Although this is a new phenomenon, it can be traced back in the history. This has originated from the competition that the public sector is facing from the private industry in terms of service delivery and quality of products provided by the private sector. In Canada, people are in great need of private policing in order to combat crime and to protect their wealth and lives. There is an increase in the demand of private police services, especially among the gated communities, which is reflected by the rapid development in private policing. Individuals and organizations are turning to private means of protecting their wealth and preventing criminal activities due to panic and worry about violence and robbery. The role of policing in the Canadian society is changing as a result of the emerging private policing (Newburn, p 834).
The private police protect private as well as business bodies whilst the public policing deals with matters affecting the general public and they put into effect the policies of the government. There is small difference between the private and public police. Private police are governed by the laws which regulate the common citizens although the public police place themselves above the law (Reynolds, para 5).
A clear definition and restriction of authority concerning the private police need to be put in place as individuals, corporations and government departments continue to accept services from private police. Currently, it is not possible to predict the future of non-state policing in Canada. Due to the fast development of private policing, regulations and standards should be put in place in order to maintain responsibility to the society. Private police should be accountable to the society as well as to their employer (Cukier, Quigley and Susla, p 240).
Research question
How has ethical and legal issues associated with private policing amongst the gated communities in Canada have affected the policing activities
Thesis statement
The essay looks into a deep study of the private policing in the gated communities in Canada. A brief review of the available literature on the subject has been discussed. A clear distinction between private and public policing has been reviewed and a brief history of private policing has been explained to establish its background.
Literature review
Private policing refers to security contracted by persons or companies to keep safe and guard property and employees. Shearing and Screnning (p 23), define private policing as the commercial activity done by corporations to prevent, manage and control criminal activities. The definition also includes those individuals hired to perform security duties by a security firm. The state and non-state police agencies operate similarly to some extent and there is a small cut line between the two. The non-state police can be described to stop criminal activities while the state police respond to the crime (Reynolds, para 9).
Private police deliver services once set aside for the public police and the duties of policing are continuously being divided between public and non-state security providers especially among the gated communities (Shearing, p 67). There has been an increase in the criminal activities and this has caused the high demand for private policing since people are in search of extra safety than the state police can give (Wilson, Keogh, and Lincoln, p 291). There are many other factors causing the change in policing activities apart from the increase in criminal activities, for instance, financial, social and political aspects.
The public policing is becoming weak in dealing with crimes related to technological changes and this has caused the need for private policing among the gated communities. Changes in the economy such as the increase in the number of working women and the increasing rates of joblessness are creating new sources of crime (Stenning, p 160). The environment to conduct criminal activities is increasing as the youths have excess freedom and inadequate incomes while parents leave the houses throughout the daytime for job, leaving the youths with a lot of freedom.
The emerging trend of privatizing state owned organizations has called for the need to hire private security that will cater for the corporate needs of the businesses. Technological advancement in the computer and communication sectors has enabled the police to detect crimes and this has called for the introduction of new policing techniques (Stenning, p 161).
Private policing has become a tool for the wealthy while the public policing an instrument for the underprivileged. This is because the less privileged cannot afford to pay for the services offered by the private police. This has led to unequal access of security by citizens across all the financial levels and the forces of supply and demand have taken control in the access to policing services (Stenning, p 162). Private police do not implement the laws of the state and they dont share the similar influence and authority as the public police (Robertson, para 6).
The private police should be trained according to the standards put by the law in order to perform their duties in a professional manner with a proper understanding of the needs of people they are serving. For example, the gated communities require special policing to deal with the problems they face in their daily activities. Training of private police is essential to ensure they use the power vested upon them properly and that they are prepared adequately enough to deal with any type of crime (Robertson, para 9). They ought to detect the signs of potential criminal activities in order to control the occurrence of any crime. Private policing can become risky if proper training is not provided to the security personnel.
In the recent past, the training of security personnel involved short courses. These short courses became irrelevant since the personnel never acquired the professional skills required to handle criminal activities. This led to great criticism due to improper use of authority in the unprofessional handling of security matters (Angus Reid Group Inc. p 21). After realizing the major problems facing the private police system, the Canadian government introduced laws to deal with the training issues of the security personnel. The main cause of the problems facing the police staff was lack of adequate training, poor managerial skills and lack of responsibility among the staff. Security matters now require more intellectual skills in order to combat specific types of crimes which originate from all professions (Angus Reid Group Inc, p. 22).
Several amendments should be made to ensure proper handling of criminal activities. Such changes include licensing all private police through testing criminal reports of the personnel. The license should be given to individuals who have undergone complete training. All private policing companies should obtain licenses and the Registrar should be given authority to delay or terminate licenses (Shearing and Screnning, p. 68).
The evolution of private policing among the gated communities in Canada can be traced back to the mid 1980s. As the evolution of private policing continued, there was an increase in the number of employees being absorbed as well as an increase in the activities of the non-state policing. In order to promote professionalism and improve the standards of the private policing sector, the stakeholders are initiating talks with the Ministry of Public Safety to attract support by the state. More people and businesses have resorted to use private police to secure their wealth and lives due to the great concern about robbery and violence in Canada. Private policing tends to focus on protecting the interest of personal and corporate organizations more than the public policing. The Canadian government hires private police to offer support in areas that are difficult for normal public police forces (Newburn, p. 834).
In the United States, private policing emerged from public policing. The growth of private policing companies was as a result of the high demand compared to the public policing and because they could be influenced more easily. Rich businessmen leased armed security men to guard their personal assets and this led to the growth of many private police firms. To date, private policing hires more employees than the public policing and the hiring of security men is anticipated to develop at a higher rate than the average growth of other firms (Robertson, para 11).
Non-state police deal with private criminal activities and they work within the realm of protecting corporations as well as individual interests. Criminal activities can be explained as those activities which obstruct the achievement of the goals of the company, for example, profit making, wealth protection and improving the public icon. The private policing deals with such crimes which affect the corporations as well as individual businesses (Stenning, p 149),
There are many instances where the private police need to cooperate with the public police in the effort to combat some types of crimes. Despite the accelerating demand of private policing, there are limitations placed upon their operations by laws of the Canadian government. There are circumstances where there is requirement to call upon the public police and this indicates that private policing cannot operate autonomously (Angus Reid Group Inc. p 15),
Development of the private policing
To achieve effective policing strategies, we must adopt the most effective system that collaborates with all stakeholders in the society. People should remove the notion that the best policing rests under the control of public policing (Robertson, para 12). To control, minimize and even eliminate crime must involve the contribution of expertise and knowledge from all partners in the policing sector. The strategy to advocate for private policing does not imply that the role of public will be forgotten. This is a system to ensure that the experience and expertise in the policing department is shared among the government, organizations and the community.
The main aim of developing private policing in Canada was to develop collaboration in preventing crime and to share knowledge and skills in crime prevention (Robertson, para 13). However, irrespective of this rapid expansion, the private policing department is still not sure about its direction, capability and governmental restrictions to provide services for the betterment of policing at large. In Canada, the private security sector has contributed a lot to the development of private policing (Robertson, para 14). Over the past two decades, the private policing have grown tremendously in size and it currently supersedes the public policing by two to three times.
Discussion
The policing strategies in Canada have changed from the customary methods of reporting and scrutinizing crime. The approach being used in preventing crime is that of looking into the circumstances that support crime and launching methods of stopping the crime with or without the public police (Reynolds, para 12). Crime within the gated communities has advanced to a level where new approaches to crime are required in order to detect the crimes.
The private police perform its duties of managing or preventing crime either in collaboration or isolation from the public police. The private policing hires its own workers who may or may not have the capacity to perform policing duties beyond certain limits in the industry. Many organizations in Canada are hiring private police to avoid exposure and are progressively escaping from the public policing to manage, control or stop crime.
Government units are hiring private police to deal with crimes which traditionally were being handled by the public police. Government departments are hiring out private police to investigate first before using the public policing (Reynolds, para 13).
The gated community is collaborating with the private police to assist the public police in preventing crime. People are continuously getting involved in policing activities in order to reinforce the public police department in its efforts to provide security and protection of property. Recently, gated communities are setting up groups to prevent crimes and to work hand in hand with the state police in order to strengthen security (Peretz D., Doron G., p. 3).
In the earlier period, there was strong opposition in Canada to individuals who volunteered to offer policing services. The opposition was due to the argument that policing should be limited to those individuals who had received training and had been given mandate by the state to act as police. Nevertheless, the bottlenecks are gradually being removed and the private police together with the public are willing to partner with public police in crime prevention.
Conclusion
Private policing is rapidly growing in Canada in response to the increasing fear of crime and the great concern of protecting wealth and the need of private safety. Canadians no longer perceive policing as the liability of the state and they have started to advocate for private policing. The gated community has started to take initiatives in promoting security and launching their own police forces. The policing department has shifted to private firms and the gated community has acknowledged an increase in the number of private firms in policing.
The government has also changed its attitude towards policing activities and it is hiring private firms to provide security services in some state departments. The private sector is providing quality services and is more cost efficient in providing its services. This has attracted great demand for private policing by individuals and state owned departments.
However, the activities of private policing must be well controlled to ensure that they are accountable and are professional in their activities. The private sector cannot be operated without some degree of control from the state in order to ensure that the laws are adhered to. Therefore, the private policing cannot entirely dominate the policing sector due to great concern of the government and the society in its efforts to protect the rich and the poor in the society.
The Canadian laws provide authority to organizations to train their personnel and also give a license to these companies. These laws are being amended due to the changing security patterns. The laws should be amended to accommodate all the changes taking place in the police sector. New responsibilities and regulations are required to be established in order to cater for the rapidly changing issues concerning the policing activities.
Adequate training is required to equip the police personnel with skills required to work in a professional manner. The training must keep the standards stipulated by the laws of the Canadian government. All private police personnel should acquire licenses as well as the security firms in order to maintain professionalism.
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