Utility of Using Private Security for Protecting Whistleblowers Who Report CRIME from Harm

Abstract

Today, there are many different types of crime taking place, many of which sophisticated, with our changing society. Conducting public safety activities for keeping public peace and order has once been considered an exclusive area of duty for the police, but the police, with their limited manpower, cannot handle tasks like protecting those who report crime from harm and other related tasks, given that the existing laws exclusively use the police force for this work, when they are heavily understaffed for the job. Hence, it is realistically difficult for the police to constantly protect these whistle-blowers who have reported crime especially on any ongoing basis and we have come to a point where the reality of the situation must be faced. This study examined the practical feasibility for private security to be used to effectively protect whistle-blowers who report crime from harm in a collaborative relationship with the police, and it looked at areas that could be improved to better keep these whistle-blowers safe from harm. To that end, we conducted a qualitative study based on grounded theory, gathered data, and examined and analyzed the phenomenon. As a result, we came up with recommended policy measures and attempted to tie them with the utility of using private security. This study reached the following conclusions on the utility of using private security to achieve the goal of protecting the society and to substantially protect whistle-blowers who report crime in a supporting role to the police. First, legislation in South Korea related to protecting whistle-blowers who report crime from harm is considerably poor and any changes made are not systematic enough. Laws on steps to protect whistle-blowers who report crime from harm should be aligned with the goal of better public safety and welfare, and therefore they should aim to serve these whistle-blowers who report crime. Second, it certainly must be inadequate to try to use only the police force to take the steps to protect whistle-blowers who report crime from harm. Therefore, private security must be utilized in a supporting role with the police. At the basic level, security services provided by the police simultaneously target all of the whistle-blowers of a country, and there are no differentiating levels between the services provided. Therefore, using private security to fill that gap in particular providing services for protecting whistle-blowers who report crime from harm has sufficient merit of consideration from a national policy perspective given the police would be too understaffed to handle this task adequately by itself. Third, with a recent expansion of its role, private security is performing its function in an assistant role in maintaining public peace and order, when it used to be that it only handled private security matters. Given ongoing guidance, supervision and systematic management by the administrative agency to help utilize private security in a supplementary role in protecting whistle-blowers who report crime from harm, substantial and efficient provision of services to maintain public peace and order would be possible as private security and public security work together in a kind of symbiotic relationship.