Logan Puck | The George Washington University (original) (raw)
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Papers by Logan Puck
Routledge eBooks, Nov 24, 2022
Policing the Global South, Sep 14, 2022
Lua Nova, 2021
Scholars tend to agree that imposing comprehensive regulations is one of the most effective strat... more Scholars tend to agree that imposing comprehensive regulations is one of the most effective strategies states can use to control and direct private security companies. This study shows how attempts to strictly regulate private security firms have failed in Mexico. The Federal government of Mexico, as well as each state government, has created some form of regulation to control the activities of the private security industry. In certain states, these regulations are more stringent than those in many countries. Nonetheless, corruption, weak enforcement, and high entry barriers have created low incentives for private security firms to abide by government regulations, leading to a widespread evasion and an expansive market of unregulated and undisciplined private security companies, thus bringing into question the efficacy of imposing strict private security regulations in states with weak institutions.
Policing and Society
Recent scholarship has observed how private security actors often draw upon the cultural and symb... more Recent scholarship has observed how private security actors often draw upon the cultural and symbolic capital of the police in their everyday operations. This practice can range from issuing frontline private security officers with police-like uniforms and patrol cars to recruiting former senior police officers into highly visible corporate positions. Geographical variations in this dynamic are little understood, however. In this article, we identify and shed light upon one emergent pattern. In those countries where the police enjoy high levels of public trust and confidence, private security actors can be found openly and directly borrowing from the cultural and symbolic capital of this key state institution to enhance their status. By contrast, in those countries where the police are plagued by a poor reputation, these actors commonly display a far more ambiguous relationship with these forms of capital, working both through and against them, often at the same time. Focusing on the UK and Mexican cases, and drawing upon a combination of Bourdieusian frameworks, we argue that the key to understanding this pattern is the distinction between the objectified (non-human) cultural capital of the police (uniforms, vehicles, etc) and the embodied (human) cultural capital of the police (police officers themselves). While the former enjoys a symbolic value in the market for security which transcends variations in public trust and confidence in the police, the latter is far more intimtately connected to localised police traditions and practices, good or bad. This in turn leads to novel patterns in the global plural policing landscape.
Democracy and Security, 2021
This study investigates the participation of the Mexico City government in the private security m... more This study investigates the participation of the Mexico City government in the private security market through the Policía Complementaria (Complementary Police), a grouping of public police forces that provide protection to clients in exchange for a fee. By providing these forces with special powers and advantages, the state can outcompete traditional private security firms and profit handsomely. The state's encroachment into the market for security raises concerns about democracy, inequality, and policing. Moreover, it challenges traditional conceptions about the relationship between the state and private security.
Latin American Politics and Society, 2017
Legitimation is a fraught process for private security companies operating in Mexico and other co... more Legitimation is a fraught process for private security companies operating in Mexico and other countries in the Global South where the police have a poor reputation. Mexican private security companies have an ambivalent relationship with the police, which causes firms to engage in two seemingly contradictory practices. Companies attempt to gain legitimacy by aligning with the image of the police to earn a sense of “symbolic stateness” while simultaneously distancing themselves from Mexico’s actual police forces so as to disassociate from the institution’s poor reputation. Consequently, collaboration between public and private security is limited, despite official attempts by the Mexican state to foster positive contact between them. Overall, this study contributes to the growing literature on private security by providing novel insights into the strategies private security firms utilize to navigate within states possessing delegitimated security forces state and the resulting lucrative political economy landscape.
Conference Presentations by Logan Puck
Mexico City and a number of Mexican states are unique in that they possess specialized public pol... more Mexico City and a number of Mexican states are unique in that they possess specialized public policing units mandated to offer their protective services to private clients in exchange for a fee. Mexico City’s Policía Auxiliar (PA) and Policía Bancaria e Industrial (PBI) are the oldest and two of the largest forces in Mexico to serve this public-private policing role. Contrary to the literature that claims private security weakens and withers the state, this case shows how the state can use the burgeoning security market to strategically benefit itself. Furthermore, the existence of the PA and PBI provide a counter-example to the typical case of private security companies encroaching into traditional public security functions. Instead, we see a reversal of this process as the state is actively competing with private companies in a security market that is commonly viewed as the domain of private actors. Moreover, the state uses its power to provide its own hybrid police forces with advantages, such as weapons permits, direct links to the greater public security apparatus, and better training, that allow them to outcompete most private security firms. This study examines the origins of the PA and PBI, the strategies used by the Mexico City government to give its hybrid police forces a competitive advantage over private security providers, and the consequences that the existence of these forces create for the legitimacy of public security provision in Mexico City.
Despite the presence of a significantly large police force and one of the highest police officer ... more Despite the presence of a significantly large police force and one of the highest police officer to citizen ratios in the world, the private security sector in Mexico City remains a robust industry with hundreds of companies operating within the federal district. These companies vary wildly in terms of their size, scope of activities, and quality of services and over fifty percent of them are entirely unregulated. It is therefore imperative to not only examine Mexico City’s police forces, but also to survey the state of the city’s private security industry in order to fully understand the security situation there. This paper focuses on the complexities of the private security market in Mexico City and the intense competition that occurs between private companies and state and city police forces that provide services to both public and private clients. These forces include, the Policía Complementaria del Distrito Federal and the Cuerpos de Seguridad Auxiliares del Estado de México. They skirt a fine line between the public and private sector and complicate an already chaotic security market. I argue that Mexico City’s highly fragmented and contested private security field and the murky distinctions between public and private forces create an unstable environment that exacerbates uneven patterns of security provision across the city and brings into question the state’s proper role in the market for security.
The private security industry in Mexico, a country where the police are highly unpopular, has exp... more The private security industry in Mexico, a country where the police are highly unpopular, has expanded rapidly over the past three decades. This situation raises the following question: How do private security companies legitimate themselves in contexts where the police are highly disrespected? Studies on private security providers in the Global North have shown that they often try to legitimate themselves by mimicking and aligning with public police forces. By staffing ex-police officers, collaborating with police, and looking and acting like police, private security providers create what Adam White describes as a “general impression of stateness”. Legitimation is a much more fraught process for private security providers operating in countries such as Mexico where the police have lost much of their legitimacy in the eyes of the public. Relying on interviews with individuals in Mexico’s security field, media reports, and analysis of private security advertisements in local flyers and newspapers, this study examines the highly ambivalent relationship between Mexican public and private security forces. Ultimately, Mexican private security providers engage in two seemingly contradictory practices. On one hand, they attempt to gain legitimacy by copying and aligning with public security forces to earn a sense of “symbolic stateness”. On the other hand, they distance themselves from the police to disassociate from that institution’s poor reputation for corruption and abusive behavior. More broadly, this study highlights how Mexican non-state armed actors have struggled with how to relate to the state when trying to legitimate themselves.
While walking down a busy commercial center in Mexico City, you are likely to see uniformed guard... more While walking down a busy commercial center in Mexico City, you are likely to see uniformed guards wielding large weapons in front of malls and stores. Considering the enormous boom in private security throughout Latin America, this should not be an uncommon site . However, the difference in the Mexico City case is that these guards are not employees of private companies, but are actually members of the Mexico City police department. Mexico City and a number of Mexican states are rare in that they possess policing units that are part of the public security infrastructure, but are legally allowed to offer their services to private clients. Mexico City’s Complementary Police Force, which consists of the Policía Auxiliar (PA) and the Policía Bancaria e Industrial (PBI) are two of the largest units in Mexico to serve this public-private policing role. These units thus skirt an interesting line along the border of public and private policing that political scientists have yet to examine and that has important consequences for how we view issues of accountability, the state and its relationship to society, and security provision in a democratic system. Using qualitative data accrued from interviews, secondary sources, and archival research, this study examines the origins and development of these forces, compares them with the private security industry, and considers these forces’ effect on the provision of public security in Mexico City. Ultimately, I argue that although Mexico City’s Complimentary Police tend to possess superior capabilities and are subject to greater exterior controls than traditional private security companies, their existence subverts a democratic state’s obligation to provide equal protection to all of its citizens. By creating and legalizing these forces, the Mexico City government has formalized a system in which those who have the resources can purchase more protection from the state than those who cannot.
Routledge eBooks, Nov 24, 2022
Policing the Global South, Sep 14, 2022
Lua Nova, 2021
Scholars tend to agree that imposing comprehensive regulations is one of the most effective strat... more Scholars tend to agree that imposing comprehensive regulations is one of the most effective strategies states can use to control and direct private security companies. This study shows how attempts to strictly regulate private security firms have failed in Mexico. The Federal government of Mexico, as well as each state government, has created some form of regulation to control the activities of the private security industry. In certain states, these regulations are more stringent than those in many countries. Nonetheless, corruption, weak enforcement, and high entry barriers have created low incentives for private security firms to abide by government regulations, leading to a widespread evasion and an expansive market of unregulated and undisciplined private security companies, thus bringing into question the efficacy of imposing strict private security regulations in states with weak institutions.
Policing and Society
Recent scholarship has observed how private security actors often draw upon the cultural and symb... more Recent scholarship has observed how private security actors often draw upon the cultural and symbolic capital of the police in their everyday operations. This practice can range from issuing frontline private security officers with police-like uniforms and patrol cars to recruiting former senior police officers into highly visible corporate positions. Geographical variations in this dynamic are little understood, however. In this article, we identify and shed light upon one emergent pattern. In those countries where the police enjoy high levels of public trust and confidence, private security actors can be found openly and directly borrowing from the cultural and symbolic capital of this key state institution to enhance their status. By contrast, in those countries where the police are plagued by a poor reputation, these actors commonly display a far more ambiguous relationship with these forms of capital, working both through and against them, often at the same time. Focusing on the UK and Mexican cases, and drawing upon a combination of Bourdieusian frameworks, we argue that the key to understanding this pattern is the distinction between the objectified (non-human) cultural capital of the police (uniforms, vehicles, etc) and the embodied (human) cultural capital of the police (police officers themselves). While the former enjoys a symbolic value in the market for security which transcends variations in public trust and confidence in the police, the latter is far more intimtately connected to localised police traditions and practices, good or bad. This in turn leads to novel patterns in the global plural policing landscape.
Democracy and Security, 2021
This study investigates the participation of the Mexico City government in the private security m... more This study investigates the participation of the Mexico City government in the private security market through the Policía Complementaria (Complementary Police), a grouping of public police forces that provide protection to clients in exchange for a fee. By providing these forces with special powers and advantages, the state can outcompete traditional private security firms and profit handsomely. The state's encroachment into the market for security raises concerns about democracy, inequality, and policing. Moreover, it challenges traditional conceptions about the relationship between the state and private security.
Latin American Politics and Society, 2017
Legitimation is a fraught process for private security companies operating in Mexico and other co... more Legitimation is a fraught process for private security companies operating in Mexico and other countries in the Global South where the police have a poor reputation. Mexican private security companies have an ambivalent relationship with the police, which causes firms to engage in two seemingly contradictory practices. Companies attempt to gain legitimacy by aligning with the image of the police to earn a sense of “symbolic stateness” while simultaneously distancing themselves from Mexico’s actual police forces so as to disassociate from the institution’s poor reputation. Consequently, collaboration between public and private security is limited, despite official attempts by the Mexican state to foster positive contact between them. Overall, this study contributes to the growing literature on private security by providing novel insights into the strategies private security firms utilize to navigate within states possessing delegitimated security forces state and the resulting lucrative political economy landscape.
Mexico City and a number of Mexican states are unique in that they possess specialized public pol... more Mexico City and a number of Mexican states are unique in that they possess specialized public policing units mandated to offer their protective services to private clients in exchange for a fee. Mexico City’s Policía Auxiliar (PA) and Policía Bancaria e Industrial (PBI) are the oldest and two of the largest forces in Mexico to serve this public-private policing role. Contrary to the literature that claims private security weakens and withers the state, this case shows how the state can use the burgeoning security market to strategically benefit itself. Furthermore, the existence of the PA and PBI provide a counter-example to the typical case of private security companies encroaching into traditional public security functions. Instead, we see a reversal of this process as the state is actively competing with private companies in a security market that is commonly viewed as the domain of private actors. Moreover, the state uses its power to provide its own hybrid police forces with advantages, such as weapons permits, direct links to the greater public security apparatus, and better training, that allow them to outcompete most private security firms. This study examines the origins of the PA and PBI, the strategies used by the Mexico City government to give its hybrid police forces a competitive advantage over private security providers, and the consequences that the existence of these forces create for the legitimacy of public security provision in Mexico City.
Despite the presence of a significantly large police force and one of the highest police officer ... more Despite the presence of a significantly large police force and one of the highest police officer to citizen ratios in the world, the private security sector in Mexico City remains a robust industry with hundreds of companies operating within the federal district. These companies vary wildly in terms of their size, scope of activities, and quality of services and over fifty percent of them are entirely unregulated. It is therefore imperative to not only examine Mexico City’s police forces, but also to survey the state of the city’s private security industry in order to fully understand the security situation there. This paper focuses on the complexities of the private security market in Mexico City and the intense competition that occurs between private companies and state and city police forces that provide services to both public and private clients. These forces include, the Policía Complementaria del Distrito Federal and the Cuerpos de Seguridad Auxiliares del Estado de México. They skirt a fine line between the public and private sector and complicate an already chaotic security market. I argue that Mexico City’s highly fragmented and contested private security field and the murky distinctions between public and private forces create an unstable environment that exacerbates uneven patterns of security provision across the city and brings into question the state’s proper role in the market for security.
The private security industry in Mexico, a country where the police are highly unpopular, has exp... more The private security industry in Mexico, a country where the police are highly unpopular, has expanded rapidly over the past three decades. This situation raises the following question: How do private security companies legitimate themselves in contexts where the police are highly disrespected? Studies on private security providers in the Global North have shown that they often try to legitimate themselves by mimicking and aligning with public police forces. By staffing ex-police officers, collaborating with police, and looking and acting like police, private security providers create what Adam White describes as a “general impression of stateness”. Legitimation is a much more fraught process for private security providers operating in countries such as Mexico where the police have lost much of their legitimacy in the eyes of the public. Relying on interviews with individuals in Mexico’s security field, media reports, and analysis of private security advertisements in local flyers and newspapers, this study examines the highly ambivalent relationship between Mexican public and private security forces. Ultimately, Mexican private security providers engage in two seemingly contradictory practices. On one hand, they attempt to gain legitimacy by copying and aligning with public security forces to earn a sense of “symbolic stateness”. On the other hand, they distance themselves from the police to disassociate from that institution’s poor reputation for corruption and abusive behavior. More broadly, this study highlights how Mexican non-state armed actors have struggled with how to relate to the state when trying to legitimate themselves.
While walking down a busy commercial center in Mexico City, you are likely to see uniformed guard... more While walking down a busy commercial center in Mexico City, you are likely to see uniformed guards wielding large weapons in front of malls and stores. Considering the enormous boom in private security throughout Latin America, this should not be an uncommon site . However, the difference in the Mexico City case is that these guards are not employees of private companies, but are actually members of the Mexico City police department. Mexico City and a number of Mexican states are rare in that they possess policing units that are part of the public security infrastructure, but are legally allowed to offer their services to private clients. Mexico City’s Complementary Police Force, which consists of the Policía Auxiliar (PA) and the Policía Bancaria e Industrial (PBI) are two of the largest units in Mexico to serve this public-private policing role. These units thus skirt an interesting line along the border of public and private policing that political scientists have yet to examine and that has important consequences for how we view issues of accountability, the state and its relationship to society, and security provision in a democratic system. Using qualitative data accrued from interviews, secondary sources, and archival research, this study examines the origins and development of these forces, compares them with the private security industry, and considers these forces’ effect on the provision of public security in Mexico City. Ultimately, I argue that although Mexico City’s Complimentary Police tend to possess superior capabilities and are subject to greater exterior controls than traditional private security companies, their existence subverts a democratic state’s obligation to provide equal protection to all of its citizens. By creating and legalizing these forces, the Mexico City government has formalized a system in which those who have the resources can purchase more protection from the state than those who cannot.