The UK private security industry employs half a million people in a range of roles, including supervising public events, guarding cash in transport, and assisting police in surveillance work. Some government officials are pushing for the legal regulation of such work to be moved out of government agency control and placed in the hands of the private security companies themselves. According to these officials, self-regulation is justified on economic grounds and because of the sector's 'willingness to … be more accountable for its own actions'. The foolishness of this argument is breathtaking. The power entrusted to these workers over valuable property – not to mention the safety of people – means that there's a fundamental need for monitoring and oversight of standards of conduct by an impartial, trustworthy source.