The study has been longitudinal, involving interviews with 50 security officers working for three of the market leaders at three stages during the first year of their employment: on their last day of induction training (before going onto their first site); after their 3-month probationary period; and after a year of employment as a guard. The interviews consisted of open-ended questions and lasted approximately 1 hour each. They contained questions from six core sections: background, nature of the work, law and order, policing, licensing and regulation, and training. The purpose of the interviews was to provide a rich source of qualitative data that would provide insight into the perceptions of security officers. The overall aim of the research has been to compare the results of the interviews with security officers with similar studies of police officers. The focus of this report on findings thus far addresses prior links with the security industry, the armed forces, and the police service; perceived similarities between the work of a security officer and that of a police officer; levels of attraction toward security contracts that currently provide the most potential for danger or contact with the general public; attitudes toward making an arrest, using force, being armed, or being given stronger powers to deal with arrest; and views on accountability and crime control in general. 4 tables and 14 notes