Both state criminal justice systems and the private security industry perform common functions of social control and social ordering, although they may have different goals and justifications. Societies have always had both public and private policing, although public policing has dominated over the last 100 years. A primary justification for private policing initiatives has been the vacuum theory. This theory states that when public police agencies are not able to fulfill their responsibility to protect the public interest and citizens in general, a vacuum is created that will be filled by private initiatives. The adoption of community policing in South Africa is discussed, with the goals of community policing defined as maintaining order and solving community problems. Community policing is also examined in the context of and compared to private policing initiatives in South Africa. 15 endnotes