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Due Process Versus Crime Control

In our democratic society both public policing and private security are very important entities. Both entities seem very alike from the outside looking in but their roles and responsibilities are very distinguished. Public policing can be defined as, “The arrangements made in all civilized countries to ensure that the inhabitants keep the peace and obey the law” (Schmalleger, 1995). The primary objective is prevention of crime. Most of their work could be considered a peacekeeping operation. On the other hand, private security differs from public police in numerous ways. If not closely observed, people in the community can easily mistake them for peace officers. According to the book Criminal Justice Today, “Private security constitutes a fourth level of enforcement activity in the United States today” (Schmalleger, 1995). Personally I see private security as a partnership to public policing. They handle the public services that public placing doesn’t have the time, manpower, or desire to do. Private security has been defined as, “Those self-employed individuals and privately funded business entities and organizations providing security-related services to specific clientele for a fee, for the individual or entity that retains or employs them or for themselves, in order to protect their persons, private property, or interests from various hazards” (Schmalleger, 1995).
Furthermore, the histories of public policing and private security can be traced back hundreds of years. Public policing really wasn’t an organized professional establishment until Sir Robert Peel’s 1829 Metropolitan Police Act was passed. Peel’s police became the model for modern-day police forces throughout the western world. The organization of American law enforcement which includes public policing can probably be considered the most complex in the world. “In America, there are three major legislative and judicial jurisdictions that exist today. The federal, state, and local levels have all...