Country Guards and surveillance of rural public roads ¿public or private security?

Abstract

This paper analyzes the figure of country guards in the surveillance of rural public roads. To this end, it studies the competencies in security, both public and private, with areas of certainty and uncertainty. Likewise, the evolution of the concept of country guard is examined, from its original nineteenth-century conception to the present. Particular reference will be made to the concept of rural public road, understanding as such those whose conservation and surveillance correspond to the municipalities. It ends by addressing whether the surveillance of those can or should be carried out by public or private security services, with a final consideration regarding the literal interpretation of private security legislation.