Private-Sector Law Enforcement

by NCPA

Private-Sector Law Enforcement

Private security guards offer daily evidence of private-sector involvement in law enforcement, but they are only one element of a larger picture. Efforts to establish exclusive reliance on private policing in municipalities has faced obstacles, but many police functions that do not involve crimes or emergencies are being contracted out. Railroads have long employed private police forces. Industries more concerned with recovery of property than with arrests " which tend to be the focus of attention of the public police " use private investigators. And private crime prevention devices such as central alarm systems are big sellers.

Growth of the Private Sector.

Despite the prominence of government in law enforcement, private law enforcement plays an important role - one that appears to be growing. Private security guards - 1.5 million in 1990 - outnumber public law enforcement officers by nearly three to one.19 [See Figure III.] (9k) Businesses, communities and individuals spent $52 billion on private security in 1990, almost twice the amount collected in taxes for police expenses.20

At least 10 percent of U.S. homes are connected to central alarm systems - up from only 1 percent in the late 1970s.21

Central alarm systems have become a $3.3 billion annual industry, led by ADT, Honeywell and Borg-Warner?s Wells Fargo unit. And casual observation suggests that these systems are making a difference. Since burglary rates (unlike most felony crimes reported to the police) have declined over the last decade, alarm systems and other private measures appear to have deterred burglaries.

"Private security guards outnumber public law enforcement officers by nearly three to one."

Many police officers, of course " probably a majority, according to some surveys " also "moonlight" in security jobs. The ranks of private security firms are filled with former police officers. Police and private security managers often cooperate. In the New York City area, for example, they meet regularly in a police-sponsored group called APPL (Area Police/Private Security Liaison). APPL also arranges for training of private security supervisors at the Police Academy. After the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York in 1993, private security representatives were called in at the suggestion of Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly to trade information and help gather leads.22

The effectiveness of private security forces is on display every day in Las Vegas and Atlantic City casinos, where old ladies serenely stumble around with large sums of cash in rooms crowded with gamblers, some of whom are less than model citizens. These ladies would not be nearly as safe on the streets (patrolled by public police) of any major city, even if they carried little or no money.

"Because of private security forces, casinos are safe, even when the streets outside are not."

The security forces in casinos have the specific objectives of protecting money and protecting people carrying money in " and sometimes around " those casinos. They have a high success rate because they are able to concentrate on those objectives and those locations. Other businesses, industries and groups of homeowners have recognized this, which is one of the major reasons private security forces have grown so rapidly. They are able to supplement public law enforcement.

Contracting with the Private Sector for Crime Control. Although private policing is common in Switzerland, where more than 30 Swiss villages and townships contract for police services with a large European firm, Securitas,23 there has been little movement in the United States toward contracting out overall operation of a town or city police force to a private company. One of the very few instances of directly contracting for police services quickly ended - not because of poor performance but because of opposition from the Police Benevolent Association and the Fraternal Order of Police, two organizations of public police officers. In 1992, the four police officers of Sussex, N.J., (population 2,200) were dismissed after a drug scandal and the city replaced them with private police supplied by Executive Security & Investigative Services Inc., of Totowa, N.J., at considerable savings.24 However, state officials forced Sussex to discontinue the contract after only about two months as a result of protests by the public police organizations against private operation of a police force. Since that time, Sussex has had no police force at all, and now depends on the state police that patrol that part of the state from a nearby barracks as its only means of law enforcement.

Besides political pressures, private policing faces legal obstacles, including questions about their powers of arrest. The American Civil Liberties Union has raised questions about the accountability of all private security forces. Norman Siegel, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said, "I foresee private groups will be able to do things that public law enforcement can?t do constitutionally."25 However, private security firms are constrained by self-interest; those committing abuses are subject to market disciplines and civil litigation. In fact, legislation and custom effectively give public police an immunity from punishment for violation of citizen rights that private security personnel do not have.26

Contracting for Other Police Services.

"Generally speaking, police now spend less than 20 percent of their time on crime-related matters."

The real trend in the future is likely to be contracting out the functions of public police that do not involve crimes or emergencies. Generally speaking, police now spend less than 20 percent of their time on crime-related matters.27 In California, the rule of thumb is that a police officer costs $100,000 a year, taking into account salary, fringe benefits and overhead expenses like squad cars. Faced with rising calls for service, this is very expensive labor to use for transporting prisoners, court security, traffic control and serving summonses. Financially hard-pressed citymanagers and budget directors, like major companies and downtown merchants, are increasingly turning to less expensive private security firms to handle many support roles.

Wackenhut Services, Inc., a leading private investigation and security firm, transports prisoners in Maryland, provides security for courthouses in Texas and Florida, provides armed patrols for the Miami Downtown Development Authority and provides guards to ride the high speed trains of the Miami Metro Rail and the Tri-Rail from West Palm Beach to Dade County.28 The Chicago Housing Authority employs 400 private security guards under federal contract to police housing projects.29 Police departments in 18 states use, or plan to use, private security guards to fill support roles, according to the National Institute of Justice.30 Property owners in the commercial hubs of Philadelphia; Portland, Ore.; Baltimore, Md.; Tacoma, Wash.; Oceanside, Calif., and other cities have banded together to provide private security to supplement police protection.31 In New York City the public police respond to burglar alarms from banks and jewelry stores only, and other businesses must rely on private security companies.32

Perhaps the most extensive plan for contracting out by a big city police department was Kansas City?s 1989 proposal " never implemented " to have private security firms take over 22 police tasks, including assisting stranded motorists, recovering property not involved in crimes, taking walk-in reports, guarding crime scenes and the like.33

The department projected that contracting out these tasks could reduce its costs by 37 percent. The proposal stalled when Police Chief Larry Joiner left and political and bureaucratic opposition arose. But while the police department may not be contracting with private security firms, some 4,000 security guards are licensed to work in Kansas City, 1,400 of them armed, compared with 1,100 police officers.34

"The private sector spends almost twice as much on security as we pay in taxes to support the public police."

Case Study: Railroad Police.

Railroads have long employed private police forces. Between the end of World War I and 1929, railroad police averaged 60,000 arrests per year with a 97 percent conviction rate, a record unmatched by public police.35 In 1992 major U.S. railroads employed 2,565 police, who were fully commissioned law enforcement officers but privately employed. Table II suggests that the railroad police are more efficient than public police. The arrest clearance rate (percentage of reported crimes "cleared" by an arrest) is a time-honored index of police efficiency. The railroad police statistics show superiority in this category, with an overall clearance rate of 30.9 percent versus 21.4 percent for public police. The 30 percent clearance rate is better than the overall public police record, even in the low-crime era of the 1950s. The railroad police also do better than the public police in the percentage of stolen property value recovered, although railroad police officers average eight fewer arrests per year than do public police.

"Railroad police have an arrest clearance rate almost one-third higher than public police."

The comparison does not produce completely one-sided results, though. The clearance rate for felony crimes is superior for public police for murder and theft/larceny. And the railroad clearance rate is only two-thirds that reported by the public police if trespassing offenses are ignored. On the other hand, some railroad crimes are cleared by eventual arrest without knowledge or participation of railway police. More importantly, crime is seriously underreported: only 38 percent of crime is reported to the police,36 while an estimated 75 percent or more is reported to the railroad police. Reporting is high because railroads employ their own police to protect life and property. The overall clearance rate of the railroad police is nearly three times higher than that of the public police, once adjusted for the discrepancy in reporting (as shown in Line 7 of Table II). The railroads also experience remarkably few violent crimes each year; only 14 forcible rapes in 1992 versus 109,000 reported nationally, for example.37

Using Private Investigators.

One of the reasons railroads employ private police is that public police tend to be less interested in recovery of property than in arrests and convictions. As shown in Table II, in 1992 railroad police recovered 42.7 percent of the total value of stolen property, compared to 35.6 percent for public police. This is not surprising because the police are rewarded for arrests and convictions, not for recovery. Other industries have also long recognized this fact and have depended heavily on private investigators. For example, the American Banking Association and the American Hotel-Motel Association have retained the Wm. J. Burns International Detective Agency to investigate crimes "because the public police and investigative forces were too busy to devote the amount of effort required.&quo38

Using Reserve Law Enforcement Officers. 39 The number of public law enforcement officers is increased by more than one-third if the estimated 225,000 to 250,000 reserve police officers and deputy sheriffs across the United States are counted. (They are known in some departments as "auxiliaries" and in some as "specials.") There are an estimated 18,000 reserve officers in Ohio, the most of any state. The San Bernardino, Calif., sheriff?s department, with 1,091 reserve officers as of February 1994, has a larger contingent than any other department. Most reservists are required to receive the same training as regular law enforcement officers, wear a badge, carry a gun and take part in regular law enforcement operations when they are on duty. Reservists work when they choose to, but they are required to serve aminimum number of hours each month and to attend in-service training. They usually do not receive pay. Although there are exceptions, reservists generally are not considered employees of the police or sheriff?s departments. "There are as many as 250,000 reserve law enforcement officers in the United States." The level of reserve activity varies widely from city to city and county to county. No nationwide statistics are available, but the Center for Reserve Law Enforcement estimates that reserve law officers volunteer an average of 16 hours a month. In some counties where reserves are especially active, it is not unusual to have a majority of sheriff?s patrol units operated by two-person reserve teams on some nights.

Reservists represent a pool of trained law enforcement personnel for use in emergency situations. At these times, they serve much the same function that the National Guard and military Reserve units serve during times of war, other emergencies and natural disasters. Some police and sheriff?s departments try to hire regular replacements from the reserve forces because they already know the officer?s ability - and also because the officer already has much of the expensive training required.

An "us versus them" mentality pervades many public law enforcement agencies, with members of the force encouraged to look with suspicion on "civilians." One valuable contribution of reserve law enforcement is to break down this wall. The most important contribution made by reserve law enforcement is to encourage citizens to take more responsibility for their own safety and that of their families and neighborhoods and rely less on government to look out for their interests.