The growth of private policing has been the subject of numerous commentaries that perpetuate the rhetoric of Shearing & Stenning (1980) in announcing a "quiet revolution". The figures that formed the basis of these original commentaries were largely based in the US and appeared to generalise readily into the Australian experience. Australian authors have used official statistics to support the notion that change of a similar scale is occurring in Australia. This work examines these figures more closely and questions previous assumptions which equated a licensed security officer to a public...

Police tactical groups (PTGs) are generally given assignments at the higher end of the scale of risk. Their role typically includes dealing with armed offenders as well as violent and unpredictable people who may be drug affected or mentally ill. Invariably personnel are prepared for such tasks through training. The effects of stress on performance and the benefits of realism in training are examined to reveal that high levels of realism are required in order to trigger the same responses in the trainee that are likely to be encountered in the field. An investigation is then conducted of two...