case study: coess

CoESS was founded in 1989 by a joint initiative of several national associations of private security companies belonging to EU Member States. From its start, CoESS has been the umbrella organisation for national private security associations in the EU. It represents an industry that in 2003 employed over 1 million people.

Interesting about the CoESS site, is that it offers the general public an online library that deals specifically with private security. This library contains hundreds of documents. Among those, one finds, e.g., excel sheets in 12 languages that assist one in defining the relevant factors when choosing a private security solution, and subsequently evaluates the different offers one received, using several weighed criteria.

Advanced queries, using different search keys, can be performed. Items can be found by author, by themes of predefined key words, by date, etc.

The intranet section contains a similar library. This library, however, mainly consists of working documents of the eight Working Committees, that each have their own field of expertise: Guarding, Transport of Valuables, Electronic Surveillance, Airport Security,
Social Dialogue, Enlargement, Professional Training, and Maritime Security.

The CoESS web site can be found at http://www.coess.org.