Civil Liability and Private Police - Essay Example

The concept of having a police force is based on the concept of prevention of crime, because at the end of the day prevention is better than cure or punishment. The role and duties of the police forces across the globe are somewhat all the same, however, their authority and power to implement and prevent crimes is variable. For instance some countries like Iceland, New Zealand and Norway do not allow the police sergeants or other personnel to carry fire arms. Policing was essentially a matter administered by the governments or the states, and therefore the police forces were known as public police, because police was paid from the taxes submitted by the taxpayers (Pastor, 2003, pp. 6-7). Policing is apparently the duty of public police that is under the control of the state; however, there are other bodies that can also contribute towards maintenance of law and order, protecting private property, and safeguarding individuals.

This kind of police force is controlled or owned by non-governmental entities, which find themselves under threat or feel insecure for their property. Over the last few decades, there has been an enormous shift in the employment of private police. Currently, the number of private security official exceeds the number of persons present in the federal police force. There are several factors that have contributed towards this transformation (Sklansky, 1998, p. 1170). The increasing rate of crime, threat of terrorism, corruption in the public sector, and the increase in the private property are the main reasons for the rapid expansion of private police in the United States of America after 9/11 (Enion, 2009, p. 521). The ever increasing crime rate in America and other parts of the world indicate the inefficiency of the public sector in providing security to the people.

Moreover, public police is perhaps regarded as one of the most corrupted department under the executive command. Despite, being the first line