Crime Prevention and Private Policing - Essay Example

? Pros and Cons of Private Policing Whether traditional policing is effective or not in preventing the crime rate to surge in an upward spiral, private policing has become a proof that many private sectors or organizations are adhering to the ability of policing to protect their assets, properties and the legitimate flow of their business. For this reason, it is important to consider some of the remarkable advantages or disadvantages involved in private policing. Private policing has a remarkable reputation concerning the level of its focus given to the private sectors. Private police focus on asset and property protection, which is a definite advantage for individuals owning private and legitimate businesses. This therefore means that private police are to create any preventive means so as not to distract the legitimate flow of the business, which in most cases the distraction of the flow will be due to the presence of crime. In the presence of more focus private police on protecting assets and property, there is a guarantee to establish a normal flow or condition of the business. Furthermore, with the inclusion of private policing in a private organization, the implementation of justice within this bound is straightforward such as firing an anomalous employee who committed crime against the prevailing policies or established law of the company. However, private policing creates an image for the criminal justice system as for-profit venture. Furthermore, as a nongovernmental action, it is not bound by the same legal requirements as public policing. These concerns are discussed in this paper. Introduction Traditional policing has long been a controversy regarding its ability to decrease the level of crime rate. It is for this reason that adding more number of police on duty has become a significant decision as it is integrated with the idea that doing so will help reduce the crime rate. However, as far as the underlying truth about it is concerned, there are many research studies that try to investigate whether adding more police officers on duty will help alleviate or discourage the presence of crime. The available literature revealed that there is no significant evidence to support the assumption or claim that if there is addition of number of police personnel on duty, crime rate will decrease (Worrall, 2008). However, even if there is no associated truth behind the above traditional claim regarding policing, people are still able to rely on private policing to ensure safety, protection and to ward off any incident linked to the formulation of crime (Plant & Scott, 2009). This for instance is common to happen in private companies trying to maximize its level of control for the safety of their operations. It is for this reason that the work at hand tries to investigate the relevant advantages and disadvantages of private policing. Advantages of Private Policing One significant advantage of private policing is the inclusion of the level of focus that private police place in their actual responsibility. The level of focus is important because it may signify the intensity of control that private police may employ in the actual control or prevention of the crime. It is therefore highly observed that private policing personnel focus on loss control and prevention at a great level (Worrall, 2008; Byrne & Marx, 2011). They have no other concern but to focus on asset and property protection. For this reason, there are many private establishments that try to employ private policing for this concern as it is highly advantageous on their part considering the point that the level of focus placed in control and prevention of crime is involved. This promotes the idea that as far as mass private property is concerned, private sector for policing may well performed compared to the public sector in policing based on the level of focus they can give in actual prevention and control. Considering the point that private policing is so concerned on asset and property protection, they will therefore look for preventive means so as not to distract the relevant flow of the operation. In fact, private policing personnel are looking forward to create preventive means in order not to create any barrier against legitimate business activities (Worrall, 2008). This means that private policing could be a productive means to support the protection of mass private property. As pointed out, private sector of policing can do better than the public sector policing in this aspect (Worrall, 2008). On the other hand, private policing employs private justice rather than public justice, which is less costly because in the first place, it would be easy for an organization to fire an anomalous employee depending on the degree or level of in fracture committed against the company. Private organizations have important roles, policies, and standard operating procedures to follow that at some point are supported by the government that they will employ them with their own discretion. Private policing make it relevant for them especially in solving private or internal crimes by which a personnel or employee is involved. For this reason, the presence of private policing makes it easy to prevent or control the existence of anomalous activities linked to crime in the private organization. After all, private police’s concern is not the public space but the private property (Worrall, 2008). Disadvantages of Private Policing One important disadvantage linked to private policing is found in one of its significant drawbacks. In the first place, private policing is a significant component of the privatization of the justice system, which creates an image of criminal justice for-profit venture. This should not be the case considering the point that the justice system is free for everyone as it is a right and not a privilege. Considering the point that there are individuals who can afford to pay for private policing for-profit venture, the justice system in this case creates an image for itself that it has momentarily become commercialized, and at some point turn into a privilege rather than a right. On the other hand, private police as part of nongovernmental action are not bound by the same legal requirements as public police (Worrall, 2008). This means that they still lack the ability to completely perform the way public police do. This has potential implication particularly in solving the crime or their level of authority and the coverage involved in initiating control and prevention. Private police are just focus on protecting private asset and property and anything related to activities that could hinder the legitimate flow of the business. For this reason, there is a linked drawback how public police could substantially protect the public knowing the point that their service are paid just to protect only the interest of a single individual or the organization. This function is what clearly established why they only have limited legal requirements compared to what public police enjoy. Conclusion The work at hand just presents the advantages and disadvantages linked to private policing compared to the traditional policing which is bound by a broad legal requirements. Due to this legal requirements not substantially present for private policing, it turns out that this activity ended up for solely protecting private mass property, asset, individual and organization. For this matter, private policing is advantageous to an individual who can afford to pay for a justice system for-profit venture. However, this concern is what gives private policing a remarkable reputation that at some point will stand against its name. References Byrne, J., & Marx, G. (2011). Technological Innovations in Crime Prevention and Policing. A Review of the Research on Implementation and Impact. Retrieved from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/238011.pdf Plant, J. B., & Scott, M. S. (2009). Effective Policing and Crime Prevention. Retrieved from http://www.popcenter.org/library/reading/pdfs/MayorsGuide.pdf Worrall, J. L. (2008). Crime Control in America: What Works? (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education. Read More