Xinhua Reports: China’s Private Security Guards are "Evil, Black Thugs"
Thu, 07/26/2007 - 23:58 — LD
Statistics provided by the China Ministry of Public Security show a staggering 2.30 million private security workers in China, far surpassing even the numbering of police in the entire country. Over half of them are not subject to any government regulation. Their names are not on file with the public security authorities and they have little training. Hired by private companies, "they do not abide by the law, but follow the money and do whatever their employers tell them, thus playing the role of ‘evil, black thugs.＇"
According to a July 24, 2007, Xinhua report, private security guards in China increasingly violate the law. [1] "It is not news any more that private security guards physically assault property owners whenever they have a dispute. Between 2001 and 2005, the ‘Community Governance＇ Task force of China＇s People＇s University investigated and researched over 100 residential communities. The task force found that in 80% of the communities surveyed, there had been serious disputes between owners and property management, while 37% had experienced physical clashes and violent confrontations (not including threats and intimidations) between owners and property management staff and security guards."
"Take Beijing for example. There are 4 categories of private security service providers. First there are 2 security service firms that the government public security authorities have established, employing more than 80,000 workers. The second category includes the 40,000 internal security employees within work units who are responsible for maintaining security and order inside the work units and do not provide security services outside the work units. In the third category, there are three property management companies engaged in security services with about 50,000 security guards, accounting for 20% of property management employees. The fourth category is security service firms that don＇t have the approval of the public security authorities, i.e., ‘black security firms,＇ which employ about 35,000 people."
According to an investigation report in Outlook Weekly, "Most problems occur in the third and fourth categories and are beyond the supervisory scope of the public security authorities. According to the survey conducted by the Security Administration of the Ministry of Public Security, there are 1.50 million security personnel nationwide that are outside of government authorities＇ supervision and regulation."
Due to customers＇ diversified needs, "black security firms" have blossomed everywhere, without government public security authorities＇ approval. In 2006, the Beijing public security authorities started to investigate and register these security firms that offered training and security service without official authorization. They found a total, 214 unregulated security firms, 1,033 unregulated security checkpoints and over 35, 000 unregulated security guards."
"Research Fellow Mo Jihong at the Institute of Law in the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences commented on the property security problem. Currently hotels, private firms, mines, etc. employ large numbers of security guards. The reporter for this article recently found, during the investigations in Shijiazhuang, Harbin, Beijing, and Nanning, that some private firms, including the entertainment industry, hotels, mines, local communities, and shopping malls, hire security guards without proper government authorization, posing a particular problem. Since they are not on file with the public security authorities and have little training, these security groups do not officially present themselves as ‘security guards,＇ causing the government to lose control. They do not abide by the law, but follow the money and do what their employers tell them, thus playing the role of ‘evil, black thugs.＇"
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