The Case for Public-Private Security Teams

Shane Ammerman • December 7, 2022

how Collaborating can make all the difference in your community's safety

Law enforcement agencies across the nation are struggling to gain new recruits, leading to a shortage of available officers who can respond to the increasing number of emergency calls. As a result, businesses, schools, religious centers, and high-profile individuals are finding it increasingly difficult to operate in a world that is growing more unpredictable and hazardous. More and more of these organizations and individuals are looking to the private sector to help them meet their unique security needs and to supplement traditional law enforcement services. People realize that relying solely on law enforcement is not a realistic option when safety and security are a priority. Now more than ever, law enforcement agencies and private security firms need to work together to help keep businesses and communities safe.

It’s no secret that law enforcement agencies have been struggling to hire new recruits due to the overly harsh criticisms of police and reductions of police protections in recent years. Most agencies admit they are well below their recruitment goals and do not have enough officers to adequately serve their communities. This results in an increase in crime and violence as criminals become more brazen, especially in urban areas. The prevailing mentality for most people is to assume that law and order will always be upheld, that the police will always be able to respond in a timely manner, and that crime is something that happens to other people. However, these ideas do not hold up in our current world. Crime is something that can absolutely happen to anyone, the police may not always be able to respond quickly or dedicate the necessary resources to an investigation, and the law can only be upheld so long as it is enforced.

A group of police officers are walking down a street.

Unlike law enforcement, private security has a full-time presence at their duty station, which eliminates the lag in response time to emergency situations. As a result, security professionals have the ability to deter and prevent crimes from ever taking place. They can transform vulnerable businesses and communities into hardened targets, causing criminals to think twice or look elsewhere for victims. This in turn helps reduces the burden that law enforcement has, allowing them to not have to spread their resources so thinly. Furthermore, using private security is not a new concept in the US. Private security professionals already outnumber police 2 to 1, and to pretend that they are not a large factor in crime prevention is erroneous.

Private security and law enforcement need to work together to keep communities safe so long as this trend of rising crime continues. This starts by acknowledging that private security is here to stay and is only going to increase in number in the coming years. So long as there is a shortage of law enforcement, citizens will turn to private security to protect them. Unfortunately, politics still takes center stage when it comes to private and public security collaboration. Law enforcement officials are often more invested in stopping private security from creating competition than keeping their communities safe. This trend needs to be reversed, as neither party can provide complete security alone. The consequence of this kind of political grandstanding takes the form of the innocent lives of community members and their businesses.

This is not to say that the responsibility of collaboration lies with law enforcement alone. Private security has a lot of work to do in order to earn the trust of law enforcement and vulnerable communities. New standards and policies need to be widely adopted to help create a new image of capable, competent, and trustworthy security professionals. This can be done by raising training standards and expanding the scope of training for security professionals, ensuring security professionals and LEOs can work effectively together, and emphasizing community integration. In short, security companies need to do their part to eliminate the stigma around private security.

A black suv with armed protection services written on the side

As the need for community security increases and law enforcement’s ability to meet that need dwindles, it has become necessary to incorporate private security wherever possible.

Private security is growing more popular, and as communities and companies take matters into their own hands, it is in law enforcement’s best interest to actively participate in this trend by advising security companies on best practices and helping to implement standard procedures for emergencies. Law enforcement officials also need to realize that for the time being, they need to work with security firms in order to achieve their shared goals of community protection.

We at HCCI Protection are dedicated to transforming the security industry into a competent, capable, and trustworthy force that communities can rely on. We seek to raise the bar for security professional training and conduct, put a spotlight on community integration, and work with local law enforcement to provide effective security for our clients. While some law enforcement agencies refuse to work with, or even acknowledge private security companies, we still strive to set an excellent example and hope to be able to work with law enforcement agencies now and into the far future.

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