Hybrid Governance – Police Powers and Trust
Today’s police
officers are under tremendous stress and are dependent on good agency policy
making, public relations with the community and adherence to many mandatory
standards involving the use of force, arrest powers and detainment issues that
are closely scrutinized by citizens to ensure no civil rights violations have
occurred.
To begin an analysis
for developing a concept where public police powers are merged with private
entities is unavailable due to the newness of this concept to blend or merge
these resources together in order to perform a public safety function for our
citizens. We must first begin this analysis with the fact that there is
sufficient evidence today to show there are problems in the public trust in our
police officers as they perform their civic duties as law enforcers. Thus this
merger of power will definitely upset the balance of power and accountability /
transparency process for our citizenry.
Without this public trust in our police officers, it must
be more complex or difficult to understand how private enterprises could
equally perform such tasks and responsibilities without the proper authority to
do so and operate on “police by consent” of the agency in charge of the
jurisdiction in question. It is with a certain amount of conclusive outcome
that such a task is nearly impossible. One would suspect waivers or changing
regulatory / statutory requirements would be changed to accommodate the design
and function.
Today’s emphasis is on community policing and the
benefits of having a close association with the citizenry to build trustworthy
resources that will allow a closer examination of police actions and
dispositions so that the public can be assured that their performance is agreement
with police policies and procedures as well as structure and priorities in
public safety and performance.
Perhaps the merging of such resources is premature and
done without the proper template to assure compliance with all oversight and
regulatory requirements as well as training and certification of specialized
functions e.g. SWAT, K9, DUI and other specific fields that may result in
detainment, arrest, incarceration or conviction within the criminal justice
system as it is designed.
At the present time, most police officers belong to a
union or association that is labeled as organized labor and is normal or
routine within the law enforcement community. On the other hand, private police
entities are not unionized. Merging forces
could result in a weaker union or association as tasks and responsibilities
become shared and leverage is no longer on the union’s side when it comes to
bargaining for better benefits down the road.
One might also make a case of the matter of “conflict of
interest” if civilian police forces were to merge with public police forces and
determine the exact sanctions and violations committed to further invoke their
private interest in prisons for profit and incarcerate these offenders in
privately owned detention centers or prisons.
Last but not least is
the matter of liability and risk assessments related to issues such as:
- Sovereignty of Roles in crime
control & prevention responsibilities
- Recruitment, Hiring and Selection
criteria e.g. professionalism
- Training and Certification in
basic and advanced special skills
- Statutory authority for powers
of arrest, detainment and searches
- Contents of Mutual Assistance
& Understanding role agreements
- Funding and budgetary concerns
& Reimbursements of services rendered
- Discretionary Scope of
decision making with local authorities
- Immunities provided and Waiver
of Liability and Responsibilities
- Risk Management applications
November 8, 2012
