Policing The New Commons : Corporate Security Governance on a Mass Private Property in Canada

This article examines the governance programme of an in-house security department on a mass private property in Canada. Under the auspice of state laws, diverse zones of autonomy are constituted and powerful governance programmes are authorized to police communities of patrons, staff and other service providers within and beyond property boundaries. Analysis of this particular security programme reveals a primary concern with the maintenance and promotion of a corporate image rather than justice. This aim is supported by the in-house security department as it actualizes various forms of risk management, both through informal and systematic risk-based patron profiles and classification schemes. In addition to providing physical security and managing populations through risk, security officers are also involved in “information work” necessary for the reproduction of the programmatic risk management formula.