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Territorial Tactics: The Socio-spatial Significance of Private Policing Strategies in Cape Town

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  • Till F Paasche
  • Richard Yarwood
  • James D Sidaway

Abstract

This paper analyses the policing strategies of private security companies operating in urban space. An existing literature has considered the variety of ways that territory becomes of fundamental importance in the work of public police forces. However, this paper examines territory in the context of private security companies. Drawing on empirical research in Cape Town, it examines how demarcated territories become key subjects in private policing. Private security companies are responsible for a relatively small section of the city, while in contrast the public police ultimately have to see city space as a whole. Hence, private policing strategy becomes one of displacement, especially of so-called undesirables yielding a patchworked public space associated with private enclaves of consumption. The conclusions signal the historical resonances and comparative implications of these political–legal–security dynamics.

Suggested Citation

  • Till F Paasche & Richard Yarwood & James D Sidaway, 2014. "Territorial Tactics: The Socio-spatial Significance of Private Policing Strategies in Cape Town," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(8), pages 1559-1575, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:51:y:2014:i:8:p:1559-1575
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098013499084
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Don Mitchell & Lynn A. Staeheli, 2005. "Permitting Protest: Parsing the Fine Geography of Dissent in America," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 796-813, December.
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    3. Sophie Didier & Elisabeth Peyroux & Marianne Morange, 2012. "The Spreading of the City Improvement District Model in Johannesburg and Cape Town: Urban Regeneration and the Neoliberal Agenda in South Africa," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(5), pages 915-935, September.
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