Time To STOP With The SCOPs

Here's the second of several reports that drove home the extent to which it seems the rights and expectations of the "average Joe" are under assault on multiple fronts:  "Private Police Carry Guns and Make Arrests...." 

This report from the Washington Post reminds us of the rapid growth of privately-employed cops.  It's particularly concerning in Virginia, where the law allows anyone to apply to become a "special conservator of the peace," or "SCoP," get a permit, a badge, and a weapon, and head out on the streets to police people's behavior and even to make arrests!

Our concerns about security in American society have run rampant in recent years, with concerns about terrorism, a seeming rise in crime (notwithstanding statistics indicating the opposite in some categories), and an inchoate sense of concern for our well-being that is probably due to the fact that every day we can read a fresh report of someone setting new precedents in wacko/violent/inhuman crime.

In the "national capital area," as our metropolis is sometimes called, it's well known that we already have a surfeit of security forces.  Not only are there three different states (let's count the District as one of those!), but about three times that number of counties, and cities, each typically with its own police force, highway patrol, and sheriffs to boot.   Add in the forces that nearly every federal government agency here has (e.g. National Parks Police, National Capitol Police, .... ).  And like most parts of the country, there are a host of private security forces protecting apartment complexes, shopping centers, gated communities.   Not just banks, but even ordinary stores nowadays, may have their own security personnel.  (Maybe that's not entirely new; in the mid-1960s when I lived briefly in the Dundalk area of Baltimore, the local Burger King had an armed guard!).

But with SCoPs we may have gone too far.  The fellow featured in the Post article may be a fine exemplar of the breed - he is a former cop, he hires himself out as a police force of one to a handful of residential communities, he considers himself a role model and community leader who helps supplement the real police force.  That's all well and good.  I can understand the desire on the part of property owners to have a security presence more immediate than the harried police force; I can understand, too, that Mr. Youlen may indeed relieve some of the pressure on police to handle minor rule infractions and free them up to take care of more serious matters.

But there are far too many questions.  There is little or no supervision of the licensing of these SCoPs; can anyone be assured that every one of them handles himself as professionally as Youlen says he does?  What does the power of "arrest" mean - can one of these guys pull me over to accuse me of speeding in a street that runs by his neighborhood?  There have been complaints when some of them have gone off the rails.   Do the residents of these communities agree in the leases/condo rules to be policed by the unpolice?  

Lawmakers are now considering requiring increased training for them, but this seems hardly sufficient.   I'd suggest they should not be armed, should not have badges that say "police,"  and should not have arrest powers. 

The existence of SCoPs, whose numbers in Virginia have doubled in the past 10 years, should awaken us to the need to look far more closely at even the security forces we are more accustomed to - the guys at the bank, the mall, the federal office building - they all meet a need, and no doubt 99.5% of them perform their durites responsibly.  But do we really know what their authority over us is?

Comments

[PiedType]

My first thought when I read your second paragraph was George Zimmerman. Legalizing types like him. That's a scary thought.

I suspect the media drive much of our concern about our "dangerous society." It's hard to ignore the daily glut of headlines and stories about murder, racism, shootings, muggings, riots, etc. (Soccer moms and glee clubs don't make exciting headlines.) They permeate everything and people gradually become more and more fearful, consciously or unconsciously. Yet if I dismiss all the outside input and focus only on my community, the areas where I spend most of my time, things are generally very peaceful. An occasional car accident or maybe a robbery in one of the commercial strips. As a nation, though, it appears we're working hard to turn a warped perception into reality.

[JHawk23]

Agree, a lot has to do with the effect of the constant media focus on the bad and the ugly.

The Zimmerman case occurred to me, too. There are always those who can behave soberly and responsibly in such roles (be it SCoP or neighborhood watchstander) - but also always some like Zimmerman who will get out of line.

As for "special conservators," I have to ask myself, what would be my reaction if I were passing through a neighborhood and pulled over by one of these pseudocops, or worse, if my wife were, after dark when she's headed home from her teaching? She'd be legitimately scared out of her wits, and wondering whether to obey this guy or not.

The last time I passed through one major shopping mall in this area, I noticed a large booth selling all sorts of police and law enforcement paraphernalia to all comers --- hats, badges, shoulder patches, and the like, some with the logos/symbols of actual police departments. This seems beyond the pale to me, but (apparently) it's legal. And ridiculous. But it means caution, even when somebody has a badge to flash at you. Which is why these SCoPs should have some very well defined restrictions, and perhaps a prescribed uniformity of garb.