Security Industry Is Booming

NEW YORK - It can range from a simple sign-in sheet in the lobby of a crowded office building to a full-blown protective detail complete with submachine guns and $1,000-a-day bodyguards.

Corporate security is big business.

The kidnap and rescue of New York tuxedo executive Harvey Weinstein highlights the risks run today by businesspeople, who can find themselves targeted because of their high profiles and perceived wealth.

Kidnappings have become more common in recent years. In 1992, kidnappings reported to the FBI rose 22 percent from the year before.

Fear of such events, as well as concerns about growing lawlessness in the United States and abroad, is prompting Corporate America to shell out increasingly large sums for protection.

While other industries in the sluggish economy are suffering, companies that provide security gear and services are prospering, with estimated annual growth of about 8 percent.

"Corporations and others are looking to their own resources," says Edward Grubb, managing director, with North America of Control Risks Group Ltd., a London-based security consulting firm.

Control Risks, founded by former officers of the British Army's elite Special Air Service, provides services including security awareness training for executives and the development of security procedures for client companies. It has even helped negotiate for the release of kidnap victims.

With all that, it's just a small part of a much larger industry.

Security companies in the United States alone will sell an estimated $65 billion in goods and services in 1993, says William Cunningham, president of Hallcrest Systems Inc., a McLean, Va.-based research and consulting firm.

"It's a pervasive, penetrating, occupational area," he says. "Every home in America has some kind of security."