GardaWorld Welcomes Findings of Montreal Economic Institute report on Outsourcing of Non-Core Police Duties

MONTREAL, QUEBEC--(Marketwired - Jan. 29, 2015) -

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GardaWorld welcomes the findings of Private Reinforcements for Public Police Forces, the Montreal Economic Institute's report on outsourcing of non-core police duties. The report makes a strong case that the rapidly rising cost of policing can be effectively addressed by outsourcing non-core police tasks, such as human resources, directing traffic, responding to burglar alarms and providing security at special events.

"If, instead of being focused on extraneous tasks, police officers across Canada were freed to focus on their core roles of community policing, and crime investigation and prevention, citizens would be safer and better served," says Stéphan Crétier, President and Chief Executive Officer of GardaWorld. "The private security industry in Canada is world-class, stringently regulated, highly trained and stands ready to take on many of those non-core functions. In fact, private security companies like GardaWorld are already successfully performing non-core police work in many cities across Canada."

The findings of the Montreal Economic Institute report echo recent reports by equally well-respected institutions. In 2014, in their report on policing Canada in the 21^st century, the Council of Canadian Academies found that, over the past decade, police costs have been rising at a much faster rate on average than total public expenditures and gross domestic product (GDP); another recent report by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute also focused on rapidly escalating policing costs and drew similar conclusions to the MEI about the need to streamline what is viewed as core police work.

"The fact is that, we, as a society, have layered many extra functions onto our police officers that eat up too many hours of their work day" said Mr. Crétier. "Why should a police officer, who is paid more than $100,000 a year, be focused on tasks like directing traffic, transcribing interviews, responding to burglar alarms or providing security in courtrooms or at special events, when these could just as effectively be carried out by a sub-contracted, private sector security guard, with a similar education, who is paid one third of that amount?"

The Institute's report makes a compelling case for following the example of other countries such as the United Kingdom, Sweden and France that have successfully implemented similar approaches.

About GardaWorld

Headquartered in Montreal, Canada, GardaWorld provides business solutions and security services around the world. Our 48,000 highly trained, dedicated professionals serve clients throughout North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. GardaWorld works across a broad range of sectors, including natural resources, retail, construction, telecommunications and manufacturing, and on behalf of Fortune 500 companies, governments, NGOs and humanitarian relief organizations. For more information, visit www.garda.com.

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