Exploring the Work of Retail Security Professionals to Prevent and Control Crime

Retail shopping centers are a major attraction for spending, entertainment, and crime. Most retail shopping centers and stand-alone stores use private security professionals to maintain conduct and safety outside the authority of local police. The current study examined the job duties of retail private security professionals and their relationship with police concerning crime deterrence and prevention. Through the perceptions of private security professionals working in shopping malls and corporate security professionals working in stand-alone stores, thirteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with three retail private security officers at two shopping malls and nine corporate security professionals connected to a major book retailer in the Southern metropolitan United States. The goals of the study examined the general job role of retail private security professionals, current working relationships with police who respond to incidents at their job sites and explored potential implications for industry enhancement and crime control in these spaces based on data from primary sources. Three major themes emerged from the findings: job responsibility, perceptions of police partnerships, and methods for enhancing the retail private security industry and partnerships with police.