The pluralisation of policing has caused much debate in criminology. Yet very few studies examine how the public perceive private security. This article addresses this gap by drawing on empirical qualitative data from the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. It makes an empirical contribution to the existing mega-events literature by showing how local residents from a community perceived private security within the context of their everyday environment. Findings show that perceptions of private security were overall negative. This was attributed to a perceived lack of local knowledge, perceived lack of professional expertise, perceived poor communication, and perceived authoritarianism among security actors. Such findings raise important implications regarding the normative legitimacy of private security at mega-events and society more generally.

警务的多元化在犯罪学中引起了很多争论。然而，很少有研究考察公众如何看待私人安全。本文通过借鉴 2014 年格拉斯哥英联邦运动会的实证定性数据来弥补这一差距。它通过展示社区的当地居民如何在日常环境的背景下感知私人安全，对现有的大型活动文献做出了实证贡献。调查结果表明，对私人保安的看法总体上是负面的。这归因于被认为缺乏当地知识、被认为缺乏专业知识、被认为沟通不畅以及安全行为者之间被认为是威权主义。这些发现对大型活动和更普遍的社会中私人安保的规范合法性提出了重要意义。