The Private Police of Pennsylvania
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9757088 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jeremiah P Shalloo (University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) |
| Year | 1929 |
| Volume | 146 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 55-62 |
| Publication date | 1929-11-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0002-7162 • E-ISSN: 1552-3349 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/000271622914600106 |
| OpenAlex | W1979935046 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
TO discuss a subject such as that of private police without limiting the area surveyed would be difficult without very extensive and time-consuming research. For this reason, it has seemed wise to limit this article to one state. It is hoped that the problems found in Pennsylvania may throw some light upon conditions elsewhere. It would be well at the outset to point out that the term private police is somewhat misleading if not wholly contradictory. If police power can issue only from the governing authority or a representative of that authority, in this instance the State, it follows that all those upon whom the State confers police power become a part of the executive power of the State and should be subject to the State. In other words, they become an integral part of the police power of the State and can in no way be divorced from that power save by relinquishing such delegated power or by revocation by the State. Despite the fact that the State delegates full police power to private individuals in the employ of bodies other than those under the control and direction of the State, the State exercises no control over these individuals in Pennsylvania and such as are commissioned are responsible only to their private employers who compensate them for their services. Much criticism has been leveled at the private police of this Commonwealth and most of it has been justified, particularly that aimed at the Coal and Iron police. Millions of dollars worth of property are in need of some sort of protection and the system of practically selling police power at five dollars a head has become established in this state to provide such protection. Pennsylvania is unique in this respect as no other state has any organization comparable to the Coal and Iron police. In fact, many of the Secretaries of State in this Union apparently never heard of private police if one may judge from th replies sent the writer to inquires made. Most of them declared there was no private police or confused the term with state police. The private police are in reality public officers in the employ of private corporations or public authorities acting in private capacities. Their function is simply the protection of property. Yet they are empowered to maintain peace and order. They are empowered to arrest on view anyone trespassing on company property. In short, their police power is identical with that of a uniformed policeman on the streets of Philadelphia and they may arrest not only upon company property but anywhere in the county where their commissions are recorded. The only basis upon which a distinction may be made between public and private police is upon the basis of purpose. Private police are hired by private concerns for the sole purpose of guarding and protecting the employer's property, are compensated by the company employing them and are responsible only to the employer. The above argument holds true for railroad police and other private police as well
Business · Criminology · Sociology · Policing Practices and Perceptions
| Citations per year | 0.07 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1981 - 2022 (42) |
| Highly cited | No |