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Based on data collated in the Argentinian case, this article analyses private security and the pluralization of policing, a phenomenon largely studied by criminology, but researched here from the point of view of the sociology of public action. We analyse how the commercial logic of the private security market has been shaped and integrated into the public action of the security sector. In this instance, private security policy sparked controversies that lead to the removal of normative obstacles to its official recognition, thus allowing for its incorporation into the public security system. It also entailed the interlocking of public and private regulations that shape the content and contours of private security. Finally, private security has also contributed to a pluralization of the security provision regimes.