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Competition versus monopoly in the provision of police

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Abstract

This article discusses the changing landscape of US crime, and both describes and evaluates the growth of private security in total security provided. Since the mid-1970s violent and basic property crimes have constantly declined while the number of economic crimes like identity theft, counterfeit goods and cyber misdeeds increased substantially. Monopolistic police have not addressed the changing landscape of crime and continue to deliver their traditional services. As market forces have limited influence on government, private security that is highly competitive and client oriented has been quicker to adopt technology and management innovations and address the new types of crime. Private police are estimated to be three times larger than public law enforcement. The article concludes that the increased penetration of private security is socially beneficial by improving efficiency, delivering client-oriented services and forcing police to improve their performance.

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Notes

  1. Although small firms do not necessarily compete in all regional markets, the largest companies do. Accordingly, regional concentration is not likely to differ much from national concentration.

  2. Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) is the sum of the squared individual market shares expressed in percentage. HHI ranges between 0 and 10 000.

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Interviews

  • Interviews. (2008) We conducted detailed interviews of top executives at the following security firms and with police personnel between 1 December 2008 and 10 February 2009: Allied-Barton Security, Day and Zimmermann Security Services, First Response, Hallcrest Security, Longwood Security, Pinkerton-Burns, Securitas, Wackenhut, Police Chief of Southfield, Michigan P.D. and a Lieutenant of the Boston P.D.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank two anonymous referees for their very helpful comments and suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, Center for Competitive Government, Temple University, Philadelphia, 19122-6091, PA, USA

    Erwin A Blackstone & Simon Hakim

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  1. Erwin A Blackstone
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Correspondence to Simon Hakim.

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Blackstone, E., Hakim, S. Competition versus monopoly in the provision of police. Secur J 26, 157–179 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1057/sj.2012.5

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