Question 1 • Introduction to Law, Public Safety, Corrections, and Security
Based on your reading of the following description of the confusion caused by public-private partnerships, what is the best summary statement of the issue? Private security services have grown in number, profitability and importance over the past decade. The 2001 terror attacks on New York and Washington, D.C. robbed many Americans of a sense of security and, as a result, a market was created for private security services that reintroduced a sense of safety and well-being. Traditionally, communities looked to their local police department to provide the appropriate level of security and safety. Those communities lacking the financial resources to increase significantly the number of police officers regularly patrolling the streets turned to private security contractors to fill the gap between the current strength of the police department and the level of security the community identified as necessary and appropriate. The result has been the creation of a number of public-private partnerships that result in an often uneasy alliance between police departments and private security firms. While there are a number of factors that distinguish the sworn law enforcement officer from his or her private security counterpart, none is more significant than their respective obligations to uphold the provisions of the Constitution. If the roles and responsibilities of private security personnel are to continue to grow in importance to local communities, it will become increasingly important to determine whether these citizen police share the same ethical and legal responsibility to protect individual rights as the sworn police officer.
Answer
A
Since 9/11, the Constitution, the federal government, the states’ law enforcement and city forces have authority to request assistance from private security whose training allows them to act as police in national disasters.
B
Since 9/11, the boundaries between the states have disappeared and the federal government has declared, in times of national disaster, all state private security agencies are deputized to act as law enforcement.
C
Since 9/11, the manner in which private security assists public forces to control order and security in the United States has broadened which makes responsibility boundaries less clear, but it opens access for more trained protection services at times of state or to federal threat.
D
Since 9/11, private security groups are much more active in taking on police force tasks in attempts to control threats to national security.
Explanation
The description says private security has expanded to fill gaps in local police protection, creating public-private partnerships with an “often uneasy alliance.” It emphasizes uncertainty about whether private security personnel have the same legal and ethical duties to protect individual rights as sworn officers. Choice C best summarizes this broader role and the resulting confusion about responsibilities; the passage does not say private guards have been deputized or are specifically controlling national-security threats.
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