Corporate Security, Licensing, and Civil Accountability in the Australian Night-Time Economy

Abstract

Security arrangements in the night-time economy are linked to an increased range of restrictive liquor licensing regulations aimed at minimizing the prospect of alcohol-related harm, violence, and the legacies of deregulated trading adopted throughout most Australian states since the mid-1970s (Zajdow, 2011). As a key method of mitigating private business losses and maximizing profits, corporate security involves a disparate series of in-house or subcontracted arrangements to address both the problem of violence and the risk of state-imposed fines for breaches of alcohol service requirements. These processes operate in conjunction with mandatory private security licensing requirements applicable to all ‘crowd controllers’ or ‘bouncers,’ security companies, and personnel undertaking risk assessments and other knowledge work associated with loss prevention (Lippert et al., 2013). While the precise number and roles of corporate security personnel services are ill-defined and poorly understood in light of these multiple regulatory arrangements, much Australian research focuses on the broader implications of the activities of private bouncers as a complementary adjunct to order maintenance and violence prevention initiatives undertaken by the public police. This tendency overlooks a complex series of in-house and subcontracted corporate loss prevention and profit maximization arrangements within the Australian night-time economy.