NCJ Number
126212
Date Published
1989
Length
115 pages
Annotation
The growth of the private security industry is associated with increased police powers of private security employees, specialized services, and decreased public services provided by traditional law enforcement.
Abstract
Government-sponsored research has been conducted to analyze the relation between private security and law enforcement, but public law enforcement has not established policies on interaction with the private security industry. This is particularly true of tactical situations, investigations, and training. Futures research methods are used to evaluate trends and potential events concerning the privatization of law enforcement services in Sacramento, California, by 1999. Three trends justifying future policy considerations include the level of police powers for private security, specialization in private security as a community grows, and service levels of public law enforcement agencies. Events having the greatest impact on the preceding trends involve legislation granting greater police powers to private security, legislation requiring more training for private security, and higher standards for private security. Several techniques are applied to determine weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and strengths of a particular law enforcement agency to develop a mission statement for the interaction between law enforcement and private security. Planning and management issues associated with improving the relation between law enforcement and private security are discussed. Appendixes provide additional information on the study methodology. 51 references, 5 tables, and 16 illustrations