Homework Responses Wk 4

The public’s perception of what the primary roles of a security officer/manager and that of a law enforcement officer maybe drastically different from reality. Without a doubt there are distinct differences between the two (2) types of law enforcement. Primary roles of security officers/managers place an emphasis on “the protection of assets, immediate deterrence, and commercial enforcement.” (Nemeth, 2011) Understanding that security officers/managers are charged with the duty to protect the entity of which they are employed and/or their assets while law enforcement officers (LEO’s) have society watch over, naturally points out gaps in enforcement coverage. Many of the primary roles of law enforcement officers (LEO) fill these gaps. For example, LEO’s typically take an oath to protect and serve the public. This means they focus on matters concerning citizens, whereas a security manager focuses more on their clients. Their guiding principle for primary roles is established within the laws and statues of their jurisdiction. This gives them a very large scope of responsibility from traffic control, sexual assaults to murder. Although both types have a vested interest in crime prevention. LEO’s primary roles endow them with the authority to apprehend, and make arrest following a crime. 

A security officer/manager may be held liable for their actions even if it’s in accordance with their duties. Many of them are faced with confrontational employees, clients and even student’s or faculty members. On many college campuses across America, security officers are employed and often tasked to handle crowd control for special events. In the event that a physical altercation occurred and the security officer/manager caused injury to someone while trying to diffuse the situation the injured party may seek a tort claim for assault. Likewise, they may be held liable for the duration of time they have detained a person. Given the same example above, if the security officer/manager detained one of the agitators of the altercation and then questioned them for over an hour it, “can give rise to the claim of false imprisonment.” (Nemeth 2011)

References:

 

Nemeth, C. (2011). Private security and the law. Elsevier Science & Technology. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com