian company is one of the largest private security companies in the world. The company’s headquarters are in Montreal, Quebec. In 2015, the Garda World acquired the Aegis Group that includes the Aegis Defence Services, a British private military and private security company with overseas offices in Afghanistan, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Somalia and Mozambique

GEO Group is the world's leading provider of correctional, detention, and community reentry services. GEO has long been criticized around the world for alleged human-rights abuses, terrible medical care, and deaths at its facilities.*

CoreCivic, formerly the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), is one of the largest companies managing private prisons and detention centers. CCA has been the subject of much controversy over the years and rebranded itself in 2016 as CoreCivic amid the scrutiny of the private prison industry.*

Constellis Group was created in 2010 by a group of operators and investors. Nowadays is the largest non-financial risk management company in the United States. Some of the companies that belong to the group are: Triple Canopy, Olive Group and The Development Initiative, as well as legacy companies Centerra, ACADEMI, AMK9, OMNIPLEX, Strategic Social and Edinburgh International.

ICTS International is an European PMSC that protects people and property within the transport, public and private sectors. It was established by former members of the Shin Bet and El Al security.*

MVM Inc. is a company headquartered in Virginia, United States. It is a private security contractor that provides security officers for access controls, involving the protection of transportation among other services. “MVM, Inc. went from guarding the U.S. spies in Iraq to hauling children away from the Mexico border on commercial airline flights.” (Daily Beast)

Lexipol is a dominant force in police policymaking across the country, providing policies for approximately 3,400 police, fire, and correctional agencies in 35 states. In California, where Lexipol was founded, as many as 95% of law enforcement agencies now rely on Lexipol’s policy manual. As a result, a large portion of American police policy is now being drafted by a little-known private company with no public oversight. Reliance on this private entity to establish standards for public policing raises several concerns arising from its for-profit business model, focus on liability risk management, and lack of transparency or democratic participation.*