Pros and Cons of Hiring Police officers

Pros and cons of hiring police officers

to engage in private security work

Abstract

Hiring police officers to perform private security work has positive aspects and potential pitfalls. Business owners vary in their opinion on hiring police officers. Liability and cost are reasons some prefer to hire private security guards or take other security measures. Other business owners prefer the training, professionalism, deterrence, and authority that come with hiring a police officer. Due to lawsuits involving off-duty police officers, the Courts have had to develop tests to determine when a moonlighting police officer is working under the authority of the private company or in the role of a peace officer. Issues have arisen about the difference in police mentality and retail service. Some argue that police officers are not trained in the motto that the 'customer is always right'. Others believe additional training can bridge the gap. Hiring off-duty police officers is big business and a growing field that benefits the community and the officer.

Pros and cons of hiring police officers

to engage in private security work

The employment of off-duty officers in private security is a big business. An estimated 150,000 law enforcement officers engage in private security work on off-duty hours, and their combined income reaches $1.8 billion annually. The combined revenue of secondary police officer employment exceeds that of the combined top four security companies in 1988 (Trimble 1993). There are many positive aspects of the program that benefit the community and the officer. But to some the positives aspects do not outweigh the negative consequences of hiring police officers. In this paper, I will discuss the positive and negative aspects of hiring police officers for private security details, as well as, my personal experience, case law, and the polices of different police departments.

HIRING OFF-DUTY POLICE OFFICERS

Why would a company want to pay for a police officer to work a security detail at their store or facility? Police officers generally cost more to hire than a traditional security guard. What are the advantages that justify the cost? First, let's define what is an off-duty police officer? Police are traditionally thought to be on-duty 24 hours a day. When officers are not actually working at the department, their law enforcement authority is in a type of reserve status. It is not necessary for an officer to be working the streets to invoke his police powers. Business and officers have taken advantage of this reserved status by hiring police for personal protection for their property and the latter to supplement their income. I have known business to hire officers to control crowds at a bar or large events, provide plain clothes surveillance or uniform presence in a shopping mall, escort a manager around to his different stores to make cash pickups, and provide a presence and deterrence against theft and robbery.

For example, Hispanic grocery stores, particularly those that do checking cashing, carry lots of cash. Nearly all Hispanics at the store I worked off-duty at paid for purchases in cash. Before the owner hired police officers, a gang of armed men robbed his store and several other Hispanic stores with in a months time. They made off with an average about $20,000 from each robbery. The night of the robbery, during the course of the initial investigation, the owner inquired about hiring a police officer at night to provide security. The average rate at that time was $20 per hour. He wanted an officer from 6:00pm until he locked the store around 10:30pm. This security detail would be one officer in uniform seven days a week. The annual cost of the security detail would be $33,600. If having a police officer on site prevents two robberies a year, at $20,000 apiece, then the detail pays for itself. But how can you determine the effectiveness of the program? Well, at one point after the armed gang was caught, the owner thought about cutting back the detail to four days a week in order to save money. I advised him that would not be wise because of the following reasons. First, numerous other robberies of Hispanic stores had occurred despite the gang's capture. All the stores that were hit did not have a police officer on site. Second, robbers will case the store and once they determined that an officer is not working that night they will be clear to come in and rob the store. He agreed that risk of being robbed on the days were officers were not on site was high enough to warrant continuing the detail seven days a week. Its is part of the officer's role to advise the employer of security concerns and measures that he should be aware of. Something a security guard with limited training and experience might not be able to provide.

POLICE OFFICER VERUS SECURITY GUARD

I have already touched on some of the advantages of hiring police officers; here I will discuss these aspects in more detail. One big advantage police officers have over security guards is the power of arrest. The ability to take away someone's freedom and rights is a serious and powerful instrument. Not even the President of the United States has the power to directly take away someone's rights and freedom by arrest. A police officer can take immediate action in the event of a situation. A security guard has a very limited scope of authority and in the event of a criminal action will need the assistance and authority of the police. I think the power of arrest is not the most significant advantage of hiring police officers. It's the power of presence and persuasion.

A police officer in uniform will demand more respect from the general public than that of a security guard. A police officer standing at the door of a store or outside a club puts the patrons and criminals on notice that the law and government authority is close at hand. It is impossible to quantify the number of crimes that do not occur because a police officer is present at a particular location, but there are a number of example that support the notion.

In St. Petersburg, Fl. A shopping mall hired a guard service to have to security guards patrol the shopping center at a rate of $7.15 an hour. Robberies and shoplifting occurred regularly at the shopping center. The storeowners decided to contribute to a special fun to hire off-duty police officers to patrol