County Chief Executive Officer Jan Mittermeier wants to study the possibility of using a private company rather than the marshal's office to install and operate an airport-style security system for the Central Courthouse in Santa Ana. The Board of Supervisors will take up her request at its meeting today. Court officials have long pushed for the security system, which they said is needed to detect weapons brought into the courthouse.

Private guards may soon patrol Hollywood Boulevard and citizen watch groups will work more closely with police as part of a plan to beef up security, officials said Thursday. The Community Redevelopment Agency board approved a $1-million program which, if the City Council approves, would also provide social service agencies with extra funding.

Private security contractors have been involved in scores of shootings in Iraq, but none have been prosecuted despite findings in at least one fatal case that the men had not followed proper procedures, according to interviews and documents obtained by The Times. Instead, security contractors suspected of reckless behavior are sent home, sometimes with the knowledge of U.S. officials, raising questions about accountability and stirring fierce resentment among Iraqis.

Some communities, especially apartment and condominium complexes, hire private security firms to patrol or stand watch over gated entries. Typically, the firm will provide unarmed guards who serve as extra eyes and ears. They call in police when they see trouble and rarely arrest criminals.

The private security industry's giant, Pinkerton's Inc., said Thursday that it has acquired Bonafide Security Service Inc., a regional firm based in Santa Ana. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Bonafide, which provides uniformed security officers, patrols and alarm-response services primarily to commercial clients and gated communities in Orange County, had estimated 1998 revenue of nearly $4 million.

To combat an explosion in graffiti throughout the city, Councilman Frank Feldhaus wants to hire a private security firm to patrol the streets looking for vandals. Feldhaus made the suggestion during Tuesday's City Council meeting, saying he would like the city to hire a firm for three months as an experiment to see if it can slow the 30% increase in graffiti that has been reported this year. "We know the spots that are getting hit with graffiti," Feldhaus said. "We could stake out those areas."

Frustrated by the unrelenting violence that grips Colombia, the government is planning to legalize private security groups in the countryside as a way for rural citizens to protect themselves. But the proposal has outraged human rights experts, who fear the private groups will turn into paramilitary death squads like those that have been responsible for much of the violence.

Culminating a months-long battle between Van Nuys neighbors and motel owners, four motels on crime-plagued Sepulveda Boulevard this week pooled their resources and hired private security, a move intended to comply with city orders to curb prostitution in the area. The motel owners, who for months said hiring security would cause them financial hardship, will pay less than $10,000 a month for the service.

Concerned about break-ins and street robberies, Orthodox Jews in the Fairfax District have organized to bring in a private security agency to supplement the police force and a volunteer neighborhood patrol. "I think we don't have a severe problem of crime in the neighborhood, but there is a perception," said Rabbi Chaim Schnur. "In a close-knit community, where there are incidents everybody hears about it and gets nervous."