UN Report: Global Private Security Market Prosperity

According to a recent report compiled by the United Nations, the number of private security personnel is nearly twice that of police officers. They have played a large number of security functions outside government functions worldwide.

However, the annual Small Arms Survey shows that, despite the rapid growth in private security, there are 20 million registered private security personnel in the world, but these people hold far less firearms than the national security agencies.

According to a 2011 survey conducted by the Geneva Institute for International Development, no more than 4 million guns were held by private security personnel in 70 countries participating in the test. Correspondingly, police and law enforcement officials hold 26 million guns and the national army holds 200 million guns.

The survey pointed out that the regulatory and accountability mechanisms of private security agencies have not kept pace, and these will likely be increasingly responsible for airport security, borders, prisons and public streets.

The investigators pointed out through the media that unless there is evidence that some security companies have obtained guns, reports of loss of weapons, or misuse of arsenals through illegal means, in fact there is no systematic report on the above behavior.

The survey found that many multinational companies do not have a strong supervisory system to prevent the recruitment of private security personnel who have previously used excessive force.

In annual trade, the trade volume of light weapons, small arms, and ammunition is now estimated to be close to US$7.1 billion. The countries that exported the most weapons in 2008 were the United States, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Switzerland, Israel, Austria, South Korea, Belgium, and Russia.

The countries that imported the most in the same year were the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, France and Pakistan. The Small Arms Survey Unit is an independent research project funded by several national governments. It obtains data from the United Nations Trade Statistics Database and the Weapons Convention Register.