Networked Security

Abstract

Papua New Guinea's private security industry has steadily expanded over the past two decades in the context of enduring and widespread perceptions of insecurity and declining confidence in PNG’s own security forces, notably, the police. The industry has flourished around elite urban enclaves, the extractive industries and, albeit temporarily, PNG’s recent hosting of APEC. Today licensed private security guards outnumber the combined workforce of PNG’s three disciplined services (police, defence force & correctional service), and, by some estimates, is now the country's third largest employer. There is considerable diversity in the size, sophistication and services offered by private companies, ranging from small informal operators, large nationally owned companies, through to transnational corporations with global reach. This presentation draws on recent research with key stakeholders in Lae and Port Moresby. This research maps out a network of private security actors that operate in these cities. It examines how this network engages with the state and citizens to provide enclaves of security. The presentation focuses on some of the key benefits and risks created by this growing industry, and discusses what these might mean for attempts to improve security across PNG.