Private and Public Security

Private and Public Police

CJS 250
7/27/14
Private and Public Police
To begin, I will state that public security and private security need each other to survive in their fields. Unfortunately, public security or state police officers, don’t usually have enough personnel nor can they be everywhere all over town. There just isn’t enough man power. Public safety gets paid by taxpayers to patrol their neighborhoods, schools, large banks, airports etc. They don’t have the time or people to just hang around certain neighborhoods all day and night or small businesses. This is where they benefit from public security and their unique responsibilities.
Like everything, sometimes these relationships are like a marriage. Some work and some don’t, I guess it depends on demographic and education. I know in Miami, Fl where my husband served a couple of years as a private security officer they got a lot of support when they needed to make an arrest (depending on the neighborhood or gig) but when it came to having the police patrol areas that were hot in between shifts, they were virtually nowhere to be seen. This left them with a lot of work load and relying on their training and personal strategies on how to deal with the day’s work. My husband said the officers who used to patrol the areas he was in would tell him to rely on his weapon because the cops were jerks and sometimes took too long to show up to a scene. My husband is a social butterfly. He loves to talk to people and make them laugh and become your friend. I’d say he could be an excellent Disney officer! With this being said, he made it his mission to befriend the counties cops and work with them. In less than 3 months, he was friendly with two cops and had personal contact exchanged. He brought them food whenever he got a chance and looked out when he left his shifts and made sure all was good on his drive back home, grocery store, school etc. They became a mini team and my husband felt very supported by the local public officers. I felt comfort knowing they were a team and my husband had backup out in the real world.
My husband’s security firm was very small and unorganized but they had very solid clients. Some of these clients included medical agencies, high end condominiums, high end bars in downtown, and other good paying residential areas. They had contacts with these kind of places. My mom asked him once why such wealthy condos hired them instead of relying on local police. These were after all, higher tax paying individuals’ right? If you know Miami, you know that all homes that were worth millions of dollars in neighborhoods like Cutler Bay don’t want to live in Caribbean Blvd near the Turnpike. Every ritzy neighborhood whether residential or commercial, had a low class poor neighborhood or high crime neighborhood border lining it. This is where they come in. Some of these areas police department had this annoying habit of not coming to the crime scene immediately even if you did live in the Vizcaya neighborhood. This is where private security is compensated and supported by the communities and public officers.
My husband guarded a hospital branch and condominium from 7pm to 5am 4 days a week. Cops were not always available to come and make a report about a parking lot light that was out, a missing sign, a loud teenager at the pool, a dog whose owner keeps letting them relieve themselves right in front of some front doors. I am sure that my husband being there responding to these tedious little things that may seem insignificant but are actually relieving a burden off the officers. On the other hand, state and local police were tending to the streets, following up on emergencies and minor incidents, traffic violations, domestic calls etc. They relief their workload and works in their favor to have private officers taking care of other issues within the same community/city. Some people are scared and think that privatizing security is like authorizing vigilantism, I actually recently read that somewhere online. This cannot be proven anywhere in the US.
In order to secure our neighborhoods, we must be willing to pay. I mean actually pay out of our pockets. If you are not willing to pay, don’t complain about the pudgy grandpa that is napping at 3am instead of securing your investment. You get what you give and it can be a perfect harmony in between public and private agencies especially if they’re willing to train together and work together as a united force called for different area codes.