Over the years, the government has had the duty to fund the police as well as law enforcement agencies in the whole country. Since the 1990s, however, many corporations and citizens have opted to hire private law enforcement officers for supplemental protection (James, 2003). Law and order is a vital function for any society. Therefore, it was very unfortunate when a small town in the south of Montana, called Hardin, was lacking a police station and had insufficient federal police officers. With no other promising choice, the citizens of Hardin opted for private policing.
The private police force has both supporters as well as detractors who have disagreed on its societal, economic, and legal benefits or lack of thereof (Benson, 1990). In the current times, many American citizens are increasingly hiring private police forces as the yearly budget cuts continue to hit the law enforcement sector in the country.
The private policing company in Hardin that took advantage of the lack of police officers in the area was called the American Police Force (APF). This company in 2007 took over the control of an unoccupied prison worth $27 million which was built against the Montana codes (Friedmann, 2009).
Pros
Some of the advantages that came with the private police force in Hardin, Montana was their affordability. The town’s tight budget encouraged the shedding of non-public and non-core services from the police force such as guarding prisoners, public transit, and buildings. The APS took control of these issues and provided the services at a much cheaper cost.
The private police force also came with economic benefits. If the private police company patrolled the small town, then it would mean that the federal police department had more resources to focus on other high-crime neighborhoods in Montana. What is more, the citizens in Hardin could comfortably assume the financial cost of private protection rather than passing the tax to other working people in the country.
Cons
Private policing, however, took away well-paying jobs and employed less qualified and less trained personnel. Moreover, the APF only had arrest authority and could not punish; thereby, it added more burdens to the police forces.
The worst part came when APF was later revealed to be an illegitimate security company. The private company did more harm than good because it left the citizens of Hardin with a huge debt (Friedmann, 2009).
Issues
With a private police force, the people in Hardin felt that the policing was more accountable and flexible to the citizens’ changing demands. This was typically because the private company did not have jurisdictional restrictions.
Moreover, the residents were pleased that APF was finally opening the empty prison in the town. With a double digit unemployment rate, this facility could significantly create job opportunities and give the town a chance to revitalize.
However, there was criticism by various national media reports on why the town was hiring a private police force and later citizens also started to voice out their concerns when the legitimacy of the company was questioned.
Problems
The problem with the private company began when people started to demand to know what APF’s parent company was. In addition, citizens wanted to know what the company was planning to do with town eventually. The company later turned out to be illegitimate. The company had allegedly squandered all the resident’s resources and they hadn’t gotten anything in return.
The contract between APF and the residents of Hardin was put on hold as the State Attorney General Office in Montana and Big Horn’s Sheriff Departments tries to incorporate a real federal police department in the town to prevent a similar case in the future.
References
Benson, B. L. (1990). The enterprise of law: Justice without the state. San Francisco, CA: Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy.
Friedmann, A. (2009, December 15). Improbable Private Prison Scam Plays Out in Hardin, Montana. Prison Legal News.
James, J. (2003). The privatization of police in America: An analysis and case study. NC: McFarland.
