The impact of sharing information in private and public partnerships
In 2009, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano gave a speech at the International Association of Chiefs of Police National Conference regarding the importance of information-sharing and partnerships between public law enforcement and private industry when it came to improving homeland security. “Effective information sharing is essential to our partnerships with state and local law enforcement as we work together to secure our country,” Napolitano said during those remarks. “DHS will continue to strengthen fusion centers and other collaborative initiatives across the country to enhance our capabilities to combat terrorism and serious crime.”
While partnerships between public law enforcement agencies and private industry are nothing new, they have become more prominent in recent years due to both heightened national security issues in the post-9/11 era, as well as budget cuts at all levels of public law enforcement. The combination of these and other factors has led to the emergence of the private professional security industry, which entails a lot more than just security guards and “rent-a-cops” these days.
Bob Birdsall, MS, CPP, is a faculty member in the College of Criminal Justice and Security at University of Phoenix, as well as an alumnus of its Criminal Justice graduate degree program. A former deputy sheriff and detective with the Los Angeles Sherriff’s Department who now works as a consultant in the private security industry, Birdsall is a strong advocate of what he calls “interactive relationships” between private industry and public law enforcement. “Government agencies are laying off cops at all levels these days due to budget cuts,” says Birdsall. “Yet, the public has higher and higher expectations when it comes to security. That’s where the private security industry is stepping in, to help fill in those gaps.”
According to Birdsall, there’s a lot more to the private security sector than just the low-paid unarmed security guards you might see at your local mall. “We are seeing a shift towards professionalizing the security industry, and that’s why criminal justice degree programs such as those offered by University of Phoenix are important to anyone who wants to have a career in security,” he says. “If you want to advance in the security profession, you need training and certifications. There is literally no future for the low-level untrained security guard in today’s environment.”
In addition to Criminal Justice undergraduate degree programs, Birdsall cites professional certification credentials such at the Certified Protection Professional (CPP) governed by ASIS International, a professional organization for the security industry. “If you look at any job postings for security managers or directors, whether in the public or private sector, almost all those jobs are asking for the CPP certification, along with the relevant experience and education,” says Birdsall. One of the reasons for that is the requirements and testing for the CPP certification provides training specifically for public-private security partnerships. “Communication between the public and private sectors is absolutely essential these days when it comes to any type of security, and the CPP certification provides that as part of its training program,” says Birdsall. “We can’t do our jobs effectively without each other.”
Bill Ramsey is currently Corporate Director of Security for McCormick & Company, a well-known producer of spices and seasonings. Also a former police officer who served with both the Baltimore police department and as an MP in the U.S. military, after leaving public law enforcement Ramsey worked in a variety of private security positions and industries before rising to his current executive-level security position. “My first experience with private security was in the thoroughbred racing industry,” says Ramsey. “I worked as an agent for the Thoroughbred Protective Bureau, which governed security at all the racetracks and races in the state of Maryland, including Pimlico, which is home of the Preakness. I also spent some time at Arlington Park Racecourse in Arlington Heights, Ill., and some other racetracks.”
According to Ramsey, his security work in the thoroughbred racing industry involved a significant amount of public-private partnerships. “When it comes to security in the racing industry, you’re looking at several different areas,” he says. “There’s the integrity of the sport, the people attending the events, the cash flow, the protection of the horses and other assets. As an agent with the Thoroughbred Protective Bureau, I was required to investigate incidents that may have violated the internal governing rules of the sport of racing. If in any of my investigations I also found possible violations of public law, it was part of my job to get public law enforcement involved. I also worked with local law enforcement when it came to providing security for large public racing events, such as the Preakness.”
From there, Ramsey moved into his current position with McCormick & Company, where he serves as the company’s first Corporate Director of Security. “Part of my job in the beginning was to help facilitate a relationship between corporate security and management,” says Ramsey. “Like any high-level corporate security position, my job has a lot of different aspects. We security directors have to keep an eye on things like an orderly security presence, providing a safe environment for the employees, and also protecting the people, the assets — and most of all, the product.”
The food industry has a particular interest in keeping its product safe these days, especially in light of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s inclusion of the food industry on its list of 19 “critical infrastructure” sectors. “We have to protect both the food supply and public confidence in the food supply — that’s a big part of my job,” says Ramsey. Protecting the food supply involves both food safety (which addresses unintentional contamination of the food supply, such as bacterial contaminations) and food defense (which involves protecting the food supply from intentional criminal tampering). Food defense in particular came to national prominence post-9/11, leading to the creation of the Food & Agriculture Sector Coordinating Council as well as being part of the Food Safety Modernization Act. Via both the Act and the Council, stakeholders from the private food industry share ideas and strategies with public law enforcement agencies (e.g., DHS, FBI) and federal regulatory agencies (e.g., the Food & Drug Administration/FDA and the United States Department of Agriculture/USDA) on best practices. “Having a seat at the government table is important,” Ramsey says. “The private security directors like me want to let the government know that we are working on these issues, both internally and in partnership with government agencies.”
Ramsey has been a part of the DHS Food & Agriculture Sector Coordinating Council since its inception, and he is quick to point out that the federal government is listening to private industry when it comes to food safety and defense. “Private industry has helped influence the perceptions of people in government on these issues, and vice versa. We both learn from one another,” Ramsey says.
Ramsey also points out that succeeding in the private security sector involves not only a willingness to partner with public law enforcement, but also a high degree of flexibility and a broad general knowledge of all aspects of the security industry. “You have to be a competent security generalist,” he says. “You really have to know how to do everything.”
Bob Birdsall takes it a step further. “Communication is really the biggest problem we have between the public and private security sectors,” he says. “The two sectors don’t always communicate well and that can create barriers to security.” In the Futures of Criminal Justice course Birdsall teaches at University of Phoenix, he features the importance of communication across security sectors prominently in his curriculum. “I get to plant the seed,” he says. “And that’s important, because private security is everywhere these days.
