PERSONAL PROTECTION

Personal Protection

Personal Protection

We tend to think of policing as a public sector institution, but there are, in fact, more private security personnel than sworn police officers. This entry describes this other, more pervasive side of policing. It describes the forces that produced the growth in this industry and the effects on public safety. It concludes with a look to the future of privatization, with an identification of critical issues related to current trends and an examination of directions that have been identified as offering promise for improving service in both the public and private domains of policing (Cunningham William John 1991, 1991).

Privatization and Private Security

Privatization typically means the absence of government in the provision of protective services. Private citizens and institutions often buy services to protect life and property and to reduce fear, and they determine how these services will be allocated. This includes a myriad of self-help approaches to protecting private property and personal safety, including the following:

Hiring of security guards and private investigators

Installation of surveillance, lighting, locks, secure doors and windows, and alarm systems

Use of citizen foot patrols and block watches, and escort services for senior citizens and university women

Citizens-band radio automobile patrols and radio-alert networks for taxis, busses, and commercial vehicles

Carrying of concealed weapons by private citizens

Privatization occurs within the government, too, as when federal, state, or local governments contract with private sources for specific services. The federal government is, in fact, the largest employer of private security guards. Examples of the activities for which private agents are hired by governments can include the following:

Security of government buildings

Court security

Prisoner custody

Computer and communications system maintenance

Training

Laboratory services

Radio dispatching

Video surveillance

Traffic and parking control

Private security, as opposed to public law enforcement, focuses more on crime prevention than response, typically including the work of security guards; corporate security and loss prevention personnel; alarm and surveillance specialists; private investigators; armored vehicle personnel; manufacturers of security equipment; locksmiths; security consultants and engineers; and people involved in a variety of related roles, from private forensic laboratory scientists to guard dog trainers and drug-testing specialists (Benson, 1998).

Trends in Privatization

The shift toward privatization that occurred toward the end of the 20th century was both sudden and sharp, especially when viewed over the almost 200 years since the creation of the first metropolitan police department in London. Table below displays more precisely the dimensions of the shift, in terms of the ratios of private security industry personnel to sworn officers over the period 1965 to 1995.

The number of people employed in private security jobs began to surpass the number in sworn officer positions in the 1960s, and this numerical advantage has continued to grow in the years since. There were about 2 million members of private security organizations in 1990; the Bureau of Justice Statistics estimates fewer than one third as many police officers for the same year, some 600,000. By the mid-1990s, Sears employed 6,000 security guards, more than the total number of sworn officers in the Los Angeles Police ...