Violence Involving Private Security Officers as Victims or Offenders

• In Event: Comparative Perspectives on Police Work

Abstract

People working in protective service occupations have an elevated risk of violence, and prior research has examined their involvement in violent incidents as both victims and offenders. Unlike most prior studies that have focused on violence involving the police, the aim of the current study is to analyze rates of violent victimization and offending by private security officers by using data on police-recorded crime in Finland. The first part of the analysis looks at trends in violence against security officers between years 2000-2015, and analyses the individual-level risk factors associated with such crimes using a register-based random sample of the general population (n=69,635). Given that there is no separate penal code for violent acts where security officers are the suspects, the second part of the analysis uses random samples of violent offences from years 2005, 2009 and 2013 to examine the numbers of violent incidents involving security officers as the offenders.

Author

• Jyri Paasonen, University of Eastern Finland