Legal Powers of Private Police and Security Providers (From Private Prisons and Police: Recent Australian Trends, P 259-280, 1994, Paul Moyle, ed. - See NCJ-160698)

• NCJ Number: 160709
• Author(s): R Sarre
• Date Published: 1994
• Length: 22 pages
• Sale Source: Pluto Press Austrialia Limited
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: Australia
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

This analysis of the legal powers of private police and private security providers notes that they obtain their legal power from the law of contract, the law of property, and industrial law and that their powers are limited in Australia and New Zealand.

Abstract

The special power of private police emanates from little more than a combination of their employers' powers and intimidation by appearance. The presence of security providers' badges and weapons is thus little more than a facade of legal power. It does not derive from any unique authority granted by statutory or common law to private security personnel. Instead, it rests on the perceptions of those at whom it is directed. Thus, unlike their public counterparts, private security providers experience no readily accessible mechanisms of accountability. Much confusion exists in the minds of those whose actions are monitored by private police on a daily basis. This confusion will persist while the distinction between public and private police remains blurred. 28 references and list of laws and regulating agencies