Meet G4S, the Contractors Who Go Where Governments and Armies Can’t—or Won’t

[AdamG]

In the April issue of Vanity Fair, William Langewiesche embeds with warrior/investigators from G4S, the world’s third-largest private-sector employer—men and women overseas who are keeping you safe, even if you don’t know it. In this excerpt from his profile of G4S, Langewiesche watches as contractors from the security behemoth clean up after an explosion in a crowded souk in South Sudan—and learns that even small victories, in the face of horror, can be cause for encouragement.

http://www.vanityfair.com/business/2014/04/g4s-global-security-company

[davidbfpo]

G4S is a global private company and in the UK at least has come in for extensive criticism - at the corporate level and individual employee(s). I do not refer to the debacle over the London Olympics.

Here are links to UK reports in the last week or so as an illustration.


Yesterday the Crown Prosecution Service said three former G4S guards, Stuart Tribelnig, Terry Hughes and Colin Kaler, would stand trial for the manslaughter of Jimmy Mubenga on a BA plane in October 2010. Long before Mubenga's death, Lord Ramsbotham warned repeatedly that Home Office contractors used dangerous methods of restraint.

Link:http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/david-ramsbotham/why-mubenga-trial-matters-by-exchief-inspector-of-prisons-lord-ramsbotha?utm_source=OurKingdom+Weekly&utm_campaign=2f2e2121eb-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_cb5cf7dd0a-2f2e2121eb-407789593

The BBC report:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-26665039
In a statement G4S said the three men charged no longer worked for the company and it no longer had a contract escorting detainees from the UK.


Troubled security firm G4S has agreed to repay £108.9m plus tax to the UK government after overcharging on contracts to tag offenders.

The payment is higher than the £24m offered last year by G4S, which faces a fraud inquiry into the tagging scandal.

Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26541375