Critically review the article in terms of how such private operations relate to public justice agency functions.

Essay by yomikaeUniversity, Bachelor'sA, September 2009

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In reading an article recently on the privatized security in Alaska called, "PRIVATE PROTECTION: SECURITY OFFICERS IN ALASKA.", I was truly taken back by how closely it related to the material I was currently being taught in an Organizational Security and Management course, through the University of Phoenix, online. Most of the information contained in this article coincided, almost verbatim, with the information contained in our course reading material, with a few minor adjustments in numbers and statistics. The article was written for the Alaska Business Monthly Journal, By GUDDE, LEVI, who has more than 40 years experience in the public law enforcement and private security fields.

According to the article, the current public police officer to private security personnel ratio in Alaska is approximately 2-1, which is slightly lower than the national average. Our text suggested that by the year 2000, the number of police officers had increased to over 600,000 and security personnel numbered approximately 2 million, when this is calculated; it puts the national ratio of public police officer to private security at almost 3.5-1,

in favor of the security personnel. The article states that there are approximately 2000 security officers compared to 1000 public law enforcement officers, in the state of Alaska today. That figure runs parallel to the rest of the United States with regard to private security officers currently employed. The expenditures (salary) for security services are almost three times that of public law enforcement as this is mirrored by the fact that security officers outnumber police officers by more than a 3 to 1 margin. It is also quite clear that security services are the primary protective service in the United States (Fagin, 2007; Siegel & Senna, 2007). In further reading, the article goes on to explain that public police officers are unable...