RESEARCH STARTER
Private police and guards
Private police and guards are non-governmental security personnel who supplement public law enforcement by providing protection for lives and property. The growth of this sector has escalated, particularly in the United States, where as of 2015, the number of private security workers surpassed one million, more than double that of public law enforcement officers. This increase has been driven by various factors, including budget constraints faced by governmental police, the specialization of security services, and the rising complexity of crime, which necessitates tailored security solutions.
Historically, private security has roots in the mid-19th century with agencies like the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, initially focusing on railroad security and investigations of property crimes. Although private security personnel can sometimes operate with fewer restrictions than public law enforcement, this lack of oversight raises questions about accountability and ethical practices. Challenges facing the private security industry include attracting qualified personnel and maintaining training standards, which are often less rigorous than those required for public police.
The relationship between private security and public law enforcement is evolving, especially in the context of increasing public scrutiny of police practices. In recent years, some communities have turned to private security as a response to perceived inadequacies in public police services. As these dynamics continue to develop, the role of private police and guards remains significant in the broader landscape of crime prevention and community safety.
Authored by: Zumbrun, Jay 1 of 3
Published in: 2014 2 of 3
3 of 3
Full article
SIGNIFICANCE: Private security personnel make valuable contributions to the criminal justice mission of safeguarding lives and property by supplementing the work of government law enforcement; however, their contributions are limited by restrictions on their enforcement powers and by the lack of training that many of them receive.
As American society has developed and the challenges of crime have become more formidable, private policing and security services have increased. Public or governmental policing has the primary responsibility to ensure that lives are protected and property is safeguarded, but individual corporations, private persons, and residential communities have turned to private security agencies to supplement the governmental services provided by government police. Since the mid-nineteenth century, the growth of private security agencies and private police has been tremendous.
History
The earliest significant private security services in the United States were offered by the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, which began in Chicago in 1850. Allan Pinkerton, the founder of the agency, contributed the term “private eye” to the English language by creating a logo that placed the company’s slogan, “We never sleep,” under a picture of a human eye that came to symbolize private detective work. The development of the Pinkertons, as they were called, and other private detective and security agencies was directly related to railroad security, counterfeiting investigations, and other property-related crimes. Eventually, the private security business took on investigations of violent crimes in the United States.
Growth of the Private Security Industry
The growth of private security and loss prevention agencies has been fueled by a number of factors, such as the limited budgets of government police agencies. As governmental law-enforcement agencies have had to do more with less, pressure has grown on corporations and residential communities to look to the private security industry to provide needed protective services such as building security, armored car guards, asset protection, personnel protection, and general increased security presence.
Another factor has been the increasing specialization of security services. As society becomes more complicated with improved technology and special needs, public police resources are more strained. This trend has prompted the need for the employment of specialized private security services that can be employed quickly and efficiently. For example, a corporation detecting signs of internal theft can quickly respond by employing the services of a private security company that specializes in such problems. If the corporation opted to seek the services of local police, it would be competing with the many other priorities and budget constraints of the police. The alternative, private security arrangements, might serve as an ongoing initiative to reduce long-term corporation losses.
Despite falling violent crime rates, US private security market revenue reached over $50 billion in 2025 (up 17 percent in a decade), with nearly 1.3 million security guards employed by May 2025—almost double police/sheriff patrol officers. Demand was driven by corporate spending, insurance requirements, and executive protection (used by approximately 40 percent of Standard & Poor's 500 firms).
Another example of a special problem focus might be threats against a top corporation official by a terrorist group. By employing the protective services of a private security agency, the targeted official would receive around-the-clock protection that few public law-enforcement agencies would be able to provide.
Private police and guards sometimes offer the additional advantage of being able to act without the same legal restraints placed on government agencies. The US Constitution holds public law enforcement officials to high standards of accountability, particularly in matters of search and seizure and interrogation of suspects. Private security officials are not held to the same standards and may engage in some actions that are not allowed to police. For example, corporations may require their employees to submit to polygraph (lie detector) testing conducted by private security officials and use negative results as justification for terminating employees. Public police officials cannot become involved in such matters, except in cases in which they are specifically targeting suspects in investigations and the suspects consent to be tested.
Challenges to the Private Security Industry
The growth of private policing brings with it a wide variety of challenges and issues. These challenges will increase as public police budgets come under closer scrutiny and public demands for private services increase. One major challenge is finding and training qualified personnel. Demands for private security personnel are increasing in a world in which crime is becoming increasingly high-tech and in which domestic and international terrorism are growing threats. Attracting, training, and retaining qualified personnel is an ever-present concern in the private security industry. Whereas public police have defined standards of training and certification to meet government mandates, the private security industry is lagging in this regard.
High turnover remained a major challenge: annual turnover in the US security industry reached 89 percent in 2024 (far above the 66 percent private-sector average), driven by low median wages (about $18.70/hour) and limited benefits. Employment was projected to stay roughly flat through 2034, with most openings needed just to replace departing workers.
The global dimensions of crime require public and private security professionals to engage in ongoing dialogues and cooperative partnerships in their efforts to prevent, detect, and investigate crime. For example, local public police may reach out to their private security counterparts to gain information concerning investigations that only the private security personnel may have. Conversely, private security personnel may seek the assistance of the public police in complicated criminal investigations, particularly in situations in which eventual criminal prosecution is likely.
One of the personnel trends in private security is the hiring of off-duty public police officers. Although this practice allows private security firms to benefit from the services of well-trained and experienced law enforcement officers, it also has the potential of creating problems relating to identifying who is liable for the actions of such personnel.
Following the May 2020 killing of George Floyd, a Black man from Minneapolis, Minnesota, by a White police officer, the United States erupted in protests. In response to what they perceived as a rise in police brutality, the leaders in some large cities passed laws to reduce the presence of local police. Data from sources including the FBI and analyses of law enforcement employment show fewer sworn police officers in the early-to-mid 2020s relative to previous peaks (such as around 2017–19/2020 levels in many agencies), with recovery uneven. As a result, the number of private security guards has increased, with many stepping in to patrol parts of larger cities where police response time is slowed due to understaffing.
Bibliography
Cunningham, William, et al. The Hallcrest Report II: Private Security Trends, 1970-2000. Hallcrest Systems, 1990.
"Fatal and Non-Fatal Violence to Police Officers During 2012–2022." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 14 May 2024, www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2024/fatal-and-non-fatal-violence-to-police-officers-during-2012-2022.htm. Accessed 19 Sept. 2026.
"FBI Releases 2024 Reported Crimes in the Nation Statistics." Criminal Justice Information Division, 5 Aug. 2025, www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/fbi-releases-2024-reported-crimes-in-the-nation-statistics. Accessed 19 Sept. 2026.
Harring, Alex. "The Big Business of Personal Protection: How Private Security Became a $50 Billion Industry." CNBC, 4 Sept. 2026, www.cnbc.com/2026/09/04/private-security-spending-crime-allied-universal.html. Accessed 19 Sept. 2026.
Holder, Philip, and Donna Lea Hawley. The Executive Protection Professional’s Manual. Butterworth-Heinemann, 1997.
Horan, James D. The Pinkertons. Bonanza Books, 1967.
June, Dale L. Introduction to Executive Protection. CRC Press, 1998.
Lopezlira, Enrique, and Kassandra Hernandez. “Underpaid, Undervalued, and Essential: The Security Guard Workforce in the United States.” UC Berkeley Labor Center, 22 July 2026, laborcenter.berkeley.edu/underpaid-undervalued-and-essential/. Accessed 19 Sept. 2026.
"Policing: By the Numbers." Council on Criminal Justice, May 2026, counciloncj.org/policing-by-the-numbers/. Accessed 19 Sept. 2026.
Rothenberg, Jared. "Private Police Regulation and the Exclusionary Remedy: How Washington Can Eliminate the Public/Private Distinction." Washington Law Review, 1 Oct. 2023, washingtonlawreview.org/private-police-regulation-and-the-exclusionary-remedy-how-washington-can-eliminate-the-public-private-distinction/. Accessed 19 Sept. 2026.
Semuels, Alana. "Private Security Guards Are Replacing Police Across America." Time, 2 May 2023, time.com/6275440/insecure-private-security-replacing-police/. Accessed 19 Sept. 2026.
Full article
SIGNIFICANCE: Private security personnel make valuable contributions to the criminal justice mission of safeguarding lives and property by supplementing the work of government law enforcement; however, their contributions are limited by restrictions on their enforcement powers and by the lack of training that many of them receive.
As American society has developed and the challenges of crime have become more formidable, private policing and security services have increased. Public or governmental policing has the primary responsibility to ensure that lives are protected and property is safeguarded, but individual corporations, private persons, and residential communities have turned to private security agencies to supplement the governmental services provided by government police. Since the mid-nineteenth century, the growth of private security agencies and private police has been tremendous.
History
The earliest significant private security services in the United States were offered by the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, which began in Chicago in 1850. Allan Pinkerton, the founder of the agency, contributed the term “private eye” to the English language by creating a logo that placed the company’s slogan, “We never sleep,” under a picture of a human eye that came to symbolize private detective work. The development of the Pinkertons, as they were called, and other private detective and security agencies was directly related to railroad security, counterfeiting investigations, and other property-related crimes. Eventually, the private security business took on investigations of violent crimes in the United States.
Growth of the Private Security Industry
The growth of private security and loss prevention agencies has been fueled by a number of factors, such as the limited budgets of government police agencies. As governmental law-enforcement agencies have had to do more with less, pressure has grown on corporations and residential communities to look to the private security industry to provide needed protective services such as building security, armored car guards, asset protection, personnel protection, and general increased security presence.
Another factor has been the increasing specialization of security services. As society becomes more complicated with improved technology and special needs, public police resources are more strained. This trend has prompted the need for the employment of specialized private security services that can be employed quickly and efficiently. For example, a corporation detecting signs of internal theft can quickly respond by employing the services of a private security company that specializes in such problems. If the corporation opted to seek the services of local police, it would be competing with the many other priorities and budget constraints of the police. The alternative, private security arrangements, might serve as an ongoing initiative to reduce long-term corporation losses.
Despite falling violent crime rates, US private security market revenue reached over $50 billion in 2025 (up 17 percent in a decade), with nearly 1.3 million security guards employed by May 2025—almost double police/sheriff patrol officers. Demand was driven by corporate spending, insurance requirements, and executive protection (used by approximately 40 percent of Standard & Poor's 500 firms).
Another example of a special problem focus might be threats against a top corporation official by a terrorist group. By employing the protective services of a private security agency, the targeted official would receive around-the-clock protection that few public law-enforcement agencies would be able to provide.
Private police and guards sometimes offer the additional advantage of being able to act without the same legal restraints placed on government agencies. The US Constitution holds public law enforcement officials to high standards of accountability, particularly in matters of search and seizure and interrogation of suspects. Private security officials are not held to the same standards and may engage in some actions that are not allowed to police. For example, corporations may require their employees to submit to polygraph (lie detector) testing conducted by private security officials and use negative results as justification for terminating employees. Public police officials cannot become involved in such matters, except in cases in which they are specifically targeting suspects in investigations and the suspects consent to be tested.
Challenges to the Private Security Industry
The growth of private policing brings with it a wide variety of challenges and issues. These challenges will increase as public police budgets come under closer scrutiny and public demands for private services increase. One major challenge is finding and training qualified personnel. Demands for private security personnel are increasing in a world in which crime is becoming increasingly high-tech and in which domestic and international terrorism are growing threats. Attracting, training, and retaining qualified personnel is an ever-present concern in the private security industry. Whereas public police have defined standards of training and certification to meet government mandates, the private security industry is lagging in this regard.
High turnover remained a major challenge: annual turnover in the US security industry reached 89 percent in 2024 (far above the 66 percent private-sector average), driven by low median wages (about $18.70/hour) and limited benefits. Employment was projected to stay roughly flat through 2034, with most openings needed just to replace departing workers.
The global dimensions of crime require public and private security professionals to engage in ongoing dialogues and cooperative partnerships in their efforts to prevent, detect, and investigate crime. For example, local public police may reach out to their private security counterparts to gain information concerning investigations that only the private security personnel may have. Conversely, private security personnel may seek the assistance of the public police in complicated criminal investigations, particularly in situations in which eventual criminal prosecution is likely.
One of the personnel trends in private security is the hiring of off-duty public police officers. Although this practice allows private security firms to benefit from the services of well-trained and experienced law enforcement officers, it also has the potential of creating problems relating to identifying who is liable for the actions of such personnel.
Following the May 2020 killing of George Floyd, a Black man from Minneapolis, Minnesota, by a White police officer, the United States erupted in protests. In response to what they perceived as a rise in police brutality, the leaders in some large cities passed laws to reduce the presence of local police. Data from sources including the FBI and analyses of law enforcement employment show fewer sworn police officers in the early-to-mid 2020s relative to previous peaks (such as around 2017–19/2020 levels in many agencies), with recovery uneven. As a result, the number of private security guards has increased, with many stepping in to patrol parts of larger cities where police response time is slowed due to understaffing.
Bibliography
Cunningham, William, et al. The Hallcrest Report II: Private Security Trends, 1970-2000. Hallcrest Systems, 1990.
"Fatal and Non-Fatal Violence to Police Officers During 2012–2022." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 14 May 2024, www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2024/fatal-and-non-fatal-violence-to-police-officers-during-2012-2022.htm. Accessed 19 Sept. 2026.
"FBI Releases 2024 Reported Crimes in the Nation Statistics." Criminal Justice Information Division, 5 Aug. 2025, www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/fbi-releases-2024-reported-crimes-in-the-nation-statistics. Accessed 19 Sept. 2026.
Harring, Alex. "The Big Business of Personal Protection: How Private Security Became a $50 Billion Industry." CNBC, 4 Sept. 2026, www.cnbc.com/2026/09/04/private-security-spending-crime-allied-universal.html. Accessed 19 Sept. 2026.
Holder, Philip, and Donna Lea Hawley. The Executive Protection Professional’s Manual. Butterworth-Heinemann, 1997.
Horan, James D. The Pinkertons. Bonanza Books, 1967.
June, Dale L. Introduction to Executive Protection. CRC Press, 1998.
Lopezlira, Enrique, and Kassandra Hernandez. “Underpaid, Undervalued, and Essential: The Security Guard Workforce in the United States.” UC Berkeley Labor Center, 22 July 2026, laborcenter.berkeley.edu/underpaid-undervalued-and-essential/. Accessed 19 Sept. 2026.
"Policing: By the Numbers." Council on Criminal Justice, May 2026, counciloncj.org/policing-by-the-numbers/. Accessed 19 Sept. 2026.
Rothenberg, Jared. "Private Police Regulation and the Exclusionary Remedy: How Washington Can Eliminate the Public/Private Distinction." Washington Law Review, 1 Oct. 2023, washingtonlawreview.org/private-police-regulation-and-the-exclusionary-remedy-how-washington-can-eliminate-the-public-private-distinction/. Accessed 19 Sept. 2026.
Semuels, Alana. "Private Security Guards Are Replacing Police Across America." Time, 2 May 2023, time.com/6275440/insecure-private-security-replacing-police/. Accessed 19 Sept. 2026.