NCJ Number
133643
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 19 Issue: 6 Dated: (1991) Pages: 537-547
Date Published
1991
Length
11 pages
Annotation
Using data describing the number of persons employed by policing agencies, this study retests previous research indicating that private policing has increased substantially in recent years, particularly in the area of private security. The authors present evidence to suggest that the growth of public controlling agencies has been as great or greater than that of controlling agencies in the private sector.
Abstract
The analysis indicates that it has been impossible to compare the growth rates of private versus public policing because of the difficulties in defining "policing" in a way to suit all circumstances. The use of force is too narrow a basis for defining the social control function of police; once the definition is extended beyond physical force, a wide variety of activities can be defined as policing. These findings also suggest that, contrary to previous beliefs that the use of personal violence by police is higher against certain classes of people, the actual behavior of policing may vary according to the class of people being policed. While poor people and minorities may be subject to physically intrusive policing, the middle classes may be subject to greater, but less visible, policing by the IRS and credit agencies. Future research should focus on the extent to which specialized policing agencies are being developed for specific social groups. 10 notes and 61 references