I have never heard of such a thing: https://www.yahoo.com/news/chief-private-raleigh-police-agency-225003182.html
I've heard of this. I know South Carolina has a system in place for private police agencies. You can just go and start one and operate it like a security company but with full police powers (while on the property you are hired to protect). I believe Maryland also has private police as evidenced by the fact that I received a traffic ticket from a mall cop after rolling through a stop sign while trying to escape the gravitational pull of a mall. Only in America.
There are plenty of private corporations with police departments. Many states allow private colleges and universities to maintain police departments. Major freight railroads such as CSX, BNSF, Norfolk Southern, etc. maintain police departments. FedEx has a police department that participates with the Memphis JTTF. Target even runs a forensics laboratory that provides services to law enforcement agencies free of charge.
Texas allows private universities to have police departments. All licensed police officers in Texas have primary jurisdiction throughout the counties in which their department owns property. Other than universities and some cattle association, all police officers in Texas are commissioned by government organizations. I think there might be an exception for railroad agencies that work with some kind of association. I've heard of states that allow private companies to have their own police departments. I think that's fine as long as they only have jurisdiction on their properties. I have a problem when the government contracts with private correctional agencies. Georgia has flirted with the idea of privatizing probation and parole. The reason why research shows that private corrections companies perform just as well as the government for less money is that these companies mostly have low security facilities. I've seen firsthand how poorly trained private corrections officers are and how basic the background check is. When I applied at county jails, I had a full background investigation to include a home visit and credit check, physical agility test, and psychological test. Most private corrections companies just do a basic criminal history check. Their employees work with them for $9-12 an hour rather than get much better pay and benefits with the government because they would never make it through the hiring process. Most county jails in Texas have easy physical agility tests.
Sounds like this might be a one man police "agency" Chief of private Raleigh police agency indicted on 13 felony counts | abc11.com
San Francisco has long had a fairly unique thing, its 'Patrol Specials'. What happens is the business owners in an area will pool together to hire a private police officer to patrol the area around their businesses. The Specials date back to 1847, before the gold rush and before the conventional SF Police Department was founded in 1851. These special officers are paid by the businesses, aren't members of the SFPD or part of its command structure, but are under the oversight of the SF Police Commission that also oversees the regular police. The Patrol Specials have uniforms almost identical to the SFPD. Not that long ago (the 1990's) they were sworn law enforcement officers with the power to make arrests and there were hundreds of them. Today, due to opposition by the police unions and the left-activists who basically run SF these days, they are no longer considered peace officers and there are only a handful of them. Rank-and-file police tend to like them though, and local residents where they work like the fact that they get to know everyone as they walk beats rather than drive by in cars, and think that they have a deterrent effect on petty crime simply by their presence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Patrol_Special_Police
The concept of "private police" isn't new by any stretch, they've been around since the days of the Wild West when railroad corporations employed "special agents", which evolved into full-service police departments, such as the Amtrak Police and CSX Police (the title of CSX Police personnel is still "special agent", even in uniform). Also, private colleges & universities have long had independent police departments, ranging from glorified security to full-service agencies. The common theme among these private agencies is that they have to derive their law enforcement authority from the government, either local, county, or state. Here in Massachusetts, most private schools get their primary authority from Mass General Law; https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleII/Chapter22C/Section63 The language of the law and case law has restricted this authority to "in and around" the property of the school, which essentially means that if the campus officers can see a crime from their property, they have jurisdiction to make an arrest. Also, many private schools in Boston have their officers commissioned as deputy sheriffs of Suffolk County, which gives them extensive (but not comprehensive) police authority throughout the city. One interesting thing, at least in this state, is that private police agencies aren't covered under the state public records law, which means they don't have to release police reports upon request. The Harvard Crimson sued the Harvard University Police Department to release records, which went to the Supreme Judicial Court (state supreme court), with the court finding for Harvard University. Lawmakers Revive Battle Over Police Records | News | The Harvard Crimson My opinion, for what it's worth (not much), is that private entities that receive the most awesome power of a government (arrest/deprivation of liberty) from the government, should be subject to the same transparency as the government.
I couldn't agree with you more. This issue has been playing out in Indiana as well. ESPN sought records relating to student-athletes from the Notre Dame Security Police Department. The local court ruled in favor of the university. Earlier this year the state Court of Appeals ruled the Security Police Department is a public agency when it exercises public functions, and ruled against the school. In the meantime, Notre Dame got a bill passed through the state legislature to exempt police at private schools from public record disclosure requirements. Fortunately, the governor vetoed the bill.
I see that as a real problem. As I said, I believe that the power to deprive citizens of their liberty should come solely through the government, but I also realize that it's not only practical, but necessary for private universities to provide police services on their campuses. The Boston Police would be overwhelmed if they also had primary responsibility for Boston University, Northeastern University, Harvard Medical School, Emerson College, Simmons College, etc. The campus police take care of everything except very serious incidents (homicides, rapes), leaving city police with the time & resources to police the rest of the city. However, with that power comes responsibility. If you want your private police force to be able to make arrests, that should come with complete transparency, and all records, reports, etc., should be subject to public records laws.
