Abstract
Partnerships between public and private sector actors are expected to grow in response to calls for a broader cross-sectoral counter-terrorism strategy. However, the formation of these partnerships is a current challenge for private sector security professionals, as there is no standardised approach to securitising terrorism or even a common understanding of how private security can contribute to prevention efforts. This paper provides a review of the literature on private sector security procedures used in response to terrorism. The results showed that physical security and security assessments (risk, threat and vulnerability assessments) were the most frequently discussed security themes for protection against terrorist threats. Security measures that received less attention in the literature were related to intelligence gathering and multi-agency cooperation. It is concluded that security procedures in the private sector related to terrorism and other extreme acts of violence should receive more attention in the academic literature to contribute to a better understanding of private security practices.
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Notes
Although there is no common definition of cyberterrorism available, the term (similar to the definition of terrorism presented at the beginning of this paper) can be interpreted as the use of computer technology to inflict harm on a person or group in order to further a political, religious or ideological cause.
Expenditure on counter-terrorism strategies often does not include scope for scientific evaluation, as it difficult to assess the effectiveness of security measures against an event that so infrequently occurs. For example, a systematic review of counter-terrorism evaluation research conducted by Lum, Kennedy and Sherley (2006) found that counter-terrorism interventions in their sample were rarely evaluated, and those that received an evaluation often did not achieve the intended effects.
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Phelps, M. The role of the private sector in counter-terrorism: a scoping review of the literature on emergency responses to terrorism. Secur J 34, 599–620 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41284-020-00250-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41284-020-00250-6