Armed Security: Police or Private Security Officers?
After every mass shooting tragedy many of the same responses and questions seem to come up, but the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut raised the debate substantially:
Who should be protecting different institutions, especially those where children or the public are at risk?
I will state as a matter of disclosure that as a Chief Security Officer at several organizations, I have used both off-duty police officers and armed private security and, as a former police officer myself, have personally served in both capacities.
But the Sandy Hook school incident – the gun debate aside – raised some serious questions regarding the role of police and the role of private security in protecting people, in both public and private locations.
Recently a shopping mall near me replaced their security officers with a single police officer who is on-duty, in uniform and drives a marked police car around mall property. He has a mall radio to respond to calls and the police department has established a sub-station inside the mall.
When I taught an “Introduction to Criminal Justice” college class, I outlined the history of police in the U.S. and contrasted it to the private security sector. I emphasized that the police were formed with the mission to respond to criminal activity, make arrests and bring criminals to justice.
In contrast, private security, which pre-dates most police agencies, protected persons and property (including the President of the United States) and guarded private and public facilities, among other duties that are now considered law enforcement responsibilities.
Having worked armed security as an on-duty police officer, off-duty police officer, and private security officer, I would like to list some key points and questions in this matter:
Are police the better alternative for armed security?
Should police be hired (or assigned) to protect private property?
As a general rule, police have much more training in weapons, tactics and procedures – does this translate to typical security duties?
Police are perceived as being more competent than private security personnel; can this public perception be changed?
Is the use of police officers preferred because of the lack of training of security personnel?
The legality of police working off-duty as private security personnel has been at question for some time and the basis for lawsuits – laws vary greatly from state-to-state.
