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Company police, also called private police , are privately paid law enforcement officers who work for private security companies or private military companies rather than a municipal, county, state, or national agency.
In Malaysia, auxiliary police refers to sworn security police officers serving in autonomous government agencies and key government-linked companies/entities such as Northport (Malaysia) Bhd (Northport), Petroleum Nasional Berhad (Petronas), the Malaysian Federal Reserve Bank (Bank Negara), the National Anti-Drug Agency (Agensi Anti-Dadah Kebangsaan - AADK), the Federal Land Development Agency (FELDA) and the Inland Revenue Board (Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri); and other institutions with semi-governmental interests. Such institutions include the National Savings Bank (Bank Simpanan Nasional - BSN), Malayan Railways Limited (Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad - KTMB), Pos Malaysia Holdings Berhad (the national postal service), Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (the largest Malaysian airport operator), the North-South Highway Project (Projek Lebuhraya Utara Selatan - PLUS), Tenaga Nasional Berhad (the national power service) and other similar strategic organizations.
Most of these organizations have already been privatized, but are allowed to maintain an auxiliary police unit. Under special circumstances, auxiliary police units have also been established by private companies with no government interests at all such as the force maintained by Resorts World Berhad (RWB), the company that operates the popular resort and casino at Genting Highlands. At present, there are 153 government agencies, statutory bodies and private companies authorized to operate their own auxiliary police units, with a total strength of 40,610 personnel. [1]
In Singapore, auxiliary police officers are security police appointed under Section 92(1) or (2) of the Police Force Act 2004 and are vested with all the power, protection and immunities of a Police Officer of corresponding rank and are licensed to carry firearms when carrying out their duties. These armed auxiliary police officers (APO) are full-time paid employees of their respective companies, and are not directly affiliated to the Singapore Police Force. They are appointed as auxiliary police officers only after attending and passing a residential course, the curriculum of which is set by the Security Industry Regulatory Department of the Singapore Police Force. Each APO is issued with a warrant card signed by the Commissioner of Police of the Singapore Police Force.
The term was formerly used in the United Kingdom for in-house security guards at factories and plants.[ citation needed ] Despite the name, these men did not have police powers.[ citation needed ] It has been illegal for police officers to work part-time as security guards in the United Kingdom since 1934. [2]
There are ten [3] companies whose employees are sworn in as constables under section 79 of the Harbours, Docks, and Piers Clauses Act 1847. As a result, they have the full powers of a constable on any land owned by the harbour, dock, or port and at any place within one mile of any owned land. Additionally, there are also some forces established by specific legislation such as the Port of Tilbury Police (Port of London Act 1968).
Company police exist in some states in the United States. If they have attended the basic law enforcement officer's training academy in the state in which they work, they may be granted full police powers pursuant to state law.
The Commonwealth of Virginia has a statutory designation of Special Conservator of the Peace (SCOP). These officers have police powers through private employers on public and contract property and may carry firearms. The training is over 100 hours for armed SCOP's and 24 for unarmed. The officers must go through the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services, pass a background investigation, drug screen, proof of liability insurance, fingerprints, fees, successful completion of all training and get then be issued a commission with boundaries of jurisdiction specified by a judge in order to be commissioned.
Washington, D.C. has "Special Police Officer" (SPO) commissions for security guards who may need to make minor arrests and they must complete a brief training course. SPOs oftentimes work for private corporations within Washington D.C., fulfilling the role of "company police" within the district.
The jurisdiction of SPOs are sometimes limited to the property which they have been hired to protect, however many SPOs work in a part-time capacity to supplement the salaries they earn as full-time city police or county officers. This inherently grants them citywide or county-wide jurisdiction if the property they are employed on is located within the respective jurisdiction of their full-time public service police department.
North Carolina founded its company police program in the late 1800s to give textile mills and employee villages (housing and company store, offices, etc.) internal police protection and the powers of Company Police's authority is within their jurisdiction unless in "continuous and immediate" pursuit. Currently governmental facilities, factories, schools, mill towns, hotels, condominium units and private or gated communities that have proprietary or contracted special police have jurisdiction, in which the employer has ownership or control property, [4] to make arrests for both felonies and misdemeanors and to charge for infractions. North Carolina requires Company Police to meet and maintain NC standards set forth for all state sworn law enforcement officers and additionally must pass a state-administered written exam specific to company police. These law enforcement officers and their respective agencies are regulated by the Company Police Administrator through North Carolina's Department of Justice. The three categories of company police are: Campus, Rail Road and Special Police Officer
"(1) Campus Police Officers - Only those company police officers who are employed by any college or university that is a constituent institution of the University of North Carolina or any private college or university that is licensed or exempted from licensure as prescribed by G.S. 116-15, and who are employed by a campus police agency that was licensed pursuant to this Chapter prior to the enactment of Chapter 74G of the General Statutes.
(2) Railroad Police Officers - Those company police officers who are employed by a certified rail carrier and commissioned as company police officers under this Chapter.
(3) Special Police Officers - All company police officers not designated as a campus police officer or railroad police officer."
In the majority of the states in the U.S., actively employed state-certified peace officers, regardless of the capacity in which they are employed (private, public, company, security, campus, etc.), have the ability to pursue and apprehend someone suspected of committing a criminal or violation offense or a felony while on employer or contracted property outside of their normal jurisdiction. They can also detain or make a citizen's arrest if off employer's property or contract sites, then turn the detained violator over to local law enforcement authorities.
There are generally two types of Company Police:
Railroad police or railway police are people responsible for the protection of railroad properties, facilities, revenue, equipment, and personnel, as well as carried passengers and cargo. Railroad police may also patrol public rail transit systems. Their exact roles differs from country to country. In some countries, railroad police are no different from any other police agency, while in others they are more like security police. Some are given extensive additional authority, while those in other jurisdictions are more restricted.
Transit police are specialized police agencies employed either by a common carrier or a municipality, county, district, or state. Transit law enforcement services may also be provided by a specialized unit within a larger local law enforcement agency. Their mandate is to prevent and investigate all crime committed against the carrier or its passengers, as well as crime incidentally committed on – and sometimes around – the carrier's property.
Security police officers are employed by or for a governmental agency or corporations to provide security services to those properties.
Special police usually describes a police force or unit within a police force whose duties and responsibilities are significantly different from other forces in the same country or from other police in the same force, although there is no consistent international definition. A special constable, in most cases, is not a member of a special police force (SPF); in countries in the Commonwealth of Nations and often elsewhere, a special constable is a voluntary or part-time member of a national or local police force or a person involved in law enforcement who is not a police officer but has some of the powers of a police officer.
Auxiliary police, also called special police, are usually the part-time reserves of a regular police force. They may be armed or unarmed. They may be unpaid volunteers or paid members of the police service with which they are affiliated. The police powers auxiliary units may exercise vary from agency to agency; some have no or limited authority, while others may be accorded full police powers.
A law enforcement officer (LEO), or peace officer in North American English, is a public-sector employee whose duties primarily involve the enforcement of laws. The phrase can include campaign disclosure specialists, local police officers, prosecutors, municipal law enforcement officers, health inspectors, SWAT officers, customs officers, lawyers, state troopers, federal agents, secret agents, special investigators, coast guards, border patrol officers, judges, district attorney, bounty hunters, gendarmerie officers, immigration officers, private investigators, court officers, probation officers, parole officers, arson investigators, auxiliary officers, animal control officers, game wardens, park rangers, county sheriff's deputies, constables, marshals, detention officers, correction officers, sworn campus police officers and public safety officers. Security guards are not law enforcement officers, unless they have been granted powers to enforce particular laws, such as those accredited under a community safety accreditation scheme such as a security police officer.
The Canadian Pacific Police Service (CPPS) is a private railroad police force enforcing safety and policing along Canadian Pacific Railway properties and rail lines in Canada and the United States, including limited sections of the Milton line of GO Transit in the Greater Toronto Area.
Law enforcement in Malaysia is performed by numerous law enforcement agencies and generally comes under the direct purview of the Royal Malaysia Police, the main government agency entrusted with the maintenance of law and order in the country. Like many federal nations, the nature of the Constitution of Malaysia mandates law and order as a subject of the state, therefore the bulk of the policing lies with the respective states and territories of Malaysia.
Law enforcement in the United States is one of three major components of the criminal justice system of the United States, along with courts and corrections. Although each component operates semi-independently, the three collectively form a chain leading from an investigation of suspected criminal activity to the administration of criminal punishment.
The Union Pacific Police Department (UPPD) is a private railroad police department and the law enforcement agency of the Union Pacific Railroad, headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. The UPPD is one of six American Class I railroad law enforcement agencies, alongside those of Amtrak, BNSF, CSX, Kansas City Southern, and Norfolk Southern.
Law enforcement in Hungary is split among the Police and Border Guards, and the Customs and Excise Authority. Since 2006, the Police has been subject to the Ministry of Justice, when the Ministry of Interior was re-structured to deal with Municipalities and Regional Development. Due to Hungary's accession to the Schengen Treaty, the Police and Border Guards were merged into a single national corps, with the Border Guards becoming Police Officers. This merger took place in January 2008. The Customs and Excise Authority remained to be subject to the Ministry of Finance.
Private police or special police are law enforcement bodies that are owned and/or controlled by non-governmental entities. Additionally, the term can refer to an off-duty police officer while working for a private entity, providing security, or otherwise law enforcement-related services. These officers do have power to uphold the laws under the discretion of the private company.
A security guard is a person employed by a government or private party to protect the employing party's assets from a variety of hazards by enforcing preventative measures. Security guards do this by maintaining a high-visibility presence to deter illegal and inappropriate actions, looking for signs of crime or other hazards, taking action to minimize damage, and reporting any incidents to their clients and emergency services, as appropriate.
Parapolice are law enforcement officers considered "beyond", "ancillary" or "subsidiary" to the regular police force. The term has been used in criminology to refer to private security with an explicit relationship to public police forces.
In the United States, the state police is a police body unique to each U.S. state, having statewide authority to conduct law enforcement activities and criminal investigations. In general, state police officers or highway patrol officers, known as state troopers, perform functions that do not fall within the jurisdiction of the county sheriff, such as enforcing traffic laws on state highways and interstate expressways, overseeing the security of the state capitol complex, protecting the governor, training new officers for local police forces too small to operate an academy and providing technological and scientific services. They support local police and help to coordinate multi-jurisdictional task force activity in serious or complicated cases in those states that grant full police powers statewide.
Private police in the United States are law enforcement bodies that are owned and or controlled by non-governmental entities such as security agencies or private corporations. There is a strong overlap between the work of police and security, given that they share the same goals, perform the same activities and cooperate with one another, and often the same individuals work in both fields simultaneously, with police moonlighting as security officers. The overlap is even more pronounced when the police are private. Thus, it can be hard to draw a line between what is a private policeman and what is a public police officer. Private investigation is extensively used to investigate workplace crime.
A special constable or special police constable can refer to an auxiliary or part-time law enforcement officer or a person who is granted certain (special) police powers.
In the United States, there is no consistent use of the office of constable throughout the states; use may vary within a state. A constable may be an official responsible for service of process: such as summonses and subpoenas for people to appear in court in criminal and/or civil matters. They can also be fully empowered law enforcement officers. Constables may have additional specialized duties unique to the office. In some states the constable is an elected or appointed position at the state or local level of local government. Their jurisdiction can vary from statewide to county/parish and local township boundaries based on the state's laws.