The Privatization and Civilianization of Policing

<p>This essay examines recent shifts toward privatization and civilianization in policing. It focuses on the nature and dimensions of the shifts, their precedents and causes, their advantages and dangers, and B their effects on five critical dimensions of policing: effectiveness, cost, equity, choice, and legitimacy. These shifts, which have occurred over just 30 years or so, are contrasted with the centuries-long evolution of public policing and reliance on sworn officers to protect public safety that culminated in the 1960s. Following a review of historical precedents that shaped the bound- aries between public and private security resources and between sworn and civilian alternatives, the essay examines a variety of prospective policies and reforms in both the public and private domains aimed at minimizing the potentially harmful aspects of privatization and civilianization: improving private security service through licensing and bonding of agents and agencies; reducing problems associated with public monopolization of policing through improved accountability systems and accreditation; improving procedures for screening, training, and managing civilian specialists; making more effective use of civil remedies for harms in both the public and private sectors; and finding ways to clarify roles and improve coordination among the public, private, and civilian components of policing. The essay concludes with a look to the likely future of privatization and civilianization, including an identification of critical issues related to cur- rent trends and an examination of directions that appear most promising for improving service in both the public and private domains of policing.</p>