Defunding the Police Rhetoric Has Increased Private Policing
Charlotte NC October 2, 2021
Rick McCann
Whether paying off-duty police to patrol upscale neighborhoods and shopping centers or hiring sworn private law enforcement or private security, many parts of our country have decided to increase their safety and security by forming private police forces.
The Waikiki business association has paid Honolulu police at least $2 million in the past 15 years for additional police services. Critics say that’s not fair to other areas.
Privately funded police operations in Waikiki have led to hundreds of citations and a handful of arrests over the last year, but the longstanding practice of paying the police in District 6 is coming under fire from advocacy groups.
The Waikiki Business Improvement District Association, a nonprofit comprised of business owners and tenants, gave the Honolulu Police Department $85,000 last September to “address various illegal activities on the public sidewalks in specific areas in Waikiki.”
Since then, the money has been used to conduct 45 operations resulting in more than 840 citations and seven misdemeanor arrests for crimes such as disorderly conduct and unlawfully selling goods on public property.
“The money goes to operations that are within the physical Waikiki boundary, so it all goes back into Waikiki only,” Jennifer Nakayama, president of the WBIDA, said. “Operations that the HPD feels can better serve the community, quality of life, whether those are plain-clothed operations, undercover, or in uniformed officers, that’s up to HPD command and what they feel is prudent and necessary.”
In a statement, Honolulu Police Maj. Mark Cricchio, the District 6 commander, wrote: “Since 2012, the WBID has given $75,000 to $85,000 annually to HPD to use toward improving Waikiki for the people who visit, work and live there. Typical grant-funded activities include pedestrian safety, sidewalk obstruction and peddling, and excessive noise. The grant enables supplemental officers to focus on these areas while on-duty officers respond to calls for service. The HPD appreciates the WBID’s support.”
HPD has received at least $2 million from the business association since 2005, when $75,000 was donated, according to a review of the WBIDA’s financial records. Over the following two years, the business district gave at least $300,000 to the police department. It reduced its donation to $75,000 in 2008. Since then, the only year that the WBIDA did not give money to the police department was 2010.
In Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia and North Carolina, private law enforcement officers will full police authority are often seen patrolling neighborhoods, apartment complexes, upscale gated communities, and private businesses. Wearing badges and guns, these officers provide the enhanced police services that public law enforcement cannot.
The private forces are there only to protect their client, not the rest of the city.
For years the upscale area of Atlanta known as Buckhead has paid off-duty Atlanta police officers to be their own private police force. Patrolling this elite community and being responsive to the needs of the residents and business owners, these off-duty officers have helped to reduce crime and keep the wolves at bay.
Amid a spike in crime, calls to split from the capital have grown louder than ever.
“We filed for divorce and our divorce is final,” said Bill White, chairman and CEO of the Buckhead City Committee, which is spearheading the efforts for the formation of the city. “We’re forming our own city; we’re establishing our own police force and we will eradicate crime.”
Homicides are up by about 63% compared to the same time last year and up 43% compared to the same period in 2019, according to late May data released by the Atlanta Police Department. The city has seen more than 300 shooting incidents since the start of the year, up 45% from what it recorded this time last year, and up 55% from 2019, according to the data.
Another town, once part of the Fulton County unincorporated area, formed their own city, hired their own police force, and took control of the quality of life within their borders. Johns Creek now boasts of a thriving community with a growing population of over 76,000 residents. We now control our own destiny said Francine Smithers a lifelong resident of the area.
New Orleans has also, for many years, paid off-duty police to patrol the tourist district along the French Quarter.
But Sidney Torres IV, a property developer and reality television star with a fondness for making deals decided to step up protection in the area by forming his own private police force.
Torres, who was a millionaire by age 23, has used his money to start his own private police force to protect the historic French Quarter in New Orleans.
He has outfitted the officers with patrol vehicles, two-way radio equipment and surveillance cameras. He pays them premium wages and he expects premium services.
In 2010, businessman Dan Gilbert moved his company Quicken Loans to Detroit, where 80 per cent of the residents are black and 35 per cent live in poverty. As the city was sliding into bankruptcy because of the 2007 financial crisis, Mr. Gilbert was installing his own security apparatus to protect his substantial investments in the city.
In the 20-square-kilometre downtown area surrounding his company’s headquarters, Mr Gilbert erected 500 high-powered telescopic cameras, employing private security contractors to monitor the streets and cross-coordinate with Detroit’s police databases.
Facebook recently paid for a police substation near its business campus in San Francisco, while one recent report said that in Washington DC, 120 private police companies employed 16,580 law enforcement agents.
Off-duty police officers are often hired to provide security for retailers, bars, and hotels but in the past ten years or so, a different type of police has been taking shape.
In Virginia, a law authorizes Private/Special Purpose Police Departments.
Aquia Harbour is one of several private police departments that provide exclusive law enforcement services to residents in upscale, private communities.
This gated community in Stafford, about 45 miles from our nations’ capitol.
This upscale private community employs a full time, around the clock, police force. These officers are not security guards, they are police officers with the same authority of any city or county police agency.
A year-round navigable waterway leading to the Potomac River and onto the Chesapeake Bay runs through their property. Beautiful woodlands surround the homes and give the community the feel of a delightful country setting according to their website.
A one-time ski resort area in the mountains of Virginia has developed into a beautiful, exclusive gated community that was once protected by a private security force.
As the community grew, they too, became a private police agency for the exclusive benefit of the community within the gated private property.
The Wintergreen Police Department is a full-service proactive community-based police organization providing law enforcement and E911 communication services to the Wintergreen community. All officers are dedicated to promoting a sense of safety and an enhanced quality of life to our citizens by providing professional law enforcement services with integrity and a commitment to excellence.
The Wintergreen Police Department is a private law enforcement agency within the Commonwealth of Virginia. Every patrol officer is vested with law enforcement powers to enforce State laws and local county ordinances.
Down the highway in North Carolina, you’ll find more, fully sworn, private police agencies and officers including one at the Biltmore Resort.
Officers patrol over 8000 acres and have full police authority on all property owned, leased, or operated by the estate as well as all surrounding roads.
As more police agencies struggle with reduced budgets, unfavorable recruitment challanges and a loss of general law enforcement authority, private businesses and communities will no doubt seek alternative methods of providing police services for their property, their communities and themselves.
