Temporal Analysis of Socioeconomic Factors and Private Security Industry in Hungary, South Korea, and the US

• In Event: Quantitative Methods WG. Panel 2. Macro-Level Analysis of Crime & Justice Data

Abstract

The role of the private security industry has expanded over the past several decades, and its tasks are not limited to traditional complementary law enforcement functions such as crowd control, property and personal protection, and critical infrastructure surveillance, to name a few. Instead, an increasing number of companies and vendors have been providing proactive services in cybersecurity, data breaches, and other new forms of threats in society. Although prior studies have examined the scope and extent of the private security industry, little is known about how diverse socioeconomic factors might influence the industry’s growth and development over time across different countries.
This comparative research aims to describe the scope of the private security industry in three countries across three continents. This study will explore the association between socioeconomic factors and the size of the private security industry over the past five years. This time series analysis uses data from the US Labor Statistics, the UCR, secondary data from the International Labour Organization, the Korea National Police Agency, and the Hungarian Police Agency to explore any factors that might affect the change in the size of private security officers. Specifically, the goal of this study is to fill the gap in our understanding of the complementary law enforcement sector by identifying patterns of employment in the field by comparing unemployment rates, crime levels, and the size of state police forces.

Authors

• Hyon Namgung, Metropolitan State University of Denver

• Laszlo Christian, Ludovika University of Public Service