Perceptions of private security: А case study of students from Serbia and North Macedonia

In the last two decades of the 21st century, the significant development of the private security industry has taken place in Serbia and North Macedonia. However, the private security industry in these two countries did not reach professional standards as in other countries of the former Yugoslavia. The aim of this paper was to determine students’ perception of private security and its employees. The survey data were collected using an anonymous survey of 354 students (296 from Serbia and 58 from North Macedonia). In both countries, attitudes are heterogeneous, but a relatively small number of respondents have expressed a high level of perception of private security. The research has shown that gender, as one of demographic characteristics, has its role in shaping young people’s views on the private security, that is, the female population has more positive views about private security guards, their integrity, and the nature of the private security job. The findings offer policy-makers and private security companies the opportunity to develop new strategies to improve public attitudes towards private security. Conclusion: The results of an empirical study indicate that the public, especially the younger population, in transition societies such as Serbia and North Macedonia, do not have a high degree of positive perception of private security. Compared to earlier research, it can be observed that the attitudes of young people in Serbia towards private security officers are more favorable than they were before, while in North Macedonia they remained at a similar level. The public should get used to the transition from a society where the police were the only ones in charge of citizens’ security, while in societies with a regulated market economy, a great part of that role was taken over by the private security industry. The research findings indicate that the female population has a better perception of private security. These findings offer policymakers and private security companies the opportunity to deploy new strategies to upgrade public attitudes towards private security, especially aimed at the male population. Also, the results of this study indicate the importance of the role and training of private security officers in shaping citizens’ confidence in them. The authors are aware that the findings have their limitations because the research was conducted only within a narrow population of young students, and the results obtained cannot be generalized because there are no views of the wider population in the paper. It would be particularly interesting to see in future research the views of the citizens of Serbia and North Macedonia born in the age of socialism when there were no private security companies, and whether their views differ from those of the young population.