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Reviews / Comptes Rendus
| George Rigakos, The New Parapolice: Risk Markets and Commodified Social Control (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002) |
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GEORGE RIGAKOS' The New Parapolice is a timely addition to the growing debate concerning the governance and function of private policing. His analysis amply demonstrates the tension between public and private policing and the ease with which the boundaries of law enforcement are blurred. Rigakos provides a rare empirical analysis of the private contract security industry evolving in Canada. More specifically, he offers a detailed ethnographic study of the Toronto-based "law enforcement company," Intelligarde. This ethnographic snapshot is the strength of this book. Rigakos' study has opened a door on, what has been until recently, a guarded and suspicious industry, but more importantly he has deftly captured the cultural nuances of this evolving trend of security operative. It is within this cultural analysis that Rigakos illustrates the distinct differences between public and private policing. Oddly, however, one of Rigakos' central arguments is that these differences are minimal and that private policing agencies are no different from public policing. In order to make this argument he compares specific, but basic functions that both public and private policing achieve. Unfortunately, the basis of this analysis is simplistic and excludes variables of governance, training, mechanisms of accountability, range of enforcement tasks and prevention/deterrence functions. |
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Rigakos' analysis begins with an interesting overview of the theoretical framework from which private security and social control have historically been examined. He leads the reader through both Marxian and Foucauldian approaches, settling finally on what might be considered a Neo- Marxian analysis. While I am in agreement with his critique of the various approaches, I find his quickness to discount the Foucauldian approach somewhat disconcerting. As no one theory aptly explains the phenomenon of private policing, I found his dismissal of the rich governmentality analysis problematic. Rigakos' critique of the governmentality scholarship ignores the need to build bridges to the various theoretical perspectives in an effort to grasp the complexity and hybridity of forms of rule. I would suggest Rigakos' efforts to understand private policing in the "context of its existence, as a profit-making enterprise under the capitalist mode of production" (25) risks reproducing the myopia he claims is evident in the governmentality research agenda. |
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The remaining chapters build on Rigakos' rich empirical analysis of Intelligarde operations. His detailed recounting of interviews and participant observation does not gloss over the warts and blemishes but illustrates the gritty environment of private policing. Moreover, Rigakos does not merely recount stories; he takes great effort to critically assess his findings in the context of evolving risk markets and the commodification of security. His analysis ensures that the reader is drawn back to the original objective of locating private policing as a "profit making enterprise under the capitalist mode of production." Disappointingly, his assessment lacks reference to broad political and economic factors driving the commodification of security. Given the impact of budget reductions, decentalization, and neo-liberal governance agendas, Rigakos' analysis would certainly benefit from a closer acknowledgment of the current political/economic environment in which both public and private policing are evolving. |
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Regardless, Rigokos' The New Parapolice is an important volume in the growing scholarship of private policing and risk markets. This book's contribution to the policing literature can not be underestimated. Its Canadian context is a distinct asset, particularly when current police related research is frequently derived from examples in the United States or Britain. Moreover, Rigakos offers an opportunity to examine the inner workings of a unique and hybrid form of policing, a glimpse that should be of interest to all policing scholars and policymakers. |
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Curtis Clarke
Athabasca University
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