Research Profile

The goal of Security 21: International Centre for Security and Justice is to understand the revolution that has characterised policing in western industrial societies over the past 25 years, and to contribute to the successful evolution of policing in the decades ahead. Since the late 1970s, there has been a proliferation of organisational forms relating to a) who authorizes policing, and b) who actually performs the function. These trends are best exemplified in the growth of private policing, and in the increasing necessity of public police to harness resources and institutions outside their ranks in furtherance of their mission. This latter issue lies at the core of our activity.

An enduring climate of fiscal restraint, and the recognition that our public police cannot be everywhere and cannot do everything on their own, have led governments around the world to encourage their citizens to assume greater responsibility for crime prevention. Research and training in Security 21: International Centre for Security and Justice are aimed at ensuring that the various institutions and energies that contribute to public safety will operate in an effective, efficient and just manner. We seek to empower communities to address their own security needs, and to enhance the capacity of public police to deliver security and justice.

The challenges of crime and conflict in the 21st century are both global and local. The existence of weak and failing states in our region and beyond, pose risks to Australia’s national security and to our domestic safety. Our members and partners across Australia and around the world contribute innovative thinking and innovative research to the development of new strategies of security and justice that will extend from the micro-level to the global.