The maintenance and expansion of all aspects of a criminal justice system has become too costly even for wealthier states. The private sector has developed the expertise and capacity to provide specialized services more cost-effectively than the state. In South Africa, the growth of the private security industry has been most marked in the field of policing and crime control, because: (1) Private policing is more flexible and efficient and can be more readily adjusted to changing levels of consumer demand; (2) The public questions the ability of the police to protect them from crime; (3) The high crime rate and the use of police officers in administrative functions stretches the visible presence of the police so thin that it fails to deter crime significantly; (4) The country’s urban areas contain a sophisticated industrial, commercial and residential market for security; and (5) There has been an increase in “mass private property,” privately owned property to which the public has a right of access and use, and which the public police cannot always protect. The article suggests a number of additional areas suited for the presence and activities of private security. Figures, notes