Private security and community policing: Evaluation and comment

Abstract

This article examines the crime prevention effectiveness of a private police department. The setting was a community with a low crime rate located within a high crime area. The research assumption was that the difference between the safety and security of this community and that of the area in which it is located is attributable to the private police department employed by the community. The analysis found that private policing can be an effective crime prevention factor. But the effectiveness of the private policing effort is a function of the department's highly visible, proactive, community-oriented, crime preventive patrol strategy. Although the results of this assessment provide additional support for this model of policing, they raise policy implications for the public-private distinction in policing.