Editorial
by Otto Diederichs
The FRG is far from being confronted with a situation such as revealed in the USA in a study presented by the National Institute of Justice according to which the more than one and a half million persons employed by private se-curity firms constitute nearly double the number of total members of police forces. Nevertheless private security firms are on the rise in Germany. And because, in contrast to other states, there has been little or no public discussion of these developments, this issue of CILIP attempts to present as many of the relevant facts on this topic (with reference to the situation in Germany) as possible in order to help the discussion to get under way.

The Security Market, the State Monopoly on Violence and Civil Rights
by Wolf-Dieter Narr
In accordance with German tradition, the state established a unified, transpa-rent and clear monopoly on violence. This embanked monopoly, domestically represented by the police, appears to be deteriorating. Despite the fact that the ‚anxiety market‘ and the security offers it generates is not a phenomenon which is new to Germany, it nevertheless appears to be booming as a result of unification. Does this mean that elements of the ‚wild West‘ are cropping up – albeit belatedly – in the FRG as a result of unification? The author, a professor of political science at Berlin’s Free University, analyzes the state monopoly on violence and deals with the possible ramifications for civil rights.

The Police, Private Security Firms and the State Monopoly on Violence
by Burkhard von Walsleben
The author, president of the Berlin Police Union (GdP), provides the union’s view of the growing tendency among municipal governments to avail themselves of private security services in an effort to cut costs. His conclusion: Politicians should direct their efforts in the opposition by providing the po-lice with sufficient funds to effectively fulfill their task. Private security firms are not in a position to fulfill these tasks.

Security as a Commodity and a Service
by Detlef Nogala
The so-called security industry includes a vast spectrum of partially quite different services and products. It can be most accurately defined as the sum total of all free-lance individuals and private companies offering goods and services related to clients on a commercial basis by attempting to protect persons, property or interests against dangers. Today, it has become impossible to distinguish between the actual services provided such as counselling, training and  marketing and the industrial production and the professional use of products related to the security field.

Private Security Services – Facts and Figures
by Otto Diederichs
The origins of today’s security services date back to the middle of the last century when the existing system of the night guards was reorganized. Today more than 900 firms in this sector of the labor market employ a total of 62.000 persons. (Suffice it to report that nobody appears to venture the slightest estimate of reliable figures for the area of the former GDR.)  In addition to private businesses, banks, department stores, factories storage depots, today’s most prominent clients even include community agencies, etc. The article provides a survey of the facts, figures and current situation of the private security industry.

Municipal Transport Systems – Protected by Private Security Firms
by Norbert Pütter
Providing security in municipal public transport systems is a perennial topic of local politics with much further reaching implications. Due to the fact that stations, trains and busses are – in fact – public areas, yet legally private property, the potential conflict which can arise between a private operator exercising domestic authority and a police force responsible for the maintenance of public order and safety is, for all intents and purposes, pre-scheduled. Using the example of the Berlin Transport System, the author provides an initial overview of the problem and illustrates some of the problems which can arise on the basis of the safety plan used by the private security firm being used for the maintenance of public safety in this system since 1990.

Self Aid Instead of Commercial Security
by Annette Wilms
Now that they have been in existence in the USA since 1979, the Guardian Angels group has been attempting to establish a foothold in European cities (such as Paris and London) and now in Berlin. A group of very young Berliners has taken up the idea and formed its own registered organization. Its goal is to give the passengers on Berlin’s subway and elevated systems a feeling of greater safety – particularly at night. The author provides a description of the ‚Guardian Angels‘ and points out some of the inherent dangers in such a concept of self aid in the public safety sector.

Investigating Agencies and Information Services
by Otto Diederichs
Studying the yellow pages might lead the reader to conclude that private in-vestigating agencies and the like were involved in everything from surveil-lance, gathering evidence for criminal and civil proceedings to investigating into illegal labor practices, providing store detective services and investigating in connection with divorce cases, providing personal protection, etc. The reality of such work is significantly less exciting. Roughly between 12.000 and 13.000 of today’s 15.000 private investigators or detectives earn their living working as department store detectives. The article presents a large number of facts and figures on the current situation in this field in Germany.

‚Left-wing‘ Attorneys and Private Investigators
by Heinz Weiß
The author, a practicing attorney in Berlin, examines the potential for and limits to cooperating with private investigators. His personal (non-represen-tative) survey among colleagues indicates that none of those attorneys who responded to his survey has any fundamental moral or political misgivings about using the services of private investigators, but that they are used relatively seldomly.

Private Security Services in Argentina
by Gabriele Weber
In Argentina, the country which refers to itself as „European“, a total of 800 registered private security firms generate a total annual income of approxi-mately 600 million dollars. In addition, nearly 400 firms exist which neither pay taxes, nor render payment into pension or social security funds as a re-sult of their providing private mercenary services. In the Buenos Aires region alone, more than 60.000 men devote their efforts to the protection of goods and property, e.g. 25.000 more than are employed by the state for the same purpose. Not surprisingly many former members of the military charged and/or convicted of human rights violations are to be found on the payrolls of these private firms. The author, a freelance journalist in Latin America, examines the value of these security services.

On to New Criminal Procedure with the Organized Crime Act
by Dr. Bernd Asbrock
On June 4, 1992 the federal Bundestag passed the „Act for Fighting Illegal Drug-Trafficking and Other Manifestations of Organized Crime (Organized Crime Act)“. The package of regulations for amending the Penal Code, the Narcotics Act and Criminal Procedure Act went into effect on September 22, 1992. This legislation which failed to achieve parliamentary approval during the previous session of the Bundestag remained highly disputed to the very end. The author, Chief Judge on the State Court in Bremen, provides a survey of the reasons why the working group of judges and prosecuting attorneys in the public employees union reject this legislative package.

What Does the Police Cost?
by Uwe Höft
The old police cars, various models of the legendary „Trabant“ have been almost totally replaced by other models and the majority of police officers have become tenured public officials. Thus, the time has come to update the comparative cost analysis of the police forces in the FRG which was initially presented in CILIP 39 (issue no. 2/91) and to provide a complete survey. The comparative analysis of the budgets for the federal and state govern-ments is based on budget figures for 1992. During the current year, a total of nearly 19 billion German marks will be spent on the various police forces. This amounts to 239 German marks per capita for Germany’s aggregate population of roughly 72 million persons.

Proposal for a Council Regulation (EEC) on the security measures applicable to classified information produced or transmitted in connection with European Economic Community or Euratom activities
Documentation with a commentary by Heiner Busch