91996E0335

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0335/96 by Amedeo Amadeo (NI) to the Council (26 February 1996)

Subject: Private security firms

A great many statistics show that organized crime is spreading throughout Europe and the traditional forces of law and order have insufficient manpower to tackle the problem. This has led to the emergence of numerous private security firms in Europe and has, on the one hand, exposed loopholes in the laws regulating them and, on the other hand, revealed some of these firms to be unreliable, which has simply exacerbated the problem of crime.

Does the Council not consider it advisable to issue a directive laying down common rules and standards for all the Member States in order to bring about an improvement in the quality of service and the guarantees offered by operators in this sector?

Reply (7 August 1996)

The Council has not yet considered whether it is advisable to establish specific instruments for the aforementioned firms. Such work could be contemplated in the context of the more general questions of preventing crime.