Turkey's parliament is considering changes to a law governing private security services — an idea that frightens some people and reassures others.

Private security has become one of the fastest growing sectors in Turkey. Newspapers are filled with thousands of notices from state institutions, municipalities, universities, private firms, malls and airports that offer security jobs. The state is the leading buyer of private security services, which procured nearly $1 billion worth between 2009 and 2015. Roughly $300 million of that amount was spent in 2015 alone.

There has been an incredible boom in the number of private security services in Turkey, from only 21 in 2004 to some 1,500 in 2015. Today, more than 300,000 armed or unarmed private security personnel are standing guard at malls, patrolling parks, providing crowd control at concerts and sports venues, and running airport security checks. According to Serdar Gokhan Arikan, the head of the board of the Private Security Services Association, the sector is expected to grow by 15% by the end of 2016, reaching 350,000 personnel.

According to a security company proprietor who did not want to be identified, in Istanbul alone there are nearly 500,000 people working to acquire private security competence certificates. In Turkey, anyone over the age of 18 with a primary school diploma can pay $400 for a weeklong training course to get the certificate, which can lead to a job that pays $500 a month and provides insurance. This is precisely why private security has become one of the most sought-after jobs, especially to young people who are unemployed or have low income or education.