Essay on Relationship Between Public and Private Police

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Relationship between Private and Public Police

The relationship between public and private police has always been a one that is on the outskirts of each other. There is a thin line between what a private officer can and cannot do when it comes to enforcing the laws and rules on a property, there comes a point where they need the assistance of public officers who have the training and legal authority to handle a certain individual or situation. Although many of the individuals in the private sector have the same training as any public officer they cannot help in the situation because local laws set in place limit their authority. Although many states are starting to incorporate the private sector of security with the public side of it,
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With public officers dwindling in some areas and the lack of security many people are turning to private security to help them keep their important items safe. The Marx (1987) website provide an example of the company IBM’s private security working with the FBI when trying to uncover information about stolen documents, the two claimed that the partnership between each bureau was great and lead to a successful outcome, but the defense attorney for IBM claimed that their security was in control of the situation and when it came to the defense asking the government for evidence to help support its lawsuit case against the companies that stole information they refused to corporate. This can be seen as a good example of what the “behind the scenes” of some of these investigations look like when the combination of both of these security organizations are combined, there is the possibility some backlash.
The equality I feel between the two needs to be established, I still think of private security personally as rent-a-cops and many people in society see them in this view as well. Although the field of private security is changing drastically and training is becoming more advanced than just a flashlight, there still needs to be efforts on both sides to give the respect these private officers deserve. There should also be more legal authority given to these officers when it comes to apprehending and making a case against those who are breaking the law on the private