Public Regulation of Private Security: A Statutory Analysis of State Regulation of Security Guards

Security guards outnumber police by almost 3 to 1, and this discrepancy has been growing steadily since the latter part of the 20th century. Security guards perform many of the same functions as police officers and may even carry weapons, but to what extent do states regulate the private security in...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Klein, Michael Stephan 1976- (Author) ; Hemmens, Craig 1960- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2018
In: Criminal justice policy review
Year: 2018, Volume: 29, Issue: 9, Pages: 891-908
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
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Keywords:
Security guard
Security officer
Private security
Statute
Hiring
Description
Summary:Security guards outnumber police by almost 3 to 1, and this discrepancy has been growing steadily since the latter part of the 20th century. Security guards perform many of the same functions as police officers and may even carry weapons, but to what extent do states regulate the private security industry? This article compares the change in state regulation of private security, in particular the requirements for hiring security guards. The provisions of the states as of 1982, 1998, and 2015 are compared and evaluated. We are interested in determining what threshold requirements the states have seen fit to establish for employment in the security industry, and whether these threshold requirements provide adequate protection for the public.
ISSN:1552-3586
DOI:10.1177/0887403416649999