Private Security

Directions

1. Initial Post: Post one major response to each discussion board by Wednesday 11:59 pm CT. Initial post must be at least 150 words.
2. Response Posts: Respond to two colleagues on at least 2 different days by Sunday 11:59 pm CT. Respond to ideas and submission of your classmates.

Key Points

Federalism components to include division of power between central body and constituents; leftover powers left to the states; cooperative fluctuations between state/federal bodies. Discussion on policing should reflect on who the federal division of power impacts decisions that affect policing at local levels.

Objective: Explain how the U.S. government’s features of democracy and federalism impact policing.

The U.S. government is based on the concept of federalism. What that means is that each level is independent from the other in many aspects. It is often believed that there is a superior-subordinate relationship between lower and higher levels of government but that is incorrect. In terms of law enforcement it is necessary to develop relationships between and among the many agencies and levels of government in the delivery or law enforcement services. There are often discussions and debates in policing in terms of jurisdictional issues and boundaries. The alphabet agencies have a specific mission and the training is narrowly focused on whatever that mission happens to be (FBI, DEA, CBP, ICE). State and local agencies have the entire panoply of responsibilities and, while highly skilled, may not to the degree of federal agencies. To that end different level of expertise focused on a particular issue may present some ego issues. Attempting to develop some kind of relationship between and among agencies with different missions and charters may be problematic. In that regard identify a problem that may be occurring and explain your approach to solving it.

This Unit’s Question

Chapter 2 – Discuss the importance of the role of Federalism in modern policing.

Unit 2: Discussion 2

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Directions

1. Initial Post: Post one major response to each discussion board by Wednesday 11:59 pm CT. Initial post must be at least 150 words.
2. Response Posts: Respond to two colleagues on at least 2 different days by Sunday 11:59 pm CT. Respond to ideas and submission of your classmates.

Use APA formatting to reference sources. If there are questions about how to format according to APA you should access: Library Resource: Citing and Writing.

See Assignments and Grading for the guidelines for Unit Discussions.

Key Points

Should highlight the main points of private policing and provide arguments for or against their use.

Objective: Summarize the trends and issues associated with private policing.

In the American system there are generally two approaches to the delivery of protective services and they are private and public. The former is based on a commercial relationship between a business that delivers some service and customer who is willing to pay for that service. The private sector does not deliver the same kind or level of service as the public police. In addition since private officers are not representatives of the government there are no constraints by any aspects of the constitution such as Miranda warnings, searches and seizures, as the public agencies. However, if a citizen is ill treated in some manner they do have civil recourse in that they can file a lawsuit against the private officer and/or business.
In current times there are significant budget constraints on public police. That being said please offer your informed opinion on this question.

This Unit’s Question

One of the fastest growing industries is private security which has a very different role from public policing. In your opinion what is the most significant difference between public policing and private security? Since they both have a security element to their mission what should be done to get them to work more closely together?