What is Public Safety (Concept and Definition)

Public safety, also known as citizen securityrefers to all those circumstances related to the respect and protection of the rights and property of people and their physical integrity in a situation of citizen coexistence.

It is the State that, through its organizations and institutions, is obliged to ensure the public security of the nation, guaranteeing citizens a climate of harmony and peace, in which their integrity and fundamental rights are respected.

The State agencies in charge of maintaining and guaranteeing public security are the security forcesmade up of the police and the armed forces, who work together with the power of attorney, in charge of dispensing justice. These bodies are those that are directly in charge of public security matters.

See also What is Security?

Thus, on the one hand, the State security forces have the mission of preventing the commission of crimes or repressing them once they are in progress; to pursue, capture and deliver criminals to justice; to avoid alterations in the social order, and to attack problems that put the safety of citizens at risk, such as the existence of gangs or criminal organizations dedicated to drug, firearm or human trafficking.

And on the other hand, the function of power of attorney will be to apply the sanctions contemplated in the law for different crimes and infractions, which can range from a financial fine to incarceration, depending on the seriousness of the crime.

So that, Public security will depend on the effectiveness and coordination with which the security forces and the judicial system work.together with the political and social conditions of the country in question.

Public security should be a universal service, encompassing and reaching all people and their property. However, in the world, many States lack the capacity or organization to truly safeguard the public safety of their citizens, which results in situations of uncertainty, stress and instability that are detrimental to harmonious social coexistence.

Public and private security

Public security differs from private security in that, while the first is a service that the State is obliged to provide to guarantee conditions of coexistence of harmony and peace, with protection of the rights and assets of citizens, the second, On the other hand, it is provided by a company to a private individual (an individual, a company) with the aim of providing protection and protection to goods, infrastructure and people.

See also Private security.