PRIVATE SECURITY IN PRACTICE: CASE STUDIES FROM SOUTHEAST EUROPE

The eight case studies confirmed that private security plays an increasingly important role in the security sector in all four target countries: in Albania, Bulgaria, Kosovo and in Serbia. However, an increase in private security did not necessarily lead to an increase in security. On the contrary, the case studies show that in many instances, insecurity was merely shifted from one social group to another and that often security is provided at the expense of human rights protection.  The fact that existing regulation is often not enforced or controlled or that the state or state officials do not set clear limits to the role of private security actors, shows that there is an overall lack of awareness of the impact that private security does or should have. It also means that opportunities for private security to contribute to an increase in security are not seized because not enough is being done to ensure that private security can act in a professional and accountable manner.