3 ECTS credits
90 h study time

Offer 2 with catalog number 1001012BER for all students in the 1st semester at a (B) Bachelor - advanced level.

Semester
1st semester
Enrollment based on exam contract
Possible
Grading method
Grading (scale from 0 to 20)
Can retake in second session
Yes
Taught in
Dutch
Faculty
Faculty of Law and Criminology
Department
Criminology
Educational team
Pieter Leloup (course titular)
Activities and contact hours
20 contact hours Lecture
70 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study
Course Content

This course discusses the main theoretical and practical developments regarding private security in Belgium and abroad. The main focus of the course is to shed light on the nature, role and activities of the private security sector – and its wide range of actors – in Belgium. In relation to this, the most relevant governmental policy and legislation on private security is discussed.

In order to obtain a better understanding of these themes and developments, a brief history of private security is given as an introduction, as well as the place the private sector occupies alongside public actors such as the police. 

Throughout the various lectures, the following topics will be discussed in more detail:
• public-private relations in security;
• private security regulation;
• privatisation within criminal justice;
• private detectives and investigations;
• employee crime and private justice;
• private military actors;
• private security in international perspective.

Course material
Handbook (Required) : Thema wetboek Private veiligheid, Wetboek Private veiligheid, Burgelman - Cools - Lemaître, 8de, Larcier, 2022
Digital course material (Required) : Canvas, Alle slides worden ter beschikking gesteld, evenals wetenschappelijke artikels over de thema's die in de hoorcolleges aan bod komen., Canvas, Canvas, Canvas
Additional info
Digital lectures will be available for working students. More information will be communicated via the course unit platform in Canvas.
Learning Outcomes

General competencies

GENERAL COMPETENCIES

KNOWLEDGE
• Graduates know the central theoretical concepts, perspectives and research traditions of related fields of science (in casu law, economics, philosophy, history).
• Graduates have knowledge and understanding of the role and functioning of the various actors in criminal justice (investigation and justice) and private security.
• To enable students to acquire a due insight into the criminological 'setting' of private security, investigation and justice.

RESEARCH SKILLS
• Graduates can identify, select, value and use criminological national and international sources and scientific literature with critical-scientific integrity.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS AND PRACTICE-ORIENTED COMPETENCES:
• Graduates can communicate clearly, distinctly, correctly and critically in writing and orally on a theoretical or practice-oriented criminologically relevant topic, both to peers and lay people.

ATTITUDES:
• Graduates possess a keen interest in and sensitivity to social and criminological issues.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Written Exam determines 100% of the final mark.

Within the Written Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

  • Written Exam with a relative weight of 100 which comprises 100% of the final mark.

Additional info regarding evaluation

More information can be found via the study guide on Canvas.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark
The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context

This offer is part of the following study plans:
Bachelor of Criminology: Standaard traject (only offered in Dutch)
Bachelor of Criminology: Verkort traject (only offered in Dutch)