Book Review: Private Security: An Introduction to Principles and Practice, 2nd Edition

Private Security: An Introduction to Principles and Practice, 2nd Edition. By Charles P. Nemeth. CRC Press; https://www.routledge.com/; 958 pages; $71.99.

Your first feeling after reading Private Security: An Introduction to Principles and Practice, 2nd Edition, should be amazement that a single author could corral so many details about private security, even if you agree that security is expanding as our lifestyles evolve. 

In the first lines of the preface, author Charles P. Nemeth notes, “This was an industry not merely in growth mode, rather in a frenetic sort of dynamism that was unstoppable. Private Security has now become a central player in nearly every facet of protection in terms of both people and assets.” 

Nemeth is a lawyer, has been long associated with John Jay College in New York, and has taught for more than 40 years. His gift for organizing information supremely facilitates the use of this volume for academic purposes. He typically organizes chapters to allow students to categorize new channels of information. An introduction and list of intended objectives, such as “Review the concepts of private security, and law and order in the Greek and Roman civilizations,” correctly steer students as they start moving through the coming chapter. 

In a volume of nearly 1,000 pages, the array of private security issues—while all are important—are too numerous and diverse to present in more than a few primary themes. Within this highly intelligent and inclusive book, we learn about the contemporary state of private security; unarmed officers; corporate security services and settings; and security in specific sectors like healthcare, hospitality, and cultural institutions. Readers explore the challenge of domestic and international terrorism pre-9/11; the origin of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security; promoting private sector cybersecurity; and academic and training programs in homeland security, as well as liability and legal challenges, among many other subjects.

Obtain this book. Consult this book. Keep this book. You will need this book, and you won’t regret it.

Reviewer: James T. Dunne, CPP, is a member of the ASIS Executive Protection Community steering committee and the ASIS North American Regional Board committee for learning and events. Now retired, he was a senior analyst in the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security. The opinions and characterizations in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the U.S. government.